Gillett man, Army veteran who battled ISIS in Syria; wife asking for help

November 4 UPDATE:

We have just learned the missing Army veteran Bruce Windorski of Gillett has been found safe.

We spoke with officials at the Oconto County Sheriff's Department, they confirmed he was found safe, but we don't know where.

We hope to learn more information later Wednesday and bring you more updates.

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A desperate plea is being made from a Gillett woman, asking for the public's help to find her husband.

Bruce Windorski, an Army veteran and former Menominee Tribal Police Officer, is one of several Americans who traveled to Syria earlier this year on his own to fight ISIS. He returned home several months ago, but now he's gone again, without a trace.

"If it is a voluntary thing, I just need him to reach out and tell me he's okay," said his wife Courtney Windorski. "And if it's not, then I need to know that I've explored every avenue to try and find him."

As the days get shorter and leaves continue to collect on the ground outside the Windorski's recently moved into home, inside, Courtney continues to wait and pray for word from her husband. That he would contact someone - anyone.

"No, nothing. Nobody - his parents, his friends, his family. People he's been over in Syria (with), nobody has heard from him," said Courtney.

Disappearing without a trace is what has Courtney concerned.

"He just would never - the last thing he would ever want to do to me or even our daughter, is hurt us," she said.

Saturday morning, the Wisconsin Department of Justice put out an alert, saying Windorski suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, and hasn't been taking his medications. He drives a gray 2003 Dodge Durango truck with Menominee Nation plate A9658.

Courtney says Bruce was supposedly going to a veterans meeting west of Wisconsin Rapids a week ago. When the outdoorsman didn't come home, she contacted another veteran.

"He had not seen or heard from him and he said there wasn't a meeting this past weekend," she said.

Courtney says Bruce has been "struggling with demons" stemming from the death of his brother Philip Windorski. He was killed when his helicopter was shot down in Iraq in 2009.

Bruce's unannounced trip overseas to Iraq - and then Syria - earlier this year was an attempt to find closure.

"It was pretty traumatic, it's still really hard to talk about," she said.

Married nearly five years ago, the couple has three children from previous relationships and a four-year-old daughter together.

"I try not to cry, I try to maintain as normal of life as possible," Courtney said, wiping her face as she tried to hold back tears. "But I also have to do my part in trying to find my husband, my daughter's father."

Courtney says the two have always been on good terms - never got into fights.

She says his last cell phone activity pinpointed Bruce in Ozark County, in southern Missouri last Sunday. Since then, nothing.

"I have to do what I can to try to find him," she explained.

Authorities say, if you see Windorski or spot his vehicle, to contact Gillett Police at (920) 855-2125 - or to call 911.