Waterville Flag Flown In Iraq Returns To Pray Park Home
BY NANCY GAGNET — MIRROR REPORTER
The Waterville flag in Pray Park is back home now – along with the Marine who flew it over the balcony of an outpost building in Fallujah, Iraq.
Sgt. Jon Meyer, who said the flag bearing the symbol of his hometown withstood fierce combat, said it’s good to be home.
“People in this area have a wholly positive attitude that is genuinely American and can only be found in a small town,” the Waterville native said.
Now, at age 24, the articulate man who sports a blond crew cut explained what compelled him to become a Marine.
“I’ve always wanted to do it, maybe since the womb. I was blessed growing up getting to learn and read about great men out there and I wanted to be a part of it. I just never outgrew it,” he said.
Books about Army Brig. Gen. Daniel Morgan and Naval Officer John Paul Jones sparked his interest in the military.
“I took a sailor and an Army dog, and I guess I put the two together,” he said with a grin.
The day after graduating from Anthony Wayne High School in 2001, Meyer left for boot camp. His assignment: weapons company 1st Battalion, 24th Marines in Perrysburg.
After living on bases in South Carolina and California, he spent seven months and 18 days in Iraq, where he served as a rifle squad leader in charge of 13 Marines and one sailor.
Since returning last spring, Meyer has been working on completing his degree in history and art at Lourdes College. After graduating in December, he will become a Marine lieutenant but is unsure of where his next assignment will be.
The 6-foot, 5-inch former high school and college basketball player sat on a bench last week in Pray Park to explain what it was like for him in combat.
“It’s very intense and it produces emotions that you just can’t describe,” he said. “I figured out once that I had a one in three chance of being killed or wounded.”
Of his 1,000-member battalion, 22 were killed and 331 were wounded. Of those wounded, 41 were amputees.
Meyer’s battalion rotated through outposts in Fallujah at a time when battles were at an all-time high, including a stretch of daily fighting. Some battles lasted 15 minutes while others were much longer.
“On December 28, the first round was fired at noon, and it didn’t end until 2:00 a.m. the next day,” he said.
Many of those wounded were also burn victims because al-Qaeda fighters would often put combustible material over artillery shells.
Those images are hardest to forget.
“The ones that stick with you – the real graphic ones that I can recall in detail – are burn victims,” he said.
Meyers would run sweeps for weapons and search-and-destroy missions.
In a new tactic called the “Great Awakening,” the focus shifted in January, he said. Locals began to take over, and the number of incidents decreased, he said.
Another change he witnessed was the unique relationship between American soldiers and the women and children of Iraq.
“We’ve won over the next generation and they know what Americans are really like, that we’re good,” he said.
Although Meyer probably won’t be redeployed to Fallujah, he wants to go back someday to see how it’s changed.
“I’ve seen news reports from there in places that we wouldn’t think about going to without tank support – and there were newsmen standing on the street where we would have been dodging rocket fire before,” he said. “I’d like to go back to Fallujah just to see the kids we gave soccer balls to, or see the schools that have been built – if for nothing else than some perverse sense of accomplishment.”
He’s not the only one who feels a connection to the city. Another Marine told him, “You’ll be a Fallujah Marine for the rest of your life.”
“I know that’s true,” he said. “I’m definitely invested in the city.”
In terms of the political climate in this country, Meyers shrugged.
“You hate to see all that be for nothing; we’re invested now,” he said. “For the right or wrong of it, al-Qaeda was in Iraq. Whether they came from Syria, Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan, at least they aren’t in the United States.”
His experience created unmatched bonds with fellow soldiers, who keep in touch via e-mail.
“We owe it to each other to stick together. I can see how hard it must have been for soldiers from Vietnam who didn’t have that sort of contact,” he said.
His parents, Don and Linda Meyer, were concerned for their son’s safety, but realized his strong desire to serve his country.
“I don’t think any parent relishes the idea of having their son or daughter in harm’s way like that,” Don Meyer said. “But this is something he has wanted to do since he was 2 years old. We’re just glad that he came back OK.”
He’s not surprised his son took the Waterville flag with him to Iraq.
“This is where he grew up and I guess you always want to take a piece of home with you wherever you go,” he said.
In addition to Jon, the Meyers have two other children, Paul and Michelle.
At the March 10 Waterville Village Council meeting, Mayor Derek Merrin presented a certificate of commendation to Meyer for his service in Iraq.
“The flag flying in Pray Park should remind all of us that Jon Meyer, along with other soldiers from Waterville, have traveled around the world to fight for our freedom,” Merrin said. “Jon Meyer is an American hero who never forgot his hometown, and men like him represent the finest men in America. Jon is great patriot as well as a fantastic person.”
Merrin plans to continue to honor and recognize soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan and encourages residents to keep members of council informed about military veterans in Waterville.
“Military veterans deserve our utmost appreciation and thanks,” he said. “Our country does not do enough to say thank you.”
Waterville Playshop Member John Oster Directs Comedy In Iraq
BY KAREN BERGER — MIRROR REPORTER
The first time John Oster read playwright John Culbertson’s script for Messiah on the Frigidaire, he laughed hard and looked forward to directing the comedy for Waterville Playshop’s spring performance.
Then Oster learned he was being deployed to Iraq with the 300th Military Police Brigade from Inkster, Mich. So instead of directing a cast of Northwest Ohio actors, Oster just finished up auditions for a performance of Messiah on the Frigidaire in Iraq.
“As far as I know this is the first community theater production being done here,” Oster said via e-mail. “Most of the entertainment programs offered are usually sports-oriented. This is different. It will be a breath of fresh air and maybe attract some soldiers to community theater who hadn’t been exposed to it before.”
Oster contacted Culbertson to ask for permission to perform the show in southern Iraq without a royalty payment.
Culbertson told Oster, “You just made my day, if not my whole year,” granted enthusiastic permission and provided Oster with a CD of music and sound effects for the show. The show is simple to produce because it has a single set and needs few props.
The small town of Elroy, S.C., is the setting for Messiah on the Frigidaire. When what seems to be the image of Jesus appears on a refrigerator in a trailer park, Elroy is suddenly thrust into the evangelical spotlight, and a frenzy of conflict, communion and good old-fashioned commerce. The comedy is irreverent enough to be hilarious, the head chaplain told Oster after reading the script.
The rehearsal schedule is similar to that in Ohio, Oster said, including two nights a week after normal 12-hour work days.
“Doing our assigned mission is always the first priority, but I feel producing/directing the play was important enough to devote a significant portion of my free time,” he said.
Oster will direct four performances of the comedy at Camp Bucca, Iraq’s largest detention facility, which holds 20,000 persons determined under United Nations resolutions to be imminent security threats, Oster said.
Under the command of the 300th Military Police Brigade, the facility provides detainees with food, housing and health care, as well as educational and vocational training for the more moderate population, Oster said.
“We look at this as an opportunity to expose the detainees to alternatives to rejoining the insurgency,” he said.
During his 20 years with Waterville Playshop, Oster has been involved producing, directing, lighting, sound, set construction and costuming.
“Not only have I worked with many fine actors and crews, but I have had the privilege of directing my own children and my wife on stage in productions,” he said of his years with the Playshop.
Waterville Playshop will perform Messiah on the Frigidaire on Thursday through Saturday, March 27-29 at 8:00 p.m. at the Maumee Indoor Theater. For more information, visit www.watervilleplayshop.org.