The Final Community

At 8:15am on June 14th, 2007 my father-in-law, Marco Meyer, joined the final community we'll all be a member of one day.

Here in the United States June 14th is Flag Day and that's a very significant date because during World War II Marco was a combat Marine on Guadalcanal during the horrific battles there. Of all the days of the year to die on Flag Day would've been the one he would've picked if given the choice because it stands for the country he'd fought for so long ago when the men of his generation answered their nation's call and saved the world from the evil, the true evil, that was loose on the planet.

Later in the Guadalcanal campaign he was stationed at Henderson Field (on Guadalcanal) and became lifelong friends with Joe Foss, the Executive Officer of the Cactus Air Force. Joe became the Marine Corps' leading Ace in World War II with 26 victories and was later awarded the Medal of Honor for his accomplishment.

Marco was 94 years and a month and a day old when he passed away and he lived a long and full life. After his military service he became a Motion Picture and TV film editor. Upon retiring from that he became a Podiatrist. Later when he was in his early 70s he and his wife, Eleanor, moved to the University of California at Santa Cruz, lived on campus and took "easy" classes like Ancient Greek, Latin and History of European Art. You know, useful stuff that you can use every day. He was gifted with a curious mind that he always exercised. He raised 4 daughters and had 4 grandchildren.

The one thing that Marco wanted was to have a full military funeral and that's what you see being performed by a Marine Corps Honor Guard. And let me tell when you hear a 21-gun salute followed by the sound of Taps drifting across the cemetery at the funeral of a loved one it will haunt you for the rest of your life.

RIP Marco

USA-Canada / USA-California

Lat: 34° 9' 0.53" N
Long: 119° 20' 3.99" W

Elevation: 556'

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: High. Pinpoints the exact spot.

Canon Digital Rebel (300D), Sigma f3.5 8mm lens, Nodal Ninja 3 panohead, Manfrotto 190XPROB tripod, ISO 100, f8, 1/400 second exposure, Canon RAW, Photoshop CS, PTGui 6.0.3, Pano2QTVR 1.6.2, NBNC, PDL