True heroes on the Fourth of July PDF Print E-mail
True heroes on the Fourth of July By Gary D’Amato of the Journal Sentinel July 5, 2010

How did you spend your Fourth of July? Relaxing in the park or at the beach? Hanging out with friends and family? Carl Meyer spent the day on the golf course. The whole day. For the third consecutive year, Meyer was a one-man fund-raiser with his "100 Holes for Our Heroes" at Chenequa Country Club. Proceeds from his golf marathon benefit Hire Heroes USA, which helps place veterans in civilian jobs. On Sunday, Meyer started at 5:15 a.m. finished 100 holes at 4:15 p.m., then played an additional 10 holes to raise more funds via per-hole pledges.

For much of the day, his cartmate was Staff Sergeant John Matter of Milwaukee, who survived a blast from an improvised explosive device and two separate gunshot wounds to lead his Marines out of a kill zone in Fallujah, Iraq. Meyer shot 478 for the first 100 holes (par was 395) with four birdies, 38 pars, 51 bogeys and seven "others." He played the first 48 holes with the same ball before finally losing it. It took him 11 hours to complete the 100 holes and, after a break, he played the final 10 holes and finished at 6:15 p.m. More importantly, he helped raise $60,000 for Hire Heroes USA to bring the three-year total to nearly $120,000. "After talking with John, the day was nothing compared to multiple-day sniper missions in 140-degree heat, or getting shot multiple times," Meyer said in an e-mail. "What a great country we are blessed to live in, and to have men and women like John who are willing to protect our freedoms."

Amen.