Redemptive hero - Entertainment, Books - Navy Times

Redemptive hero

Army Sgt. Richard C. Meyer knew the moment he left the scene of an intense battle in Iraq that he wanted one day to memorialize it. Having served as a machine gunner with Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, during the initial invasion of Iraq, Meyer witnessed the heroic actions of Sgt. Marco Martinez and his fellow Marines as they battled Fedayeen fighters in the war-torn town of At Tarmiya on April 12, 2003. The bloody struggle earned Martinez a Navy Cross for exceptional personal bravery and two fellow Marines Silver Stars.

Five years later, Meyer has released “No Enemy, but Peace,” his debut comic book about Martinez, a former gangbanger turned American hero, and his team of brave young Marines. The 24-page comic re-creates the epic engagement, portraying Martinez as a courageous small-unit leader who fearlessly defended his men against the enemy, with scenes interspersed with quotes from the Marine Corps’ Rifleman’s Creed — and even a quote from Shakespeare.

“I was amazed by the actions of my fellow Marines and felt like this was a story that had to be told,” Meyer said by phone from Forward Operating Base Ramrod in southern Afghanistan.

Meyer served in the Corps from 2000 to 2004 but switched services after getting a history degree from the University of Texas at Austin and currently serves as an Army infantryman.

He was particularly taken by the actions of Martinez, the focus of the comic, and Lance Cpl. Timothy Tardiff, who was wounded in the battle but later managed to sneak his way back to battle from a hospital in Germany.

In Martinez’s Navy Cross citation, his heroism is clear.

“Enduring intense enemy fire and without regard for his own personal safety,” the citation reads, “Martinez launched a captured enemy rocket-propelled grenade into the building, temporarily silencing the enemy and allowing a wounded Marine to be evacuated and receive medical treatment. After receiving additional fire, he single-handedly assaulted the building and killed four enemy soldiers with a grenade and his rifle.”

“[Martinez] was one of those guys who I knew but just vaguely,” Meyer said. “I always told people that if I did what he did, I would have told everybody I met walking down the street. But with him, you actually had to pull it out of him. He didn’t brag about it.”

Martinez left the Corps and eventually told his story in the book “Hard Corps: From Gangster to Marine Hero.”

Meyer is working on another comic now, titled “The Frozen Chosin,” about the storied Korean War battle of the Chosin Reservoir.

He and former Marine Carlos I. Silva have started Machinegun Bob Productions, an upstart publishing company that serves as an outlet for their stories. He hired Martin Montiel Luna to illustrate his comic and Thomas Mauer to create the lettering; the books will be available at comic book stores in the U.S. and England on Dec. 31 or online for $3. To order, visit www.noenemybutpeacecomic.com.

Meyer said he’s doing his part to make sure the next generation has its heroes, too.

“I grew up worshipping heroes from the movies, TV and comic books. Then I went to war and saw them in action,” Meyer writes in the final panel. “The heroes I worshipped as a child — the ones who were so selflessly brave that they couldn’t possibly be real — existed in the real world.”