Inquirer: Pitching in to help a WWII hero
Retired Master Sgt. Vincent Melillo is not your average World War II and Korean War veteran. During the former, he was one of Merrill’s Marauders.
If you’ve never heard of Merrill’s Marauders, shame on you. Put this down and go read a book.
In short, Merrill’s Marauders marched about 1,000 miles behind enemy lines in the China-Burma-India theater of war and managed to capture a vital airfield. About 3,000 men started the brutal march in February of 1944. When it and their mission ended in August, only about 130 men could still be considered combat-ready. Many died or were wounded in combat and many succumbed to jungle diseases.
It was some of the heaviest lifting in a war that had more than its share of heavy lifting. Mellilo has a chest full of medals and in 2013 was inducted into the Ranger Hall of Fame.
Melillo, 96, lives with his caretaker daughter, Jonnie Melillo Clasen, in Benning Hills, where he’s lived since the early 1950s. He’s been having problems with rainwater runoff from the wooded lot behind and steeply above his property. Water rolls down the hill because the rain drains on the street parallel to (and way above) his apparently can’t handle the runoff in heavy rains.
As you can see in the picture, it’s causing his concrete block retaining wall to bulge out precariously. It’s also causing some foundation settling problems that manifest themselves with cracked exterior and interior walls.I called Ron Smith, deputy director of Public Works, who said he’s not sure what the city can do, but they will send a crew out to investigate.
In most cases, Smith explained, water coming downhill from private property, developed or not, is the responsibility of the property owner on the downhill side. The property owner on the uphill side has the responsibility for not directing the water in any way that causes problems downhill, but otherwise it’s an issue between the two private property owners.
“The only thing I can do is send a crew out there to see if there’s anything we can do to make it better,” Smith said. “I can’t make any guarantees, but if there is anything we can do to help them, we will.”
Meanwhile, a group called Warrior Outreach, which pitches in and helps out old soldiers who need it, is doing a lot of work to repair some of the damage the water has done, and to help prevent it from happening again.
Sam Rhodes, president and CEO of Warrior Outreach, said his group has already cleared a lot of overgrowth and will soon scrape and paint the house and replace some aging sliding glass doors in the back. But most importantly, they plan to take down and rebuild the failing retaining wall and put in a drain system that will keep the wall from failing again and also direct the runoff away from the house’s foundation.That’s a lot of work.
“Yes it is,” Rhodes said. “But I can’t think of another veteran in our county who deserves it more.”
And this won’t be the first time younger soldiers have helped this old soldier out. A while back, Melillo’s daughter Jonnie said they wanted to fill in their old, defunct swimming pool in the backyard, but contractors told them there was no way to get that substantial amount of dirt into the back of the house. The house is on a steep hill and has a steep driveway that goes through a carport that has a wheelchair ramp. “Can’t do it,” they said.
“Oh yeah?” responded a group of Rangers, who proceeded to roll God knows how many yards of fill dirt up the drive, up the ramp and into the pool. One wheelbarrow at a time.
Yeah. Tell a bunch of United States Army Rangers that something can’t be done because it’s too hard. Then get back to me and tell me how that worked out.
Meanwhile, stay tuned and we’ll keep you updated on this case.
Seen something that needs attention? Contact me at 706-571-8570 or mowen@ledger-enquirer.com.
This story was originally published February 15, 2015 at 10:31 PM with the headline "Inquirer: Pitching in to help a WWII hero."