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Family Gets 'Special Gift' -- Son Back from Afghanistan

Marine Anthony Lawyer, 19, receives special reception by Operation Welcome You Home on Wednesday night.

Driving tanks filled with fuel and explosives through Afghanistan was the perfect fit for Plainfield Marine Lance Cpl. Anthony Lawyer.  "Anything dangerous," his mother Judy Lawyer answers when asked about her son's interests.  The 19-year-old Plainfield North High School graduate – brother of Plainfield police officer Rob Lawyer – got a warm welcome Wednesday night when he returned to Plainfield for holiday break. A reception in the parking lot of the Meijer store was organized by Operation Welcome You Home. "It was a great experience," the young soldier told a throng of police officers, fire fighters, local dignitaries and family members who braved the dark and cold to celebrate his homecoming from a seven-month tour in the Mideast.  …

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Two Vets to Be Feted by Operation Welcome Home

Plainfield natives Mark Peters Jr. and Anthony Lawyer to be greeted, escorted by members of nonprofit group welcoming their return.

Two Plainfield natives currently serving in the military will be welcomed home in style thanks to Operation Welcome You Home Illinois. Marine Corps Sgt. Mark A. Peters Jr. will be greeted by a group of volunteers at 3 p.m. Dec. 18 at the parking lot of Best Buy on U.S. 30 in Joliet and escorted to a party being held in his honor. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Anthony Lawyer will be greeted at 5:15 p.m. Dec. 22 in the parking lot of Meijers, Route 59 and 135th Street, in Plainfield. He'll be presented with a flag line and escorted to his family home. The events are just two of five that Operation Welcome Home will be conducting between Dec. 16 and 22. The nonprofit group organizes public gatherings for returning soldiers at the request of family …

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Plainfield Soldier Gets a Hero's Sendoff at Lincoln National Cemetery

Gov. Pat Quinn, Army general major among those in attendance at Pfc. Andrew Meari's funeral.

Pfc. Andrew "Drew" N. Meari was laid to rest Thursday with all of the pomp and circumstance befitting a military hero, including a eulogy by Gov. Pat Quinn, but also with a bit of levity that evoked tears and laughter. Major Gen. David Quantock, commanding officer at Fort Leonard Wood Army Base in Missouri, told the 100-plus people gathered at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery that it is customary for soldiers to hold their own ceremony for a fallen comrade. In this case, it was held in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where Meari, 21, of Plainfield, and another soldier were killed Nov. 1 by a suicide bomber. "He was the DJ -- he was 'DJ Tyger.' That's what I'll remember," a friend of Meari's wrote in a statement that was read during his unit's …

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Funeral Will Be Thursday for Plainfield Soldier

Andrew Meari, killed in action in Afghanistan Nov. 1, will be buried in Abraham Lincoln Memorial Cemetery in Elwood.

Funeral services for Andrew N. Meari, the Plainfield soldier killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan Nov. 1, are scheduled for Thursday. The funeral will begin at 1 p.m. Thursday at Fred C. Dames Funeral Home, 3200 Black Road, Joliet. Meari then will be transported to Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, where a burial with full military honors will be conducted. Visitation will be from noon to 9 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home. Meari, 21, graduated from Drauden Point Middle School, attended Plainfield South High School and graduated from Port Washington High School in Port Washington, Wis. He joined the Army in October 2008. During the course of his military career, he was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, …

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Meari Remembered by Friends as Passionate Guy with a 'Good Heart'

The Plainfield soldier died in Afghanistan Monday after an insurgent, masquerading as a guard trainee, ignited a suicide bomb.

Andrew "Drew" Meari was a fun-loving guy, remembered by friends Wednesday for his rambunctious personality, love of techno music and ability to stay in touch even while thousands of miles away. Almost everyone spoke of having just seen 22-year-old Meari in Plainfield late this summer, when the private first class was home for a two-week leave from his Army stint in Afghanistan, or having just chatted with him via Facebook. That he should be dead, the victim of a suicide bomber, seemed unfathomable, they said. "It's numbing," said Andre Gharibadeh, 20, of Plainfield, who lived down the block from Meari and has known him since he was 7. His mother and Meari's are best friends, and as a result, "they lived at each other's houses," he said. "…

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