By Linda Gallagher
MANCELONA - Whether it was standing on the street as his casket was escorted from Traverse City’s Cherry Capital Airport last Friday to attending a memorial service conducted by members of the Forgotten Eagles on Saturday to a candlelight vigil held Monday night after visitation at the funeral home to funeral services on Tuesday, thousands of people from all over the state of Michigan honored the memory of Mancelona’s hometown hero, Marine Sgt. Jason Dean Calo.
Sgt. Calo, 23, was killed in action during a fierce firefight against Taliban extremists in Helmand province, Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom on Sunday, August 22. He was a member of the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force out of the Marines’ Camp Lejeune in North Carolina as an artillery/mortar scout, and had been based at “Camp Leatherneck”, temporary home to 14,000 members of the U.S. military and civilians, in the currently most dangerous part of Afghanistan.
Born in Grayling, he had graduated from Mancelona High School in 2005 before joining the Marines in November of 2006.
Among those honoring the fallen soldier Friday afternoon as he was escorted home by a Marine honor guard, American Legion, and members of the Patriot Guard Riders were members of the Mancelona High School football team. As quarterback of the varsity football team during his senior year of high school, Calo was considered by coaches as a leader on the football field, and was given an honorable mention by that year’s Ski Valley Conference.
Members of the Forgotten Eagles from all over the state of Michigan honored him on Saturday with a memorial service in Mancelona’s Triangle Park. Public visitation held at Mortensen’s Funeral Home on Monday also drew people from all over the state.

Read more: Vol. 8, No. 5, Thursday, September 2, 2010