Writings
"This is an entertaining read that I believe is
an important work because it adds to
the Pearl Harbor literature a missing
dimension—the story of two men who are usually given only
one or two
lines in most books but were truly American heroes and who, unlike many
on that
fateful morning, were not asleep."
From the Foreword by Donald M. Goldstein, Ph.D, Professor Emeritus,
University of Pittsburgh and co-author of "At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl
Harbor," "God's Samurai: Lead Pilot at Pearl Harbor" and "Dec. 7, 1941:The
Day the Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor."
"Meek begins his story a week before the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor and presents the
two pilots as independent, if not uncontrollable,
young officers who had the 'chutzpah' to act on their own initiative on that
fateful day. The author's colorful portrayal and well drawn characters give
vibrancy to an oft-told story."
Dr. George M. Watson Jr., Senior Historian, Air Force Historical
Studies.
"John Martin Meek's 'The Other Pearl Harbor, the Army Air
Corps & its Heroes
on Dec. 7, 1941,' is a most exciting, informative and in-depth account of
the moment-to-moment events of the terrible Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
It makes up a good bit for the poor coverage the Army personnel and facilities
have been given before. It should be in all of our high schools."
Col. Gail Halvorsen USAF Ret., the famed "Candy Bomber" of
the Berlin Airlift.
"Through 70 years what happened to the Army Air Corps
during the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor—233 lives lost, some 439
wounded, three bases decimated but brave young pilots who downed a dozen
Japanese planes—mostly disappeared. But Author John Martin Meek through
a decade of his own research puts it into perspective with the Navy’s
vast and tragic losses."
Astronaut/Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Stafford USAF Ret.
– Visit PearlHarborHero.Net
– Purchase the book
1860–1947
We Called Him "Uncle Lum"
Trying to Persuade Gen. Cedras To Leave Haiti
Two Strange, Faraway Wars: A Comparison
Book
A collection of John Martin Meek's newspaper columns and feature stories
Writings Introduction
Writing, with the exception of speeches, always has been fun for me.
Back in the fifth or sixth grade, the teacher told us to write
something I seem to remember was called a "theme."
So I wrote about a guy and his problems with an old car. We each had
to read our theme in front of the class. When my turn came, the entire class was ready to roll on the floor laughing by the time I finished.
I thought I had done a really great job writing my theme. One of my
classmates later told me they weren’t laughing at my story. They were laughing
at me. Oh, well.
Years later I finessed journalism school at the University of
Oklahoma and started my newspaper career. A few months out of OU I had a lot of
GI Bill left, so I went to Syracuse University for two years of graduate school
and worked on the morning newspaper.
At Syracuse I took courses in writing including fiction, wrote short
stories and made a good start on a novel set in the Southwest. Recently when I
went back and looked at all this fiction written 49 years ago, I had the sense
that maybe I wrote better then than I do now. It would be pretty discouraging if
I haven’t improved in a half century since Syracuse.
Early on career-wise I was a U.S. Senate press secretary and spent
eight years in politics, before going back to the private sector with one of the
largest international public relations firms.
Probably the best speech I ever wrote was for one of the two
partners who founded the multibillion dollar empire called Amway. The two men
were Richard DeVoss and Jay VanAndel.
Rich was considered to be by far the most charismatic of the two. My
main account executive for Amway, Mark Rosenkur, went to an Amway rally and
reported Rich could really whip up the crowd to something akin to a revival
meeting.
One day Jay was invited to speak at the Detroit Economic Club, and
the word was passed along for me to write the speech. What an honor.
But I had in my mind been saving up a list of how things had gone
wrong in this country, including the auto industry. So I wrote for Jay a
hard-hitting speech about the downfall of America innovation and industry. Both
Jay and Rich were known to be right-wingers and I guess my words, though not
intended to be conservative, fitted their views.
After the speech an Amway exec called and said Jay had received a
standing ovation after his talk—only the second in the history of the club.
The other recipient was Vice President Hubert Humphrey.
When I left DC in the fall of 1999 I jumpstarted my journalism
career by writing occasional features and guest columns, primarily for the
Arizona Daily Star in Tucson. Jim Kiser, editor of the editorial page, wanted
guest columns to be about 600 words and on local issues.
I didn’t write many columns on local issues,
because I brought to my journalistic efforts years of experience in Washington
and far more experience in national and international issues than what was
happening in Southern Arizona.
In December, 1997, I began writing a novel conceived 14 years
earlier. It is called The Christmas Hour. I finished it in the spring of
1999 and it was published in 2003.
Today I have in the final stages a book that is a collection of some
of my columns and features, most written in the last five years. It’s
called, I Might Just Be Right, and was published in the Fall
of 2005.
I hope you enjoy the various pieces you read here. They represent a
small but important part of my life. You can respond through the website for my novel, www.thechistmashour.com.
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