WESTPHALIA — World War II Army Air veteran Herb Meyer, an assisted-living resident at Stonebridge - Westphalia for the last year, celebrated his 100th birthday on Monday with fellow residents and family.

When asked his secret to longevity, Meyer smiled and quipped, “If there’s a secret, I don’t think I’ve found it.”

However, he credits an active lifestyle, especially in his early years, with being happy and healthy. “When I was a kid, I rode a bicycle and carried newspapers,” said Meyer, a Jefferson City native whose daughter, Joyce, and her husband, Bob Jurd, live in rural Linn.

When Meyer was 14 or 15, he had what would be a life-changing experience one day while delivering newspapers on Broadway near St. Peters Church.

“There was someone going to church one morning, and he came up over the hill just about the time that I was going down the hill, and I hit him in the back door,” said Meyer. “I ran my head through the glass. He helped me up and asked where I was going. I asked where he was going.”

The gentleman started to take him to the courthouse, but there was no one there at that time of the morning. Instead, Meyer was taken to the Highway Patrol’s office, which at the time was on the bottom floor of the Broadway building. From there, they took him to the hospital. “I didn’t stay in the hospital, but it just about ended my carrying newspapers,” he recalled. “My mother said no more carrying papers on my bicycle.”

She knew the superintendent at the International Shoe factory and asked if he could find her son a job. That decision turned out to set the foundation for his life.

Meyer worked there until he was drafted into the Army Air Corps on May 19, 1943. He was sent to Newfoundland, where he spent his service in the war guarding aircraft and fuel.

“We were in the water for seven, eight days until we got to Halifax, Nova Scotia,” Meyer explained. “They called the guy that was in charge there, and he said he could use all of us, so they sent us there.”

Meyer didn’t see conflict, for which he was grateful. “We’d go out at midnight to guard these dumps; what could a man do out there if somebody decided they want to come in and do damage? But we were fortunate enough,” he said.

Unlike other posts, Gander Air Force Base was not near a town, so Meyer didn’t interact much in that respect. “It was just out in the middle of nowhere,” he said. “The airport and facilities for the soldiers that were there. On this side of the landing area was the Canadian Air Force, and on this side was the American Army Air Corps.”

However, the airport was  one of the largest on the planet in 1940 and played a crucial role in the ferrying of aircraft from North America to Europe during World War II. Canadian and American troops served at Gander.

“It was strictly military,” Meyer recalled. “We had no civilian interaction here.”

When Meyer served, Gander was the third-largest air base in the world. “We had a lot of fuel to guard,” he noted. “The runways were long enough to handle the B-29, the largest aircraft to land at Gander.”

Because of its location, Gander experienced hefty snowfall. Meyer remembers one event in which he fell in the snowbank, and his rifle was immersed. Later, after his duty was complete, he was lying on his bunk when an icicle slid out of the barrel.

While on furlough in September 1944, Herb married Dorothy Lee Speckhals. “She was a lovely lady,” he said. “She got me to where I am today. We loved to go bowling, fishing, and camping together.”

Meyer was discharged on Dec. 13, 1945, and returned to Jefferson City, where he resumed his job at International Shoe.

He and Dorothy Lee raised two children, Joyce and Dennis, who have gone on to have kids of their own. Herb is pleased to have eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. “I’m proud of my life,” he said.

Things were simpler and much less costly when Herb and Dorothy Lee began their life together upon his return in 1945. They were married until she passed away in January 2008.

“I was making 25 cents an hour; now they pay $22 an hour,” he said. “I was making $35 a week when we bought our first home.”

That brand-new, two-bedroom home cost $6,500, and the family lived there until 1961, at which time a new home cost $14,500.

“Cars have changed a lot too since then,” said Meyer, noting his first vehicle was a 1934 Chevy, which sold for $100 when he was in the service, and $200 after he was discharged. His last car was a 2019 Hyundai, and Meyer noted that the technological advancements are impressive.

Meyer worked for International Shoe for 27 years until the company closed the Jefferson City facility. “I’ve been retired almost as long as I worked,” he said, explaining he returned to the workforce — at the Department of Revenue for 17 years — before retiring at age 62. “I was used to being on my feet all the time, so it was a little different.”

Meyer is proud to have served his country and the civilian life that followed. He is one of three survivors in the Jefferson City area who fought during World War II.

Several years ago, Meyer was encouraged to participate in an Honor Flight trip to Washington, D.C. “I’m so glad I decided to do that,” he said. “I said to the young lady that was my guide before we got ready to get off the plane, ‘I appreciate this flight very much, but it’s so damn fast we really don’t get to see and comprehend everything that’s there. I’d like to take this flight again.’ And she says, ‘I’m sorry, sir. One time is all you get.’”

Meyer chose to go because his brother-in-law’s brother was in the Navy and one of the first to go on an Honor Flight. “He told me I really needed to go, so I got an application and filled it out,” he said. “It wasn’t long before I got to go.”

He continues to be as active as possible, but for the last year, Meyer has been a resident at Stonebridge - Westphalia. “I broke my hip after a fall,” he said. “There was a business that had a ramp and a step, and I thought I was on the ramp. It wasn’t, so I went down and hit my knee.”

As the late Paul Harvey would say, “Here’s the rest of the story.”

Meyer got out of his car and fell, with one leg behind him. In a force of will, he used his cane to reach the mirror. “I pulled myself up to the car, worked myself around, and finally got in the car and drove home,” he said. “Then I got home, and I said, ‘How in the hell am I going to get into the rec room from here?’ I had a cell phone, but it was in the rec room. I finally made it.”

He got help, and his rehab has been done at Stonebridge.

“I really like it here,” Meyer said. “I’ve been in several nursing homes before, and my wife was in a nursing home for two and a half years; none of the nursing homes compared to this. These are great people. They treat me very well.”

Stonebridge staff members were excited to help Meyer celebrate his milestone. “The person in charge of the kitchen came to me and asked what I would like to have for dinner on my birthday,” said Meyer.

He requested country ham, hot potato salad, and pecan pie with ice cream.

“This hallway here has got people that are just about the same type of people that I am, and they’re gonna fix dinner for all these people that are in here,” said Meyer.

Though Meyer’s rehab is complete, he intends to remain at Stonebridge.