The Story

Donna Perdue of Gnadenhutten, OH, Tony Comegys of Michigan City, IN, a bunch of Marine Corps Recruiters, and some of the Marine families whose sons/daughters/loved ones are in Iraq or Africa right now, were on the set of the Extreme Makeover, Home Edition, on November 17th, 2006, in Columbus, OH.

The Marine (Sergeant Jason Thomas, who "found" the two firemen as highlighted in the movie "World Trade Center" with Nicolas Cage) lives in Columbus, OH, and ABC honored him with a new home. It was built last fall and delivered to him. The only request he had was to have an American flag put up in his front yard. Thus, in November, Donna went on a quest to get him a flag...not that ABC couldn't afford to give him one or get one from somewhere else, but she knew the sergeant would appreciate it more coming from other Marines.

Donna found a manufacturing plant in Ohio (2 towns west of her) for Annin Flags--the oldest flag maker in the USA --since 1847. She was pleasantly surprised when the plant superintendent donated a US flag, a Marine Corps flag, and a Hero Flag (it has all the names of the 9/11 fallen imprinted in the stripes). In fact, he gave her 3 sets, one for her, one for the Marine Mom (Paula Imboden) who helped her organize the visit to the set and one for Sergeant Thomas' new home. He also gave her a box with 500 mini flags for all the people who'd be there at the reveal parade on the final construction day.

That cold night in November, Donna put on her desert uniform (to represent our Marines in Iraq) and met Tony and the Marine recruiters who wore their dress blues. They were met by producer, Kathryn Vaughan, and taken onto the set. After a few minutes in a VIP tent, they were taken to one of the areas where the designers and carpenters were working and Donna and the recruiters "surprised" Paul DiMeo, one of the designers, and presented the flags on camera. It was pretty motivating. Donna told him why they were there, where the flags came from and even quoted Ronald Reagan..."Some people spend a lifetime looking for a way to make a difference in the world. Marines [like Sgt Thomas] don't have that problem." She and the Marines gave a big OOOOH RAH on camera and then thanked him for making it happen.

Tony took photos while the Marine families looked on. The producers/cameramen interviewed Donna, a few of the other Marines and Paula individually...nice. So...look for Donna and the Marines on the show honoring Sergeant Thomas, which they said will air Sunday, February 11th, 2007 on ABC.