Special Events at Engeman to Benefit Wounded Marine

The 'Building Homes For Huntington Heroes' effort got a boost when Huntington Town Councilman Mark Mayoka and his fellow board members joined with the John W. Engeman  to kick off a series of events to help raise the money to carry out a major renovation and to make severely injured Marine Lt. James Byler’s home handicapped accessible. 

Byler, a 2003 Huntington High School graduate whose mom, Janet, teaches at High School, was an infantry platoon commander with the Third Battalion, 5th Marines, of Camp Pendleton, Calif., when he was severely injured after stepping on a bomb in Northern Helmand Province, one of the deadliest provinces in Afghanistan.

He was brought to safety by wheelbarrow by members of his platoon and later awarded a Purple Heart. Byler sustained serious injuries, losing both legs and fingers on each hand. He is currently at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., undergoing physical therapy and learning to use prosthetic legs.

The first of a series of  fundraising events will be on June 24 at 8 p.m. with a special one-night "Broadway Salute."  

Three of the five performers for the Broadway Salute were announced: Andy Karl from Wicked; Jennifer Hope Wills from Phantom; and Orfeh from Legally Blonde. 

The Engeman theater is an appropriate place for such a fundraiser, as it was named after the brother-in-law of owner Kevin O'Neill. On Mother’s Day 2006, while O’Neill was considering the purchase of the theater, Engeman, 45, a soldier in Iraq, was killed by a bomb that exploded near his Humvee.