After returning to Estonia, he took a job as an intern at AS Franz Krull, but he was soon called on to serve in the auto-tank regiment of the Estonian military.

After the absorption of his unit into the Red Army 22nd Estonian Territorial Rifle Corps, he was appointed a deputy political officer in the 415th Radio Battalion.

After the start of Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941, the 22nd Estonian Territorial Rifle Corps retreated to the Porhov region.

In August 1941, he was awarded a Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union for organizing the defense of the headquarters of the 22nd Estonian Territorial Rifle Corps when the German army broke through the lines near Dno in July 1941.

In reality, the defense was commanded by captain Arnold Isotamm,[4] but he was not deemed to be suitable for the decoration, as he was not a member of the Communist Party and had been an officer of the Estonian Army.

The building that housed the headquarters of the 22nd Estonian Rifle Corps in July 1941 is currently occupied by a secondary school.

[10] In his defense, Meri maintained that he was appointed to monitor the compliance of the process with then-current laws and to ensure that the punitive actions were limited to the individuals specifically listed by security services.

Decorated with the Hero of the Soviet Union for his feats on the battlefields of the Great Patriotic War, he fought Nazism to the end of his days, and actively resisted attempts to rewrite history and whitewash those responsible for the twentieth century’s greatest tragedy, and their accomplices.