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Show wi'mi m KO't 'Ciin1 ' t 11 ' 1 ' 1 1 11 1 ' 1 l'""T i Thursday, June 8, 2006 OREM GENEVA TIMES Page 15 Close calls as a Black Beret . m. mjmjmt. A Friitnr's note: This is the third of a three-Dart series about fc I CI I ' R'an Beuhrl"? Orem. This week, Sergeant Beuhring finishes his year in Vietnam, but not without more close calls. SCERA hosts art show, Broadway legend HI we w briefsj a . ! til ' was among 30 men who were recruited to train with the Black Berets. Twenty-seven participated, partici-pated, but at the end of the training, only six of us were left. We went through some fairly intensive training how to survive in the jungle, do reconnaissance, gather intel escape and evade, and the like. After a couple weeks of stand-down, stand-down, we were sent to train with the Green Berets in Da Nang. We also learned that it's usually better to wound and capture rather than kill. A wounded man requires at least one other man to tend to him, minimizing the effectiveness of their firepower. For us, the possibility pos-sibility of a captive also would give us valuable intel, which might save the lives of others. One morning, at dawn, we went out on a "heavy" two teams of six men each. We were inserted by helicopter at the highest point on the finger of a mountain. We were to pull our sweep in the late afternoon, hoping the enemy did not see us being inserted. We were wrong. Mid-afternoon, without warning, there were three enemy shots fired followed by a "swisssh!" Then a loud explosion explo-sion and a "crack." A rocket-propelled rocket-propelled grenade had hit a tree and a large broken limb fell within our perimeter. Then everything broke lose. One of my men was leaning against a backpack, facing out something some-thing we were trained never to do. The enemy selected him as the opening target and shot him in the stomach. He died minutes later because there was little we could do for his serious wound while under fire. We were now firing out, and I was radioing for help, to get some gunnies (helicopter gun ships) out to open fire around our perimeter. Then, I noticed the other team leader suddenly doing a backwards crab crawl towards the perimeter. He was Over 24 Years JSfe e Pawn an Title Loans on ATVs, Cars, Motorcycles Jewelry Diamonds Rote GoiC & Siw New Whatesaie Jeweliy Confers Nan Brarc Tocis 444 W. Center Provo 374-8076 HOURS 9am-6pm M-F Sat 9am-3pm 1 its isn ' n -j- rrMinW www.cougarblue.com I kt I Emergencies Welcome Major Credit Cards Accepted Interest Free Financing Available Most Insurance Plans Accepted Teeth Whitening Missionary Discounts 1 98 South Main Limited Time tUVtUj yi.!!f ilH , This photo of Ryan Beuhring was taken about two years after he returned from Vietnam. pointing at something. The enemy had tossed a homemade grenade that landed not more than two feet from me. The longest lon-gest timed fuse I'd heard of in one of these was seven seconds. My first thought was foolish: fool-ish: "What would John Wayne do?" I had just a split second to decide whether to pick it up and throw it, or leave it. We were trained not to disturb dis-turb undetonated explosives. So, I decided to move my pack between it and me a stupid thing to do, as I later thought about it, because my pack was loaded with grenades, blasting caps, a claymore, and lots of ammunition. Fortunately, the grenade didn't go off. Finally, the gunnies arrived and strafed around our perimeter, perim-eter, dispersing the enemy. Two choppers dropped down to pick us up. I was the last one to get on the second chopper. As it was taking off, that grenade exploded. I had a number of close calls with death but for some reason I was never even wounded. Somebody was obviously taking tak-ing care of me. My last life-threatening experience ex-perience happened just a month before I was to come home. The second night while my team and I were on a clandestine observation ob-servation mission in the DMZ, we were engaged in a firefight. Suddenly, an explosion went a3 r Heath J. Blake D.D.S. Family and Cosmetic Dentistry 785-8308 FREE EXAM & X-RAYS WITH PAID CLEANING Not valid with any other offer Expire August 30. 2006 Pleasant Grove off underneath me. It blew me off the ground, and in that moment, mo-ment, my whole life literally flashed before me all the sights, the sounds, the smells, the tastes. Everything. In a split second I relived all the experiences experi-ences in my life as far back as I could remember. Then I blacked out. As I came to in my mind, I remember the feeling of being suspended in extreme blackness black-ness a blackness that I had never seen before or since. But, at the same time, I felt an unspeakable un-speakable calm around me. After some personal inquiries and reflections I realized I was being given the choice to move on to death or to return to life but if I returned I would be risking how I would be found. After some serious soul searching search-ing and more reflection, I made a very personal commitment and then decided to return to this Ufe, all the while praying for the best possible outcome. By the next day, my sight and hearing had fully returned, and to my surprise I was back to normal Even more to my amazement, I hadn't even been wounded. When I finally came home from Vietnam, my mom and sister looked at me but they didn't share their initial observation ob-servation until after several months. "You looked 10 years older when you came home," my mom later told me, "but now you look like my son again." These excerpts from local veterans are courtesy of the Orem Heritage Committee. Complete stories of the veterans will eventually be put on the Orem City Web site, www.orem.org. Readers aware of any veterans who have written about their military service are asked to arrange to have these archives in the Veterans History Project, Library of Congress. Phone Don Norton (225-8050) on how to do this. EsTA6LlsHEET55g Perfect foradadniio's sharp nnd useful ! Fun gifts for Father's LOSEE Jewelers Only In CottonThee Square ux N. untvtrtity Pkwy Prow Mon-S.tlo.ffl - www.loseejewelers.net SO Yeap8 fixing in Love iluro muzaim Cam 382 W. Center Street Orem (2nd Floor) 224-5151 Dr. I TEETH WHITENING WITH NEW I PATIENT EXAM, CLEANING & X-RAYS I S175 I Valid with coupon orty Not valk) with other oners So Insuance Vim Accepted ' PjyBiew Opions AvjiUWr CfWt;rfc Children! fenwr DsscoiKH Emrrsnvif Vlcnar SCERA Father's Day art show and sale If the SCERA Center for the Arts has a decidedly masculine look this month, it's because Repartee Gallery is offering a display and sale of wildlife and landscape art for Father's Day. Some of the proceeds will be donated to SCERA, which is one way the gallery is getting more involved with its community, com-munity, says Steevun Lemon of Repartee Gallery. SCERA President & CEO Adam Robertson said the partnership part-nership with Repartee is a win-win. win-win. "The gallery has an additional venue to display their works, and those who buy the art at SCERA know part of the purchase pur-chase price is a contribution to SCERA 's arts programs," Robertson Rob-ertson said. The sale is unusual for the gallery because the work is discounted dis-counted from between 20 and 70 percent, with much of it in the 50 percent off range. After the Father's Day holiday, Repartee Gallery will rotate the art out and replace it with other selections. Repartee has been displaying and selling art at the SCERA Center, some of it limited edition, since before Christmas. The latest in BYU Sports online wwww.heraldextra.com Day (801) 373-1000 t:J0pm Frid.ys until 8pm. ,1 tr.: Timp Plaza DENT 8 L Stereo R Braithwaite 763-7737 1 IYS ?0806 J Value! Valid only with new patient exams Expires 020&06 N'Mffam Oxide Pmvntlvr Dcmiflry ftwmrtic hmiry Tmh Whitening Crown Brtdge Dcnturn Root CaniU Sedition Iknttury Smite Rc-l)f ign Tooth Colored Filling The Father's Day art show is open through June at the SCERA Center for the Arts, 745 S. State St., Orem. For more information, contact SCERA at 225-ARTS. I Ben Vereen to sing, dance at SCERA Shell Broadway legend leg-end Ben Vereen will appear in a live performance June 26 at the SCERA Shell Outdoor Theatre when the Broadway legend brings his tribute to musical theater the-ater to the Orem stage. The concert will begin at 8 p.m., and tickets are available online at www.scera.org, by calling 225-ARTS, or weekdays from 10 a.m. -6 p.m. and Saturdays Satur-days from noon to 6 p.m. at the SCERA Center for the Arts, 745 S. State St., Orem. Tickets will also be available at the Shell gate 90 minutes prior to the show. Seating is a grassy hill, and patrons may bring blankets or rent a chair forSl.OO. General admission is S15 for adults and $10 for children chil-dren (age 3-1 1), seniors (65 and older) and students (wID). Reserved Re-served seating areas are available avail-able and include a free chair. 5$ ARTISTIC BATH & KITCHEN REFINISHINC INC. 1-888-707-9297 wwwartisticbatlirefmishings.com Refinish Any TUb for $275 Refinish Tub & Orrr 20 Tears nl'lxperienre Looking Richard K. Sharp, M.D. DrvCreek Family Practice 766-4214 We Accept Most lncnrnnro Plnnc 3300 N. RUNNING'CR?EkvWM?f LEHI (A 'We have an Extensive Credit Program. We can help with a New or Used car and Reestablish your credit. No Hassle 24 hr. Credit Line. (801)492-1870 Or For One-on One Help Call Jake at 492-0100 DOUG A rwiil U AUTOPLEX I VI I I ViU Family Owned & Operated 523 W. Main, American Fork, Utah Exit 281 801-492-1110 raxrari HOMt AUTO auto call us TICKETS cttcctpttm "0 fKOtUMf Phone Quotes Welcome B33 Qmm Reserved seating prices range from S20 to $30 for adults and $15 to $25 for children, seniors and students. Vereen is known for impressive impres-sive musical, dance, comedic and dramatic talents, and his one-man show earned him ' Entertainer En-tertainer of the Year," "Rising Star" and "Song and Dance Star" from the American Guild of Variety Artists - the first person to win three in one year. He is a popular headliner with nearly 30 major symphonies, including the famed New York Pops and the Utah Symphony. He has taken his critically-acclainu'd critically-acclainu'd show to Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Lake Tahoe, throughout the United State and into Lurope, Asia and the Giriblx-an Islands. Audiences will enjoy a tribute to Sammy Davis Jr. as well as a tribute to the music of Broadway, including includ-ing selections from "Chicago," "Les Miserables," "Cats," "West Side Story," "Five Guys Named Moe," "Hair," "Jekyll & Hyde," "Pippin" and from his current starring role as the Wizard of Oz in the Broadway smash "Wicked." COMPUBYTES At Certified Computer Sales I Service We Help You Take a f-vr i Out of High Cost J ComTutty :J Rrnair I I mwj r i l 286 North Univ. Ave Provo www.utahcompubytes.com For a Great 4V 2.16 UH WStfftSS ires ropfiw 9 mm "Slim-"'' COPY " Financing Available 262 N. West State Road (by Smiths) ; American Fork |