“If I’m going to die, I’m not going to die down here. Take me back to the battle!”
Gary Biekirch joined the Army hoping to become a Green Beret. It hadn’t been a dream, but after hearing a buddy say he was going to join the Marines, Gary picked becoming a Green Beret because a book he had just read was becoming a movie featuring John Wayne – The Green Berets by Robin Moore. He had been wandering in life before that but after more than a year of training, he was a Green Beret medic on his way to Vietnam. He was assigned to camp Dak Seang, which supported a local village and had locals working alongside the soldiers.
I received a copy of Blaze of Light as part of the launch team. I received a free copy in exchange for a fair review. I joined the launch team because Gary’s story sounded interesting and I think it’s important to know the personal stories of our military members. Since Gary is a Medal of Honor winner, I wanted to know more about his story.
Gary didn’t know that his camp was set up bait for the enemy. The military hoped that if the enemy attacked the camp, they could then attack a large number of the enemy troops in one place. The attack came and the soldiers and villagers were outnumbered at least four to one. Gary was injured, but with the help of his bodyguard continued to enter the battle area to treat the wounded. He was eventually medevaced out of the battle. The book then takes the reader through Gary’s journey of recovery from wounds inside and out that eventually led him to God and his life’s calling.
Blaze of Light is an important story of how one of our nation’s Medal of Honor winners struggled with life after war. It shows the importance of taking care of all our veterans as some wounds can’t be seen. The book is slow in parts, but as a biography it is telling a true story. I would recommend this to readers who like biographies and military books.
“To really live, you must almost die. To those who fight for it, life has a meaning the protected will never know.”
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