"The World's FASTEST Greaser"----MEMORIAL DAY 2005---Thread #6

1)A tough young man from a working-class background who is much involved with cars or motorcycles........

But I've included both descriptions of the word 'Greaser'...to help out all those sanctimonious idiots who will read the one word...(and as the story will tell...how he described himself)...and fail to read the words ABOUT a person who deserves our respect.

When my father was hurt....and put into a wheelchair....and eventually the V.A. Hospital, one of the first persons he met was Carlos.

There was my dad, still struggling with the idea of being in a wheelchair...and struggling with using one, and along comes Carlos.....in the middle of a wheelchair race...sounding ,for all the world,...like the roadrunner of cartoon fame. Yelling ..."Beep-Beep"...every few yards.

And as he passed ....(followed by 4-5 other wheelchairs) I could see written on the back of his wheelchair the words ( just before he turned the corner of the hallway on what looked like to me.....2 wheels)......."The Worlds Fastest Greaser"....(found out later he had his kids paint that on.)

A couple of minutes later...he returned to where we were. I got to see his face. Worn...weathered ....handlebar mustache....and slicked back hair.

He looked at my dad (as he struggled with the 'chair')....and just plainly said..." New huh???...Lets take a roll". Simple as that........we met the person who would change my dad's life.....and who, for the next five years, would make life interesting.

Almost every weekend we would spend at Carlos's house. I would be playing with his kids (he had 5)...him and my dad would be drinking beer....and discussing the fate of the planet....and discussing how to improve the 'chair'.

Finally....they hit upon the idea of getting a lawn-mower engine and putting it on the wheelchair. (these were the old Jennings wheelchairs...heavy and not very precise when it comes to steering.). So...with the help of us kids....it's what we did.

The day arrived...when Carlos was ready to try it out...(and after having more than a few beers...deciding that it was a safe thing to do). So...he transferred to the new chair....one with the motor attached...and one that his kids had decked out with a few chrome attachments. Starting the motor....he just looked at us...and yelled out "Beep-Beep"...and (with smoke coming out of the old lawn-mower engine) took off down the road.

We all ran to make sure he was alright....and found him there...on his back...laughing his head off.

"Almost as good as drag-racing!!!" he was repeating over and over....laughing all the time he said it.

Until Carlos passed away a few years later....this is how life went. Him and my dad would always be trying to create a new way to power the wheelchair...or a new way to steer it...or a way to make it faster and lighter.

Carlos was 20 years old when he , and the rest of his Marine unit, was sent to Korea.

There was a war on.....(" Wasn't no damned 'police-action'....it was a war.") and his unit was being sent in to bolster the last attack on the North Koreans. His unit almost made it to the Yalu River....when the Chinese crossed over and pushed them back....and back.

Making it alive thru all of that fighting....making it alive thru Chosen....and still being pushed back...to almost the original dividing line between North and South Korea. Finally....his Company being assigned to some nameless hill....in the middle of nowhere.

It was getting close to the end of the war....they were 'talking' in Panmounjon...and everyone was getting a little more hopeful that they would get home...and see their families once again.

Around 100 men on this hilltop, hoping to go home, when ,one night, the Chinese Bugles sounded out...and fear started over again. (at this point of telling the story....he would just get quiet...and the 'old veterans stare' would replace his normal look....so I can't tell you what happened because I don't know.)

Then he would speak up again,after a while, and just say...."Ya know...we had over 100 men on that hill....and only four of us walked off. The rest were carried."

He would then point to frame on the wall and just say quietly (as if to someone not there...but there)..."...so they gave me that....but I would rather have my friends back."

...and on the wall was a frame....one made my his children...and in the center of that frame was a Silver Star.

So....if you're in some Hospital somewhere....and from down the hall...comes a handful of wheelchairs...racing.....

...and if you should hear the ghost of a sound going "Beep-Beep" (and sounding for all the world like some deranged Road Runner).....smile.

Ronnie Beets is still in our hearts. We have missed ''Sweet Beets'' for 33 years now... and we look forward to seeing him again on the other side. -- Lex

http://www.virtualwall.org/db/BeetsRD01a.htm

Ronnie D Beets
Specialist Four
B CO, 2ND BN, 502ND INF RGT, 101 ABN DIV
Army of the United States
13 February 1944 - 26 October 1972
Odessa, Texas
Panel 24E Line 111

Ronnie was wounded in action and went through the Medevac process. He made it home but then died of his wounds. I had just came back to my home town from my service in the Army and my last two years of college when Ronnie died. I didn't know Ronnie that well. I knew who he was. Ronnie was a 1962 graduate of Ector High School in Odessa, Texas. Although Ronnie died in 1972 his name wasn't added to the Wall in Washington, D.C., until 1986. Ronnie is honored by the Permian Basin Vietnam Memorial and by the Ector County, Texas, memorials at the courthouse. May his sacrifice never be forgotten.

A Note from The Virtual Wall
During the night of 13/14 Aug 1967 Bravo Company 2/502nd Infantry was engaged by a larger force while moving out from Landing Zone West near Chu Lai. Two men were killed and a number wounded in a fight that lasted much of the night. The known dead were SGT Johnnie H. Patterson of Oliver Springs, Tennessee, and CPL Danny L. Ingles of New Lebanon, Ohio; SGT Alexander Jackson of Washington, DC, may also have died in the night fight or may have been killed in a separate action later on 14 Aug 1967.
SP4 Ronnie D. Beets was one of the seriously wounded, with fragmentation wounds to the legs and a large wound centered in his back. Paralyzed from the chest down, SP4 Beets survived both the wounds and subsequent hospitalizations, was medically retired in 1970, and died from his injuries on 26 October 1972, just over five years after being wounded.

SP4 Beets was awarded the Silver Star for his actions during the battle, actions taken before and after he was wounded:

HEADQUARTERS
I FIELD FORCE VIETNAM
APO San Francisco 96350
23 December 1967

GENERAL ORDERS
NUMBER 983

AWARD OF THE SILVER STAR
1. TC 320. The following AWARD is announced posthumously.

BEETS, RONNIE D. RA18764896 SPECIALIST FOUR E4, United States Army
Company B, 2d Battalion (Airborne), 502d Infantry

Awarded: Silver Star
Date action: 13 August 1967
Theater: Republic of Vietnam
Reason: For gallantry in action.
Specialist Four Beets distinguished himself by gallantry in action while engaged in military operations against an armed hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam on 13 August 1967, while serving as a member of Company B, 2d Battalion (Airborne), 502d Infantry, 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division. Specialist Four Beets was serving as a machine gunner with his platoon when it came under extremely heavy attack while moving from Landing Zone White near Chu Lai. He manned a position on the perimeter, putting effective fire upon the enemy. During the night, the numerically superior North Vietnamese Army force mounted a full scale attack with mortars, rockets, grenades, automatic and small arms fire. Specialist Beets' position became a prime target, and he was seriously wounded in both legs by grenades and rockets. When the medic came forward to treat him, he refused treatment and told the medic to roll him over to this gun. Once in position, although in great pain, he again began to fire upon the enemy. He remained in position under the withering hail of enemy fire with complete disregard for his safety and injuries, until the enemy had been beaten back. Only then did he allow himself medical treatment. In the morning, six enemy bodies were found with twenty meters of his position. Specialist Beets' outstanding display of heroism in action and his devotion to duty were in the highest traditions of military service and reflects great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.
Authority: By direction of the President under the provisions of USARV Message 16695, 1 July 1966 and paragraph 27, AR 672-5-1.

FOR THE COMMANDER:

GEORGE S. BLANCHARD
Brigadier General, US Army
Chief of Staff
OFFICIAL:
GERALD L. OVERSTREET
Colonel, AGC
Adjutant General

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