Veteran Salute: From Iraqi Freedom to Commander of a Topeka CVMA
7 March 2024
HORTON (KSNT) – Recently retired after 52 years as a volunteer firefighter in Horton, Specialist Gary Behrnes is still finding ways to give back to his community and honor those that’ve made the ultimate sacrifice.
Like many in the 1960’s, Behrnes got his start in the military through the draft.
“You know, Uncle Sam calls and says ‘Hey, I need you, and I said let’s go’,” Behrnes said. “Sure it was tough.”
In Vietnam, Behrnes served across rubber plantations, up and down mountain and everything in between.
‘It was a rude awakening for a farm boy,” he said. “I was in a recon platoon, which is we go out and they say hey we think there’s some activity some place you guys go check it out.”
That recon stayed consistent for his unit, until combat in March changed everything. After seven firefights taking place within a five day span, the group ran into a bunker complex.
“Our pointman, all of a sudden he come flying back past us, and he said something about the enemy, and then gunfire started,” Behrnes said. “Probably a couple hours went by, they brought in some overhead artillery. I do not know whether it was a air burst or a short round. It exploded, it was our people. I got hit in the leg and the back. They ran out of morphine, so we laid there all night because the enemy, they sent choppers to get us but they couldn’t do that, they were shooting at them and they couldn’t land that way to get us.”
These days, the purple heart veteran is hard at work on a recently unveiled military museum and park in Horton that honors the service of fellow veterans across Northeast Kansas, and those that have passed in the line of duty.
“We’re all in it together,” Behrnes said. “We all do it because of the country, and hopefully to help our country be better. Right now it’s in a terrible turmoil, I don’t know why but it is. But I think it’s an honor to do what we’re doing here.”