Retired Marine Gunnery Sgt. Nick Beberniss and his wife Leslie won’t forget Feb. 14, 2004.
The couple had been dating for a year with drives from Fort Irwin, California, where she worked to 29 Palms, California, where he was stationed, a regular part of their lives until Nick’s unit was called to deploy to Iraq with two weeks' notice.
That Valentine’s Day Leslie had the surprise of her life as she watched Nick make his final preparations to head overseas for seven months. He asked her to marry him and her answer was a resounding yes.
The couple say it wasn’t love at first site. Leslie, an Arny “brat,” said Nick “grew on” her after they met at a country western bar in June of 2003 following his return from an 11-month deployment to Okinawa.
“I saw her standing there with an angry look on her face,” recalled Nick.
“I wasn’t angry,” laughed Leslie.
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“From my point of view, she looked angry,” continued Nick. “I walked up to her and struck up a conversation. I told her to smile.”
The relationship took off from there. Leslie said Nick’s persistence and drive won her heart.
“He never gives up on anything, obviously,” she said. “He’s a caring person. He’s passionate about life, he’s passionate about family. He’s still passionate about the Marine Corps.”
Nick said Leslie’s compassion and ability to love are what drew him to her.
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“She’s got a very big heart and that’s what I love about her,” he said.
That love was tested nearly six months after they were engaged when Nick was severely injured in an IED explosion on July 21, 2004. He was thrown 60 meters and left with a broken rib cage, punctured lung, a broken back, a fractured pelvis, two broken legs and severe trauma. His right leg was ultimately amputated below the knee.
“I took the brunt of the whole explosion,” explained Nick. “I’m not the only one that got hurt.”
Nick suffered two cardiac arrests during his initial treatment in Iraq before being transferred to Balboa Naval Medical Center in San Diego, where he would spend nearly nine years recovering from his wounds with Leslie by his side.
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Leslie quit her job and soon exhausted all her savings traveling back and forth to San Diego, even sleeping outside the hospital in her truck.
“I didn’t rate lodging, I didn’t rate anything because we weren’t married,,” Leslie said. “It was basically, you can visit at this time and leave at this time.”
Leslie learned how to get a marriage license when one party can’t be present, obtained the document and got a Navy chaplain to perform the wedding ceremony in Nick’s hospital room.
Nick said in a way he is glad he was injured.
“It gave me the challenge I was looking for,” he said.
Nick wanted to continue his service and became the first Marine to reenlist on permanent limited duty.
“I’m the type of person where nobody what I can and can’t do,” said Nick. “I’m the only person who can do that.”
However, in recent years, Nick noticed some physical changes, including difficulty walking, fatigue, paralysis, and double vision and was diagnosed with Service-Connected Multiple Sclerosis, forcing him to medically retire in 2019.
Through all those challenges, the couple, who have three children, said non-profit Semper Fi & America’s Fund has been by their side, offering whatever support they needed.
“They’ve been with us from the beginning,” said Leslie. “Look at us. Nineteen years later. They’ve never left us and we’ll never leave them.”
The Beberniss’ call Semper Fi & America’s Fund their extended family. The non-profit supports all branches of the nation’s armed forces with one-on-one case management, connection and lifetime support services.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.