fixler hands the man a diamond ring. he examines the ring closely, as if he s considering buying it. but fixler senses something is off. i seen that he was hesitating. and the price tag of that ring was $14,000. so i figured to myself, maybe that price is a little too much. as fixler and the man talk something unexpected happens. what comes in my face is an automatic pistol. the gunman demands money, but fixler has no intention of giving in to his threats. the robbers don t realize it yet, but the unassuming shop keeper is not as defenseless as he appears. my brain went into, this is the real deal. this is an automatic. do not like automatics and now i got to kill these guys. i pushed the weapon out of my face, i bolted about eight, ten feet to where i have my revolver hidden, took it out of the holster and came up, pointed guns at each other and i just fired away. fixler aims at point-blank
tremendously. as for udon, he counts his blessings every day. despite the violent attack, he goes back to work at the convenience store, though his children wish he would quit. come on, please, don t go there. every day, can you quit the job? can you find another job? but udon says he won t leave any time soon. he s grateful to have this job, at least for now. i came back. owner, he trust me. different with the money, financial, and mental support. everything he gave me. being a victim of an armed robbery didn t deter udon from returning to his job and didn t deter store manager karen smith or jewelry store owner barry fixler, either. they all went back to their daily lives, knowing that when they were faced with fear, they fought back
february 14th, 2005. it s a few minutes before 9:00 a.m. in bardonia, new york, a town 35 miles north of new york city. and barry fixler is about to open his jewelry store for the annual valentine s day rush. gentlemen come in from 9:00 in the morning until about 8:00 at night. pick up a heart real quick. engagement ring real quick. something for their girlfriend fiancee or their wife. so, when two men show up at the door a little early, barry doesn t think twice about letting them into the shop. i opened the door. they followed me into the store. went around the counter. one of the fellows says i d like to see engagement rings. the man in the black coat stares into the display case and singles one out. a routine fixler has seen thousands of times. figured this is just a normal sale. the other fellow actually joked around and said that, i m trying to talk my buddy out of this. it was sort of a joke.
that day was that fixler is a combat veteran who fought in vietnam. and not the nerdy, easy target they expected. they probably figured i m the last guy to know how to use a weapon. fixler is not charged with any crime. he legally possessed the handgun he used. and with the help of the videotape, police determined he had the right to defend himself because he was in fear for his life. after the robbery, fixler receives an outpouring of support from the community and wants to find a way to give back. i m in this community for 20 years, in business for over 20 years. they know that i just came from a life and death situation. the retired marine starts by helping local war veterans, including sergeant eddie ryan who was wounded in the iraq war. sergeant ryan sustained a head injury in battle, and in learning of this, barry fixler donated the profits from his store the following valentine s day to the family of eddie rye
back to the soldiers who help keep america free. he is doing that with a goal of raising $1 million for wounded veterans. joining us now is retired marine sergeant and author of semper cool, sergeant barry fixler. thank you for joining us. it is an honor to have you here today. i want to talk about your book semper cool and the picture on the cover of the book. there is a significant story behind that. that picture is three marines. three marines that before we got to vietnam we were told one-third of us were going to get killed in the next year. one-third of us will lose our legs or lose a limb. and only one-third of us are going to return. i m so fortunate that i m the one-third that returned in whole. we were told only one-third would be able to be standing up after our tour in vietnam for one year, and that s me. it ended up being true?