'No wheelies' at Camp Bucca, Iraq

A Lewisburg retail store's co-manager gave Mark Young a bicycle before the Tennessee Army National Guardsman returned to Iraq last spring so he could get from one place to another quickly.

Now, back from Iraq, the Coleman Street resident says he doesn't ride the bicycle because his job is in a small, contained area. But he regularly loans it to friends. He grins a little when he adds, it's OK if a comrade on base "borrows" it without asking.

"Even if it's taken, it's still being used for the purpose it was given," he said.

Rachel Creel, a co-manager at the Wal-Mart store here, decided one day last May to simply have a cashier give the bicycle and a helmet to Young and his wife, Belinda, as they were in the check-out line.

Creel who had helped the Youngs select the mountain bike, said she was touched by their story and decided to use the authority company officials gave her to make donations.

"They stand behind our decisions," she said.

See the complete story in Friday's Tribune.