Semper Fi, Danny!

I saw this episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, where Danny Gilyeat got a new home after returning from duty in Iraq. After he got back, his wife split on him and their four kids.

Now, friends have re-built a Harley that Danny was working on before he left.

Video is here.

‘Extreme makeover’ recipient receives extreme chopper

By MALCOLM GARCIA The Kansas City Star

Daniel Gilyeat sauntered through the back door to the offices of Cycle Connections, an online motorcycle magazine, then paused and scratched his chin.

He was more than a little aware that a roomful of mechanics and Hooters employees on a Saturday afternoon meant something was up.

“Danny, you need to come here,” said sales manager Dave Miller. “For all the things you do to keep us safe, we wanted to give you an opportunity to get back on the road.”

Miller then turned to the mechanics.

“Go ahead.”

Without a word, they pulled a sheet off a sparkling deep blue and purple 1981 Ironhead Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

Gilyeat stood still, eyes reddening with the strain of holding back tears — again. Only last February, crews from ABC-TV’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” had torn down his Wyandotte County house and built him a new one, three times larger, to help him readjust to life back home after losing his left leg in Iraq in 2005.

As overwhelming as that was, some of his friends knew it wasn’t enough. Gilyeat, they understood, had a passion to be back on the road.

“They approached me, and we made arrangements with his neighbors” to take Gilyeat’s bike, Miller recalled. “It was a Thursday night, raining. I took it to my house, and then I wondered, ‘What have I got myself into?’ ”

Completely stripped and without any kind of body work, the bike was in rough shape. Furthermore, it had to be custom-fitted to accommodate Gilyeat’s artificial leg.

Miller approached mechanics at Bear’s Hiway Classics, a Kansas City motorcycle dealer, and asked for their help. Beginning in March, they donated their time and began their work that, among other things, included a stirrup for Gilyeat’s artificial leg and a hand-controlled gear shift and clutch in the shape of a grenade.

“I did the motor, but it was really a team effort,” said shop manager Travis Wright. “The big thing was to try and make it presentable.”

Perhaps the greatest challenge: Keeping their work secret from Gilyeat.

“I’m just relieved it’s over,” Miller said. “I put family and friends on stress mode getting this done.”

When the motorcycle was finally ready, Miller organized a gathering of Gilyeat’s family and friends at the Cycle Connections magazine offices, with Hooters supplying the food.

Gilyeat could only stare in stunned surprise.

“You recognize it, Danny?” one of the mechanics shouted.

“Your bike, dude.”

“We stole it from you.”

“And of course,” Gilyeat finally said, “today it’s raining.”

But that didn’t stop him from sitting astride it and firing it up to a roomful of cheers.

“I’d never have guessed,” he said. “I still don’t recognize it. It’s an amazing thing. We do what we do because America’s worth it. You all have given me more than enough.”

“Danny,” a man shouted back. “For what you did, we could never give you enough.”

H/T: The Donovan