The city edged a little closer to the Fourth of July Friday night when Freedom Awards were presented at the Freedom Festival at Provo Awards Gala to six separate recipients.
Among those honored at the event were Dr. Jose Albert Sanchez for his work with American Indians in the Chihihuan Mountains, Jon and Karen Huntsman for their humanitarian and philanthropy work and John Walsh for his work in fighting crime through hosting Fox's "America's Most Wanted" television program.But perhaps the most intriguing story came from David Beattie and Sung Hak Baik, who received the Freedom Award for their story that started more than 40 years ago.
Baik, a North Korean orphan and refugee, stumbled into Beattie's bunker a few days after Baik wandered onto a refugee boat headed for South Korea.
"I didn't want him to be there at first," Beattie said. "I was afraid he was going to get hurt with all the soldiers around."
But the 11-year-old orphan won Beattie's affection by working hard to earn a place among the GIs as the bunker's washboy, and Beattie was even more impressed when the child would help repair fences and do other jobs intended for American soldiers.
In turn, Baik said Beattie took him under his wing and taught him Christian morals, giving the young Baik a vision to succeed and treat others with kindness.
"He always stuck up for me when the other soldiers wouldn't," Baik said. "He would give me food, clothing and medicine and would always watch out for me to make sure I was taken care of."
One day Beattie saved Baik from a fuel tank shelled by the enemy by carrying him to a jeep and staying with the child until aid could be administered. Although Baik suffered burns over most of his body, Beattie's split-second reaction saved him from receiving major scars.
When the end of the war sent Beattie to another assignment in the United States and Baik to an orphanage, contact between the two was lost.
Baik spend the next years of his life working for a variety of Korean factories before he started his own baseball cap factory named Young An in 1959 at the age of 19.
A short time later, Baik began to search for his childhood mentor, an exploration that lasted 36 years and involved some of the U.S.'s foremost detectives.
"I almost quit," Baik said. "But I kept trying because I knew he was out there."
The two were reunited in 1991 amid a flurry of television and magazine articles chronicling the event.
Today, Baik is one of South Korea's most prominent businessmen, and Young An is the world's largest maker of baseball caps. In 1993, approximately 70 million caps were sold throughout the world.
Baik said he uses the values taught him by Beattie to spend his wealth wisely.
"Right after I was burned I made a promise to God that if he would spare my life, I would give service back to other people," Baik said.
Baik has opened clinics in Korea, Sri Lanka, China and Costa Rica that provide food, shelter and medicine for handicapped children, the elderly, orphans and others needing medical help in those countries. Baik said three more clinics are in the planning stages.
"When you get money, you give it back," Baik said. "I would rather share my wealth than amass it."