Welcome to Bendell Enterprises  Cañon City,  Colorado.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM DON: I have four sons and two daughters and do not love any one any more than another. We feature only our two youngest sons, Brent and Joshua, on this page and in this and our other website, because they have been our business partners for years, and they are business websites, but it does not lessen our pride or love for our other family members. Enjoy.

Don & Shirley in Colorado Springs, Colorado after Don's interview on FOX NEWS LIVE, March 30, 2004.

Don and NFL Hall of Fame QB John Elway stand in doorway in April, 2007 before both being honored by Secretary of VA Jim Nicholson in a ceremony in Denver, Colorado.

Don walks point as he searches for mines and tripwires, leading a patrol of Rudi Gresham and John Elway off Invesco Field in Denver, September 20, 2006.

  Shirley and Don on back patio of the White House, March 9, 2005

l to r: Montagnard leader Ramah Yel, Chief of Montagnards Tribal Council, Don, Shirley, Y-Ble Nie, Vice-President of the Montagnard-Dega Ass'n at the 2005 SFA Convention in Nashville, TN and Fort Campbell, KY, June-July, 2005.

Don pets Mrs. Beasley(l), pet Scottie of Laura Bush, and Barney(r), pet Scottie of President George W. Bush on the Rose Garden sidewalk just outside the Oval Office.

Film superstar Bo Derek wears  Don's Green Beret at Snowmass Resort Aspen, Colorado in March, 2003.

Don and FASHION HOUSE star Bo Derek in Oklahoma City, July, 2007

Don (on Eagle) and Shirley (on Lakota) wave at the crowd at the May 2006 Music and Blossom Parade in Canon City, Colorado.

Don jokes around with Bo Derek in Nashville, Tennessee, July, 2005.

Don and close friend former-Green Beret The Honorable Rudi Gresham, LTC, USASF, ret., Presidential Appointee as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs

In September, 2006, l t r: Rudi Gresham, Denver Broncos legend and NFL Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway, Don at Invesco Field at Mile High, the Denver Broncos stadium.

Don, Las Vegas legend & Film/TV legend Connie Stevens, and Rudi Gresham share a laugh in Oklahoma City, July, 2007.

Don and Shirley get a new hairstyling by the rotor wash of MARINE I, the President's helicopter, as it lifts off the South Lawn of the White House, March 9, 2005.

Don (5th from l, blue shirt)) stands at attention with other VIP's waiting to "Toast the Special Forces Regiment" at Fort Bragg, NC, May 31, 2007 at a Donning of the Beret ceremony.

SPECOPS BUDDIES at Special Operations Memorial, January, 2007, at USSOCOM headquarters, MacDill AFB, Florida: back, l to r: Attorney and former Army Ranger Ray Callafel, Don, front l to r: CIA and Specops legend SGM Billy Waugh, who was the man who captured Carlos the Jackal and came face-to-face with Osama bin Laden 4 times and has been on specops missions in 55 countries, including 7 and a half years in MAC-V/SOG in RVN, and Don's A-team CO in RVN at Dak Pek and longtime close pal retired Special Forces Colonel Joe Dietrich.

(above)Waiting to be knighted with a sword on April 23, 2005, Don kneels in the US Air Force Academy Chapel, as he becomes a Templar Knight in the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem. This is NOT affiliated with the Freemasons, but the original Knights of the Templar started in 1118AD during the Crusades. (below)Shirley was invested as a Dame, along with Sir Don Bendell.

 

US Surgeon General (and former Special Forces medic) Vice ADM Rich Carmona, MD, Don, and the Hon. Rudi Gresham, 2003. Rich also lived with the Montagnards near Dak Pek.

Don and former US Surgeon General Rich Carmona, MD, in Oklahoma City, July, 2007.

Even when Rudi Gresham supervises John Elway shooting public service announcements for veterans, Don says he has got Rudi's back.

Don waves at crowd while children pet Eagle at the 2006 Blossom Parade.

USAFA Officers Club Apri 22, 2005, Don, **, Shirley, family friend Peggy Sue Meininger, Don's "make-believe" twin brother retired Green Beret LTC Dennis Yost.

Don sits next to friend and Bill sponsor Colorado House district 44 representative Tom Massey in 2005, while Don testified in the state Capitol Building in Denver for the Colorado House of Representatives Finance Committee. The Bill offered financial and tax perks to film-makers to attract more film and television production to the State of Colorado. The Bill passed.

LTC Dennis Yost investiture June 28, 2006 into the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem, l to r: Sir Don Bendell, USA Grand Prior (and former Green Beret LTC) Bob Disney (Nephew of Walt Disney), LTC Bill Anton, and Sir Dennis Yost.

Don with friends John and Kathy Becker. Both are Presidential appointees. 

Shirley sits in a US Army Blackhawk helicopter at Carlysle Barracks, Pennsylvania, 2003

Shirley, Don, and close friend Roxanne Merritt, curator of the Special Forces Museum,        at the Riviera Resort Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas in 2004.

Above and Below: Don and then-World Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali in 1979 in Ali's kitchen at his training camp in Deer Lake, Pennsylvania. This was the only time that Muhammad Ali ever grew a mustache. Don and the Champ became friends in 1973, an odd combination, a Vietnam volunteer and a draft resister.

Shirley, on her Medicine Hat Paint, Lakota, waves at the crowd at the 2006 Blossom Parade.

Don recites some of his patrioic poems at a Congressional Medal of Honor celebration in Pueblo, Colorado as principal speaker Wayne Newton listens and his wife reads along. 

Shirley and Don stand in front of the main entrance to the West Wing. The Marine guard by the door indicates that the President is inside in the Oval Office.

Shirley jokes and shakes hands with Secretary of VA Jim Nicholson in April, 2007. Looking on is the Secretary's daughter, the Honorable Rudi Gresham, John Elway, and Don.

Don is interviewed on FOX NEWS LIVE, by satellite feed at Focus on the Family as a studio technician transmits the sounds and image in March 30, 2004.

Don faces 2 gun-toting attackers for a magazine article, preparing to disarm them. In his closed right hand is all the change from his pocket, which he threw into the face of the attacker on the right, while disarming the attacker on left.

In the 1980's, Don and Shirley got to meet Bart the Bear when he was young. The villain in THE EDGE starring Anthony Hopkins, and the hero in THE BEAR, as well as numerous other films and commercials, Bart, a Kodiak bear, young here, was only 8 &1/2 feet tall and maybe 1,200 pounds. Owned and trained by Doug and Lynn Seus, Bart had all his claws and teeth, and even when young knew 48 behaviors. Bart has since gone on to Bear Heaven. 

          Don surrounded by Montagnard refugees at "the New Central Highlands"                    near Asheboro, North Carolina, March, 2005. The Montagnard refugee farm is manned and operated by Montagnard refugees from many tribes working together in harmony, and was purchased by donations through SFA, STMP, MDA, and several church organizations.

 

War buddies! Retired Command Sergeant Major Tom Weeks, former Team Sergeant of Dak Pek, Retired Colonel Jim Selders, former Team Commander of Dak Pek, and Don.

Don teases some of his karate students before the 2006 Blossom Parade. The students stand by the edge of the schools' float completely designed and constructed by Bendell Karate students.

Don with pal and fellow author, the very popular military writer and former Green Beret, Jim Morris, who also was Don's editor on CROSSBOW and his TRACKER books.

Don, blindfolded, mentally "sees" a carrot on the bare stomach of a student with his fingers and the blade of his razor-sharp Samurai sword at the 2005 Annual Blossom Festival in Canon City. Seconds later, Don, with both hands, raised the sword high overhead and sliced the carrot in half without doing the same to the student. 

        SF Brothers Don and Denny Yost at SFA 50th Anniversity picnic in 2002 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. In his fifties, 6'5" Denny still bench presses well over 350 pounds.

Don delivers a political speech to Republicans in Murfreesboro, Tennessee during the 2004 Presidential race.

Don in December, 2004 with pal Rick Upchurch, Number 80, who was a record-setting Pro-Bowl wide receiver and kick/punt returner for the Denver Broncos, at Bendell Karate Annual Awards Banquet. Rick caught the first NFL touchdown pass thrown by John Elway.

Denver Bronco great Rick Upchurch was hired in 2005 as head coach of Pueblo East High School to turn around the football team, and immediately contacted Don to teach Aerobic Kickboxing, Jujitsu, and Karate classes to the entire team. Here, during summer camp, fifty players, learning the importance of solid stances, formed a human chain and unsuccessfully played tug of war with Don, who could not be pulled off balance. 

               ABOVE AND PHOTO BELOW

At Rick Upchurch's Rare Breed Youth Football Training Camp, Don demonstrates and discusses modifying jujitsu techniques for football with Rick (l), former Denver Broncos running back Steve Sewell(m), and former Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys lineman Leonard Renfro(r), while the four take a break from refereeing games. Not shown but also training youth at the camp were other Denver Bronco greats Mark Jackson, Tyrone Braxton, Dave Studdard, and Ron Egloff.

See Above

While RARE BREED youths look on, Don jokes around with Denver Broncos Tight End Ron Egloff, #85, while they take a break from refereeing playoff games.

Kills-In-The-Fog and Wamble Uncha (One Eagle, Don's Lakotah[Sioux] name). Retired SF SFC Ted Hogan, former secretary/treasurer of the Tribal Council of the Crow Nation, and Don. They served together in the 3rd SFGA in 1969-70. Ted's great-great-grandfather was Goes Ahead, famous Crow scout for Gen George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, who was prepared to die with Custer but was released and sent off right before the battle began, along with the other Crow scouts. He then  witnessed the entire the battle, joining Major Reno's command nearby, also in a hornet's nest.

Shirley, best-selling author Robin Moore, and his brand new bride, and Don in Nashville, TN. July, 2005. Robin wrote THE GREEN BERETS, FRENCH CONNECTION, the HAPPY HOOKER, and many more hits.

With communication techniques that would make Oprah or Dr. Phil proud, while they lie down and relax, Don nicely explains to Pueblo East High School football players how much more intensity would greatly "enhance" their playing ability.

Don holds up one of his 10 popular Chris Colt westerns (Penguin USA) standing in his driveway.

Don delivers 2004 Veterans Day speech and MC's ceremonies for the US Postal Service in Canon City.

Ms. Kathy L'Amour, widow of the late-Louis L'Amour and Don doing personal appearances at a Western Film Convention in Durango, Colorado in 1999.

Shirley looks on as Don receives a plaque after speaking.

                  Don does poetry recitation in the Rex Allen Museum in Willcox Arizona in 2000. It was Rex Allen's last "Rex Allen Days" before his untimely death.

Don with the late-Colonel Aaron Banks, the "father of Special Forces" and first   commanding officer of the Green Berets, a few years before the centegenarian's death.

US Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R, CO) (Cheyenne Nation) and Don in Durango, CO, 1999.

Kuli was Don and Shirley's favorite pet ever, weighed between 150 and 175 pounds, and was taller than Don when he put his paws on Don's shoulders. Kuli's father was a pure white Arctic wolf, and his mother was a pure timberwolf. 

ODA-242, Co B, 5th SFGA - The first Dak Pek A-Team Reunion, Canon City, CO, 1990: (front, l to r) CSM Tom Weeks, COL Joe Dietrich, MSG Don "Commo Willy" Williams, the late-CSM Joe Seyer (back l to r) the late-CSM Rich Childers (non-SF friend of Steve Olson), SGT Larry Crostley, COL Jim Selders, CPT Don Bendell, SGT Larry Vosen, the late-MSG Steve Olson, the late-CSM Joe Kope             

Don and his pal, his famous National Show Horse (half-Arabian/half-American Saddlebred) Eagle. Eagle is considered a sacred horse by many members of the Navajo Nation in the 4 Corners region.

Don delivers a patritotic Memorial Day speech in 2002.

Don's newest novel, a modern day Global War on Terrorism thriller, was released worldwide by Berkley Books, a division of Penguin Group, USA, in November, 2007. It is the final novel in the CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION DETACHMENT trilogy of military thrillers and 0is available at many stores worldwide.

At Bendell Karate's Annual Awards Banquet in 1995, Don's instructor, former World Champion Grandmaster Bob Chaney, flew in and surprised Don with his promotion to 7th degree black belt and induction into the International Karate Hall of Fame. The plaque is displayed in the Canon City Bendell Karate studio.