"My
name is Nick Berg, my father's name is Michael, my mother's name
is Suzanne. I have a brother and sister, David and Sara. I live
in Philadelphia."
Berg then was pushed to the floor and screamed as one of
the executioners wielded a large knife. The man sawed off
Berg's head while the other captors shouted: "Allahu
Akbar!" Arabic for "God is great."
Outside
their home in West Chester, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia, Berg's
father, brother and sister collapsed after reporters told them
about the tape. The family, which had a photograph of Nick Berg
taped to their mailbox, had been told by the State Department
on Monday that Berg's beheaded body had been found.
Friends of the family were devastated. "He was like a son
to me," said the Rev. Bruce Hauser, who lives next door to
Berg's parents. The Bergs "are just broken up, distraught.
They can't believe it, especially the way he died. It makes it
worse." Hauser said he had known Nick Berg since Berg was
a little boy.
Will Scott, 27, a software developer in Austin who went to high
school with Berg, told CBS that his friend was "approximately
the coolest guy ever. He could build a computer out of cardboard
and tin foil, and that's not really an exaggeration."
Scott recalled a summer science program he attended with Berg.
"Nick had an entire department of his own that he basically
invented called Bergology. It was this weird combination of computer
engineering, electronics, craftsmanship" Scott said. "He
was really good at it he had an energetic personality and
a really good attitude he would really get along with anybody."
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