Posted on 08/03/2015 2:26:28 PM PDT by UMCRevMom@aol.com
You're a 19 year old kid. You are critically wounded and dying in the jungle somewhere in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam . It's November 11, 1967. LZ (landin...g zone) X-ray. Your unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so intense from 100 yards away, that your CO (commanding officer) has ordered the MedEvac helicopters to stop coming in. You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns and you know you're not getting out. Your family is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you'll never see them again.
As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day. Then - over the machine gun noise - you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter. You look up to see a Huey coming in. But.. It doesn't seem real because no MedEvac markings are on it. Captain Ed Freeman is coming in for you. He's not MedEvac so it's not his job, but he heard the radio call and decided he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire anyway. Even after the MedEvacs were ordered not to come. He's coming anyway. And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 3 of you at a time on board. Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire to the doctors and nurses and safety. And, he kept coming back!! 13 more times!! Until all the wounded were out. No one knew until the mission was over that the Captain had been hit 4 times in the legs and left arm. He took 29 of you and your buddies out that day. Some would not have made it without the Captain and his Huey. Medal of Honor Recipient, Captain Ed Freeman, United States Air Force, died last Wednesday at the age of 70, in Boise, Idaho. May God Bless and Rest His Soul.
I bet you didn't hear about this hero's passing, We’ve heard plenty about murders, Health Care, Border security etc. BUT NOTHING ABOUT THE PASSING OF Medal of Honor Winner Captain Ed Freeman. Shame on the media !!! Now... YOU pass this along. Honor this real Hero. Please
Too Tall and Ol’ Snakeshit saved a lot guys that day...
Thank you, Hero who passed so quietly. RIP Captain Ed Freeman.
Ia Drang ping
Captain Ed W. Freeman, United States Army, distinguished himself by numerous acts of conspicuous gallantry and extraordinary intrepidity on 14 November 1965 while serving with Company A, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). As a flight leader and second in command of a 16-helicopter lift unit, he supported a heavily engaged American infantry battalion at Landing Zone X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley, Republic of Vietnam. The unit was almost out of ammunition after taking some of the heaviest casualties of the war, fighting off a relentless attack from a highly motivated, heavily armed enemy force. When the infantry commander closed the helicopter landing zone due to intense direct enemy fire, Captain Freeman risked his own life by flying his unarmed helicopter through a gauntlet of enemy fire time after time, delivering critically needed ammunition, water and medical supplies to the besieged battalion. His flights had a direct impact on the battle's outcome by providing the engaged units with timely supplies of ammunition critical to their survival, without which they would almost surely have gone down, with much greater loss of life. After medical evacuation helicopters refused to fly into the area due to intense enemy fire, Captain Freeman flew 14 separate rescue missions, providing life-saving evacuation of an estimated 30 seriously wounded soldiers -- some of whom would not have survived had he not acted. All flights were made into a small emergency landing zone within 100 to 200 meters of the defensive perimeter where heavily committed units were perilously holding off the attacking elements. Captain Freeman's selfless acts of great valor, extraordinary perseverance and intrepidity were far above and beyond the call of duty or mission and set a superb example of leadership and courage for all of his peers. Captain Freeman's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army.
Huge thanks for posting this -
Miltary service Ping
Wasn’t the character, Bruce “Snakd” Crandall played by Greg Kinnear, in the movie “We Were Soldiers”, based on Captain Ed Freeman?
Too Tall.
They were both there and both got MOH IIRC.
It is of profound importance that Captain Freeman’s bravery is of no consequence to the gutless coward who sits in the WH as our CIC. His presidency will forever be a blot of shame on this nation.
Won’t lead on any news show ever. Sad.
I couldn’t agree more.
0bama has not the slightest idea of what a true patriot is nor could he care less.
Captain Ed Freeman lived the life of a patriot and saved many other patriots lives with his acts of heroism that he only viewed as his duty.
RIP Captain FReeman.
Those chopper pilots were blessed with great big steel ones.
The fifth-column media is too treasonous to mention the name of Captain Ed Freeman.
He actually died on August 20, 2008, at age 80, and was a major in the Army. Apparently this story makes the rounds every few years but the last paragraph gets changed to reflect the stories du jour. He was awarded the MOH by Bush in 2001. He sounds like an amazing guy, and as the daughter of a USAF master sgt., his story brought tears to my eyes.
That's why these guys are a measure above, although I suspect most of them would deny it.
God has blessed us with such men.
Although he was in the Corps of Engineers, he fought as an infantry soldier in Korea. He participated in the Battle of Pork Chop Hill and earned a battlefield commission as one of only 14 survivors out of 257 men who made it through the opening stages of the battle. His second lieutenant bars were pinned on by General James Van Fleet personally. He then assumed command of B Company and led them back up Pork Chop Hill.
I Had the honor of meeting Ed Freeman at a reunion of old chopper pilots. My dad was a chopper pilot and took me to the reunion.
I asked him what made him do what he did even though he did not have to fly into that very hot LZ. His exact words were, “I flew those boys in and had to fly them out.”
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