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[hangman]

This may be a repeat but what the heck!

Courage.
       
You're a 19 year old kid.
 
You're critically wounded and dying in
the  jungle somewhere in the Central Highlands  of  Viet Nam .


It's  November 11, 1967.
 
LZ (landing 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,  but we've sure seen
a whole bunch about Michael
Jackson and Tiger Woods.

 
Medal of  Honor
Winner Captain Ed Freeman
 


Shame on the American media !!!

[Gumbo]

Right on the mark there Hangman 

And your right never heard a word of it on the news, if you can call it that anymore 

[larry_357]

 I agree we need to hear more about these heros than the zeros like jackson and woods.who never really gave a flip about anyone but themselves and their ego.If I remember right this is was the pilot in the movie that Mel Gibson was in a few years back "We Were Soldiers Once.....And Young" He also went through at least four choppers that same engagement 

[larry_357]

  Capt. ED Freeman was the wingman for Major Bruce Crandel who also won the Medel Of Honor for that same engagement in the Ia Drang
  Freeman's commanding officer nominated him for the Medal of Honor for his actions at Ia Drang, but not in time to meet a two-year deadline then in place.[5] He was instead awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.[2] The Medal of Honor nomination was disregarded until 1995, when the two-year deadline was removed. He was formally presented with the medal on July 16, 2001, in the East Room of the White House by President George W. Bush.[5]
 On February 26, 2007, Crandall received the Medal of Honor from President George W. Bush in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House.[3] In addition to the Medal of Honor he also received other military decorations.[1]
  A little more info

[xcaliber]

We should put these guys on Baseball Cards.

[hipshot]

I remember being on the firebase in Cambodia during the Cambodian Invasion in '70. One of the companies had a heavy contact going with several casualties. The first Medevac birds on location were going to pick up the wounded and evac them to the firebase for the following birds, then go in for more. When the first bird came in to offload, the Aircraft Commander had been shot in the thigh and the Pilot's thumb was shot off. There were over 100 bullet holes in the bird. And as soon as the wounded were offloaded they went back for more.

I can't remember their names now, but those guys all deserved the Medal of Honor. We used to say that nobody's balls clang louder than the Medevac crews'. Those guys showed that kind of valor on a daily basis. There's no telling how many lives they saved.

[Snake Doc]

Stories like these make me grab a tissue and dry my eyes.  Such selfless bravery to protect comrades in arms and to serve our country.  In my job at USAA I speak with our service members daily being deployed to the sandbox and I never hear anyone complaining.  They volunteered to serve our country and are steadfast in their commitment.  I  debrief them coming home and I never hear anyone complain.  Some return with serious wounds or conditions and in three years I have yet to listen to one ask of sympathy.  Enlisted or officer they serve with dignity and honor their country. 

OK, I'm getting off my soapbox.  I thank all of you who served and I thank the spouses for the sacrifices they made.

And if you have not heard USAA announced on Veterans Day, 2009 that we opened our membership to all who served our country honorably.  On that day I called my father, a WW II veteran, and he joined.  As long as I can remember he had high regard for USAA.  That was a great day.

For all of you who served, thank you.

[DEMON]

 

[vtxvanguard]

R.I.P. to a TRUE american hero.