American Hero Off Topic Discuss American Hero in the Other Topics forums; I hope everyone is doing well and gearing up for another riding season. A buddy sent me this and I figured we have so many vets and patriotic Americans on ...

[clif02]

I hope everyone is doing well and gearing up for another riding season. A buddy sent me this and I figured we have so many vets and patriotic Americans on this forum ya'll would find it interesting. Be safe. Clif
Subject: Medal of Honor winner Ed Freeman dies

Imagine you're an 19 year old kid. You're critically wounded, and dying
in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley , 11-14-1965, LZ X-ray, Vietnam .
Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8 to 1, and the enemy fire is so
intense, from 100 or 200 yards away, that your own Infantry Commander
has ordered the MediVac 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 halfway 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 the sound of a
helicopter, and you look up to see an un-armed Huey, but it doesn't seem
real, because no Medi-Vac markings are on it. Ed Freeman is coming for
you.
He's not Medi-Vac, so it's not his job, but he's flying his Huey down
into the machine gun fire, after the Medi-Vacs 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
2 or 3 of you on board.
Then he flies you up and out th <<Image.jpg>> rough the gunfire, to the
Doctors and Nurses.

And he kept coming back.... '13' more times.....!

He took about 30 of you and your buddies out, who would never have
gotten out.

Medal of Honor recipient, Ed Freeman, died last Wednesday at the age of
80, in Boise, ID ......May God rest his soul.....

I bet you didn't hear about this hero's passing and I felt I should
share with you what type of people we had in the military during that
period in frame. There are still Ed Freeman types in our military today,
our military is full of them...!

[Buzz Kanter]

Thanks for sharing that. It's too easy to overlook or forget the unusual people doing amazing things.

[frisco-rigid]

Hey Clif

Where you been bud--- How'r you doing.?



Heck of a story Helluva Man..

[sgtcowboyusmc]

Thanks for sharing Cliff



RIP Ed Freeman.

[clif02]

I've been doing well Frisco. Thanks for asking. Working many hours at work, doing alot of mods on the house. My youngest daughter has been sick so we've been helping her out by watching our grandson who never seems to run out of energy. She's on the mend now so we are nearly back to normal. Been riding when I can on good days. Gotta start going over the bike top to bottom. I'm doing the Run for the Wall this year with a bunch of old buddies I've served with over the years (some since 73!). I've been checking in every now and again. I am one of them guys that gets more from reading all the forums than actually writing in it! I'll be popping in and out so when I have something to offer I'll throw it out there. Ya'll are keeping the board lively...cool, very cool. Be safe. Clif

[Micheal]

There are so many hero's in every conflict, its nice to know the names and acts of heroism are remembered!

May God Bless

[botzman]

Clif,

Great story. A true hero.
Thanks for sharing. Botz

[shovelmike]

Thanks for sharing that. I'm very proud of our military and very ashamed of the idiots in Washington DC, y'all know the ones without me naming names.

[evoKENevo]

Hi,Cliff
I got that same email...and you beat me to posting it...kinda makes ya wonder why the media overlooks and/or under values this kind of news...does'nt it !?!

[Tbone]

As a follow up I looked up Ed on the internet. This hero was born in 1927 and served in World War II. That would make the youngest age he could have served at about 16 and could have served at 17 or 18. He made the rank of Master Sergeant before the Korean War. Then, although he worked for the Army Corps of Engineers, he served as an infantryman in Korea. He fought at the battle of Pork Chop Hill. I've read that his was a meat grinder of a battle. He earned a battlefield commission that allowed him to pursue his lifelong dream of being a pilot. When he applied for flight school, he was told that, at 6'4" he was "too tall". This nickname stuck and he was known as Ed "Too Tall" Freeman. A couple of years later the height restriction was lifted and he became a pilot. He flew fixed wing planes for a while before transferring over to helicopters. He commanded a flight of 16 helicopters when he served in Viet Nam and was the wingman for his commanding officer when he flew the missions that earned him his medal. His commanding officer was also awarded the CMOH for the same mission. He made 14 trips to the battle zone landing at an interim landing zone carrying ammunition and other needed supplies to the ground troops. Without these flights it is very likely that the ground defenses would have been overrun and wiped out. His hometown of McLain, Mississippi named it's post office after him.
In the film, We Were Soldiers, he was portrayed by actor Mark McCracken in the scenes from the Battle of la Drang.

Here is a link to the article I got this from on Wikipedia. It also contains the original wording of the citation as written when he received his medal.

Ed Freeman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia