... To Save a Life....
 

From an email I received today, that I couldn't keep to myself.

"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 - 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 1/2 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, 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 through the gunfire, to the Doctors and Nurses.

And, he kept coming back.... "13 more times"..... And 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."

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...jEdFreeman.jpg



Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki once said of Major Freeman, "It wasn't the helicopter that made the difference at Ia Drang, he said, "It was the intrepid pilot, then Capt. Ed Freeman, who refused to think of himself, who would not let his fellow soldiers down, and who repeatedly risked his life to save theirs."
May God rest his soul!

~SALUTE!~ sir. Rest in peace.

:salute:

I imagine there are still about 30 guys who shouldn't be alive today hoping to attend his funeral to give their final thanks. Salute! :salute:

...and all of their descendants I would imagine.

The word hero is used far too lightly today. Men like him are the real heroes. I'll think of him when I raise the flag tommorrow.:salute:

:salute:

Indeed, Freeman was a true hero.

His squadron mate Bruce Crandall also deserves a mention. He flew similar improvised medevac missions under heavy fire in the same battle.

Interestingly, neither man was awarded the Medal of Honor until quite recently (Freeman in 2001 and Crandall in 2007). Happily, both men were alive to receive their medals personally. While Freeman has sadly passed on since then, Crandall is still alive today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Freeman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Crandall

Alot of heroism went on in those few days in the LZ X-RAY. Salute to everyone who fought there. :salute:

:salute:Nothing more to say than another truly good man gone to a well-deserved rest.

:salute: True heroism indeed.
may he rest in peace

HunterICX

Vale Major Ed Freeman. May his memory continue. :salute:

~SALUTE!~

RIP Sir :salute:

This is what I call heroism.:yeah:
I'm sure he will be missed.

:salute: