Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: badhorse on October 11, 2008, 03:00:39 PM
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This was sent to me by a friend. Thought I would share it with the AH community.
:salute
Ed Freeman
You're an 18 or 19 year old kid. You're critically wounded, and dying in the jungle in the La Drang Valley, 11-14-1965. LZ Xray , 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 a 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 ......
May God rest his soul.....
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I've read that before, hell of a man. <<S>>
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Both he and the CO (Bruce Crandall) got the MOH....
You never really know how accurate a movie is but I actually read the book years before it was made a movie and from what I recall the book also indicates that the medi-vacs just cut and ran.
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:salute :salute Ed
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Wow :salute
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Here is the official citation for the MOH...
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 infantry 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 experienced a 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.
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Hooah :salute
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:salute
Now that is a true Hero
:salute
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Wow..... <<S>>
God bless him and RIP
:salute
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Wow. Now there is a hero, thx for sharing badhorse. Wasnt the movie "we were soldiers" based on that battle?(just wondering)
:salute Ed Freeman
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Wow. Now there is a hero, thx for sharing badhorse. Wasnt the movie "we were soldiers" based on that battle?(just wondering)
:salute Ed Freeman
Yes it was.
:salute Ed Freeman
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And just for complete clarification it was "Ia Drang Valley". The text font you saw makes the capital "I" look like a lowercase "L".
:salute Ed Freeman
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Semper Fidelis, Ed Freeman, Sir!
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Wow. Now there is a hero, thx for sharing badhorse. Wasnt the movie "we were soldiers" based on that battle?(just wondering)
:salute Ed Freeman
thinking same thing as i saw La Drang Valley stodd. :salute Ed, nice job out there sir!
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He knew his boys had to get out! Yeah that's ah hero! God bless him. :rock
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Yes Sir, now there was a man. <S>
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Makes you wish you had the opportunity to do something as great as that, doesn't it? :salute
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Makes you wish you had the opportunity to do something as great as that, doesn't it? :salute
Nope, not me. I'd never want to be in his situation or anything similar to it and I sincerely hope that no one on these boards has to face anything even remotely like it in the wars we're fighting today.
Mr Freeman earned the MOH when he first poked his nose into that LZ and earned it twice-over for each return trip. He was an extraordinarily courageous man. :salute
asw
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:salute :salute RIP Sir
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very nice..... :salute