Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: W7LPNRICK on January 06, 2010, 09:07:47 PM
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You're a 19 year old kid.
You're critically wounded and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley.
November 11, 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.
You look up to see an unarmed 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 anyway. Even 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!! He took about 30 of you and your buddies out who would never have gotten out. Medal of Honor Recipient, Ed Freeman, died recently at the age of 80, in
Boise , Idaho . May God 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. . .
Medal of Honor Winner Ed Freeman--Shame on the American media !!! :salute
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:salute
Talk about guts, this is what makes our troops who they are today, character.
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:salute
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The story above is amazing, but it's only half of it. The real facts are even more impressive. :salute
http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/freeman.asp
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:salute Thank you.
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:salute and thanks for the post.
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:salute Ed Freeman
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A True American Hero.
:salute
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:salute Ed Freeman
And anyone who does not let his comrades down...
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<S> Freeman
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:salute
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:salute
Semper Fi
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......
Did you get this is an email or something and just wanted to post it here? Ed Freeman passed away on August 20, 2008.
IIRC this same post with almost the same exact wording has been made numerous times since his passing.
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Did you get this is an email or something and just wanted to post it here? Ed Freeman passed away on August 20, 2008.
IIRC this same post with almost the same exact wording has been made numerous times since his passing.
What's wrong with posting it again?
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What's wrong with posting it again?
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,262842.0.html
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,269312.0.html
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,262121.0.html
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,253316.0.html
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Ah good old Larry. So what if it has been posted before. It's better to make a new post about it than to exercise the mighty and dangerous Threadnecromancy. A power so great and terrifying, that the great and powerful Skuzzy must descend from on high to put a stop to it before it gets out of control.
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Ah good old Larry. So what if it has been posted before. It's better to make a new post about it than to exercise the mighty and dangerous Threadnecromancy. A power so great and terrifying, that the great and powerful Skuzzy must descend from on high to put a stop to it before it gets out of control.
Feel better? :huh
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:salute
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Ah good old Larry. So what if it has been posted before. It's better to make a new post about it than to exercise the mighty and dangerous Threadnecromancy. A power so great and terrifying, that the great and powerful Skuzzy must descend from on high to put a stop to it before it gets out of control.
Think he was refering to the OP not keeping up with the times. Most all here knew of him passing and have heard his story many times while he was alive.
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You're a 19 year old kid.
You're critically wounded and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley.
November 11, 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.
You look up to see an unarmed 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 anyway. Even 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!! He took about 30 of you and your buddies out who would never have gotten out. Medal of Honor Recipient, Ed Freeman, died recently at the age of 80, in
Boise , Idaho . May God 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. . .
Medal of Honor Winner Ed Freeman--Shame on the American media !!! :salute
:salute Gary Owen
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:salute Ed Freeman, sir.
Thank you.
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:salute Ed Freeman, sir.
I had never heard of him before. I never had a chance to thank him before. I appreciate you posting this. I do not care how many times he has been honored here before.
Thank you.
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:salute
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:salute
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:salute
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:salute
ROX
(PS--one of the saddest parts of the story is he died around the same time as Michael Jackson and the news of his passing got pushed to the curb by the media as they instead covered the circus of Jackson's death. Sad that a real American hero's passing is overshadowed and barely remembered because of the death of a pop icon. :(
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Did you get this is an email or something and just wanted to post it here? Ed Freeman passed away on August 20, 2008.
IIRC this same post with almost the same exact wording has been made numerous times since his passing.
I didn't get it nor hear of it in 2008, & apparently many folks appreciated hearing it. If you don't like it being here, don't read it. Seems easy enough to me. :P
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:salute
ROX
(PS--one of the saddest parts of the story is he died around the same time as Michael Jackson and the news of his passing got pushed to the curb by the media as they instead covered the circus of Jackson's death. Sad that a real American hero's passing is overshadowed and barely remembered because of the death of a pop icon. :(
Too bad you are incorrect. Micheal Jackson died in 2009, Ed Freeman died around a year before in 2008. Someone added that part, originally it was a reference to Chris Brown's beating of Rhianna then someone else replaced it with Jackson, at the end of the email chain letter. The first version with the Chris Brown reference changed the date of Freeman's death to Febuary 2009 to create the mistaken impression that Freeman died on the same day and the media ignored it to report instead about Chris Brown. When someone else altered it and replaced the Brown reference to Jackson, they also changed the date to June 25, 2009, again to give the false impression that Freeman died on the same day as Jackson.
The media didn't ignore him and his death was widely reported on major news networks and newspapers.
ack-ack
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I didn't get it nor hear of it in 2008, & apparently many folks appreciated hearing it.
Yep,
That story brings a lump to my throat every time I read it.
What a man... God bless him!!
Badboy
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:salute Ed Freeman
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Yes that is pretty bad. Sadly, they made more money with micheal jackson then they would writing about a Hero dieing. Media is becoming a sad story. :salute Freeman
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Too bad you are incorrect. Micheal Jackson died in 2009, Ed Freeman died around a year before in 2008. Someone added that part, originally it was a reference to Chris Brown's beating of Rhianna then someone else replaced it with Jackson, at the end of the email chain letter. The first version with the Chris Brown reference changed the date of Freeman's death to Febuary 2009 to create the mistaken impression that Freeman died on the same day and the media ignored it to report instead about Chris Brown. When someone else altered it and replaced the Brown reference to Jackson, they also changed the date to June 25, 2009, again to give the false impression that Freeman died on the same day as Jackson.
The media didn't ignore him and his death was widely reported on major news networks and newspapers.
ack-ack
I never get offended about clarifications. I appreciate the facts...must have missed it the first time it went around. However, that was not my main point. As usual, when we pass something along without "Snoping" it, we take a chance. I rigged parachutes for air rescue & flew in UH-1N's(Twin engine Navy version of the Huey). The bulk of the story touched me deeply. I probably knew some of the guys who road with him. In recent years, worked at the VA hospital hear in Boise. Again, thanks for the kind words toward a hero and the clarifications as well. :salute :rock
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The story of Ed Freeman is well known by those that care about our service men and women from the Vietnam War. Such calm, selfless valor is almost unbelievable.
In these last few years the American public has given great consideration and appreciation to those of the "Greatest Generation", and deservedly so as we are losing too many too quickly. But we must never forget the many others who've risked and sacrificed in other wars and actions over the years, and more recently.
With that in mind, I pose the question to anyone who remembers. Can you name the two servicemen, a sniper team, who, knowing it was most likely suicide to do so, on their own initiative, volunteered to drop into the crash site of the second Black Hawk down in Mogadishu, Somalia to defend the injured flight crew (of which only the pilot eventually survived), both receiving the CMOH posthumously?
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Is this the incident portrayed in We Were Soldiers?
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With that in mind, I pose the question to anyone who remembers. Can you name the two servicemen, a sniper team, who, knowing it was most likely suicide to do so, on their own initiative, volunteered to drop into the crash site of the second Black Hawk down in Mogadishu, Somalia to defend the injured flight crew (of which only the pilot eventually survived), both receiving the CMOH posthumously?
Master Sgt Gary I Gordon :salute
SGT FC Randall Shughart :salute
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Is this the incident portrayed in We Were Soldiers?
The book is a far more accurate portrayal of his actions, the movie took certain liberties with his role and the other helo pilots.
ack-ack
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:salute
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Yes, a hero did die. This is a hero that did not win the Medal of Honor but instead; he earned it. It is sad that he was ignored, not by the media, but all the propoganda people, like this email making the rounds. Instead of posting when he died they find out about it later and then choose to remember him when it can be a gain for thier misguided causes.
The media attention was broad upon his death. A message was also read aloud at the Senate in his home state and in the Congress of these United States. He was well remembered for all that he was; a hero and a soldier.
It would have been a great post if it simply stated the facts; a hero died, let us remember. Sadly, the orignal author published this with a political agenda and a misguided one at that.
Remember the hero, forget the politics. Rest in Peace Mr Freeman, we know you didn't do it for recognition but instead for the same reason as those before you. We can't explain that reason here because those who understand it; need no explanation. Those who do not, never will. :salute
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I bet you didn't hear about this hero's passing, but we've sure seen a whole bunch about Michael Jackson. . .
Medal of Honor Winner Ed Freeman--Shame on the American media !!! :salute
[/quote]
Along with this compelling account is this...I recieve the VFW magazine every month and not more than a month ago was a story of a gentleman from Illinois who had just passed, was a WW2 Medal of Honor winner for escaping his German guards and making it back to enemy lines. There was much more to the stroy but im sure you could find it on Illinois MOH winners in google. <S> to all those who serve!
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Does anyone know how many double recipients of the CMOH there have been? Find out here.
http://www.cmohs.org/ (http://www.cmohs.org/)
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Master Sgt Gary I Gordon :salute
SGT FC Randall Shughart :salute
You read about what these guys did and you can't help but be humbled.
Sitting at home, in the comfort of my living room, it's easy to dream big "Lord Jim" dreams about what I might do if I ever found myself in such a situation when the truth is, I'd probably make some half-assed offer to help and then be relieved when my officer said no.
I guess that's why so few folks actually win the MOH. Dreaming is easy. Doing, that takes the kind of bravery most of us will never have.
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From Audie Murphy to Ed Freeman, They all say they never felt like hero's...just regular guys doing what had to be done at the time. Many of us would be surprised by our own actions when the chip are truly dwn. Normal people reach inside & find the strength...somehow. :salute
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I'm actually just reading We were Soldiers Once and Young for the first time. I've passed it up on the shelf at Borders for quite some time until I recently decided to buy it. I'm half way through and it hasn't disappointed...simply an amazing story.
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I have "We Were Soldiers" on DVD. Apparently Megan got bored one day and decided to watch it. She's not into war movies, but since I introduced her to LOTR trilogy she watches any movie I say is good. Anyways, I get home from work to be greeted by a red eyed wife with tear tracks and promptly get smacked upside the head. I asked what was that for, she told me she watched the movie. I asked her if she liked it, she said yes, then smacked me again because it made her cry. Go figure.
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http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,262842.0.html
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,269312.0.html
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,262121.0.html
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,253316.0.html
kiddo, remember, you aren't the board police.
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Yes, a hero did die. This is a hero that did not win the Medal of Honor but instead; he earned it. It is sad that he was ignored, not by the media, but all the propoganda people, like this email making the rounds. Instead of posting when he died they find out about it later and then choose to remember him when it can be a gain for thier misguided causes.
The media attention was broad upon his death. A message was also read aloud at the Senate in his home state and in the Congress of these United States. He was well remembered for all that he was; a hero and a soldier.
It would have been a great post if it simply stated the facts; a hero died, let us remember. Sadly, the orignal author published this with a political agenda and a misguided one at that.
Remember the hero, forget the politics. Rest in Peace Mr Freeman, we know you didn't do it for recognition but instead for the same reason as those before you. We can't explain that reason here because those who understand it; need no explanation. Those who do not, never will. :salute
This is the best post in this thread.
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:salute
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Master Sgt Gary I Gordon :salute
SGT FC Randall Shughart :salute
I thought about it and decided that instead of PMing you a "thank you" I'd post it here. I'm glad you mentioned these guys, because what they did 99.9% of average people wouldn't do but I truly believe 99.9% of the guys who fought in that engagement wouldn't have thought twice about doing were they in the same situation.
My younger brother was part of chalk 2, B Co, 3rd Ranger, one of 4 teams that roped in to support the Delta guys who were going into the Olympic Hotel to get Aidid's "generals." His group was the closest to, and first to arrive upon the scene of, the first Blackhawk that went down. He lost a few friends that 18+ hours, and saw a lot of stuff. He was awarded some medals, and turned down one because he didn't think he had sacrificed as much as some other guys who didn't come back or came back in far worse shape.
Their story has been mostly forgotten I sometimes fear, so when you mentioned Gordon and Shughart it made me smile, because I too know what those two absolute heroes did, and I know my brother not only knew who they were but actually knew them (they had gotten to know a lot of the "D-Boys," as they (the Rangers) called them, as they had been training with them at Bragg prior to deployment).
:salute To all who have served, fought, and sacrificed.
sidenote: You all owe it to these guys to get Mark Bowden's book "Blackhawk Down" upon which the movie is based. It's the first-hand account from the guys that were there, and is the other 95% of the story that the movie, however well-done, doesn't tell.