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 I bet you didn't hear about this hero's passing, but we've sure seen a whole bunch about Lindsay Lohan, Tiger Woods and the bickering of congress over Health Reform.

Well said, Mike. Thank you for reminding us. Daryl

Thanks Mike.
Well said.

That poor guy has been dying 'last Wednesday' since August of 2008. Still well worth remembering what he did to deserve the Medal of Honor!...Geo

For a good read concerning these Huey pilots google, Operation Dustoff, Maj. Charles Kelly. Kelly was my cousin's husband, and was the driving force behind the beginning of Operation Dustoff. I attended his funeral, which was replete with a fly-by of the missing man formation. Quite an impressive funeral, for a young man like myself.

May we never forget.

Stan

Is that 'Too Tall' portrayed in the movie We Were Soldiers?

I wouldn't think so. Kelly was killed July 1, 1964. The battle at Ia Drang was in November '65. Great movie, though. Great book, too.

Stan
"Too Tall" (to fly) was Ed Freeman

Yes, that was Ed, 6 foot seven, portrayed by Mark McCracken in Col.Hal Moore's, portrayed by Mel Gibson,"We Were Soldiers One and Young". President George Bush, the first, awarded him the Medal of Honor for gallentry above and beyond the call of duty in actions in the IaDrang Valley, LZ X-Ray, November 1965. as was pointed out above he's been gone since August 2008 but it's still well to remember our heroes since they're becoming harder to find IMHO.

Best Regards, George

Thanks, Mike. Your post was so right-on it could have been chiseled in stone.

Just a few night's ago I mentioned to my wife that I think the word "hero" has taken over as the most abused word in everyday parlance. The former? "genius"