This is NOT political, or I would have put it there...

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ED FREEMAN

You're a 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 taking some of the heaviest
casualties of the war from a heavily armed enemy force. The 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
Medivac 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 while taking ammunition and water off.

Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire, to the doctors and nurses.

And, he kept coming back.... 20 more times..... And took more than 70 of
you and your buddies who would never have gotten out. Doctors later
say 30 of those men would never have survived without medivac.

The ammunition and water he brought in with each trip enabled you to
hold off the enemy and prevent your entire unit from being wiped out.

When he lands for the last time, his helicopter is so badly shot up that it is
unrepairable and mechanics wonder how it continued to stay in the air.

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

I bet you didn't hear about this hero's passing, but we sure were told a whole
bunch of crap about some one gloved child molester....

Medal of Honor Winner
Ed Freeman!
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MICHAEL JACKSON GETS A WEEK OF FAWNING ASS-KISSING, AND ED FREEMAN'S DEATH DOESN'T GET A SINGLE MENTION ON ANY FRONT PAGE IN THE COUNTRY.

WANTA GUESS WHAT'S REALLY WRONG WITH OUR COUNTRY TODAY?

It is a shame the way our people think nowadays. 20 years ago. Mr. Freeman would have been on the front pages of our newspapers.

Patriotism and valor just don't sell anymore. I doubt they did in '89 either. You have to go back to before Vietnam era. To another generation that didn't spit on returning soldiers.

May he rest in peace. Knowing all those he saved will NEVER forget him. we all owe men like him everything

He actually died August 20, 2008.
A very nice man, I was pleased to have met him.

Some more data:

FREEMAN, ED W.
Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Army, Company A, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion,
First Cavalry Division (Airmobile)
Place and date: Ia Drang Valley, Republic of Vietnam, 14 November 1965
Born: 1928
Citation:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. 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, First 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 underseige 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 estimates 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.



ED W. FREEMAN

Captain, U.S. Army Company A, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile)

By the time the Korean War broke out, Ed Freeman was a master sergeant in the Army Engineers, but he fought in Korea as an infantryman.
He took part in the bloody battle of Pork Chop Hill and was given a battlefield commission, which had the added advantage of making him eligible to fly, a dream of his since childhood. But flight school turned him down because of his height: At six foot four, he was “too tall” (a nickname that followed him throughout his military career). In 1955, however, the height limit was raised, and Freeman was able to enroll.
He began flying fixed-wing aircraft, then switched to helicopters. By 1965, when he was sent to Vietnam, he had thousands of hours’ flying time in choppers. He was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), second in command of a sixteen-helicopter unit responsible for carrying infantrymen into battle. On November 14, 1965, Freeman’s helicopters carried a battalion into the Ia Drang Valley for what became the first major confrontation between large forces of the American and North Vietnamese armies.
Back at base, Freeman and the other pilots received word that the GIs they had dropped off were taking heavy casualties and running low on supplies. In fact, the fighting was so fierce that medevac helicopters refused to pick up the wounded. When the commander of the helicopter unit asked for volunteers to fly into the battle zone, Freeman alone stepped forward. He was joined by his commander, and the two of them began several hours of flights into the contested area. Because their small emergency-landing zone was just one hundred yards away from the heaviest fighting, their unarmed and lightly armored helicopters took several hits. In all, Freeman carried out fourteen separate rescue missions, bringing in water and ammunition to the besieged soldiers and taking back dozens of wounded, some of whom wouldn’t have survived if they hadn’t been evacuated.
Freeman left Vietnam in 1966 and retired from the Army the following year. He flew helicopters another twenty years for the Department of the Interior, herding wild horses, fighting fires, and performing animal censuses. Then he retired altogether.
In the aftermath of the Ia Drang battle, his commanding officer, wanting to recognize Freeman’s valor, proposed him for the Medal of Honor. But the two-year statute of limitations on these kinds of recommendations had passed, and no action was taken. Congress did away with that statute in 1995, and Freeman was finally awarded the medal by President George W. Bush on July 16, 2001.
Freeman was back at the White House a few months later for the premiere of We Were Soldiers, a 2002 feature film that depicted his role in the Ia Drang battle. As he was filing out of the small White House theater, the president approached him, saluted, and shook his hand. “Good job, Too Tall,” he said.

I should have known better than to trust anything from the internet. I received what I posted from a fellow I know well who is currently serviing as a trainer for the Canadian forces contingents which are in turn serving in Af'stan.

Anyway, thanks for another view on the subject.

quote:

Freeman was finally awarded the medal by President George W. Bush on July 16, 2001.
Freeman was back at the White House a few months later for the premiere of We Were Soldiers, a 2002 feature film that depicted his role in the Ia Drang battle. As he was filing out of the small White House theater, the president approached him, saluted, and shook his hand. “Good job, Too Tall,” he said.

George Bush is a man of class. Boogabama would have ignored Freeman entirely. Waht am I saying? Booga would never screen such a film and never have a man like Freeman in his presence. And we all know why...