hausdok Posted February 11, 2009 Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 Missing from the news You're a 19 year old kid; critically wounded, and dying in the jungle in the La Drang Valley, 11-14-1965, LZ Xray, Vietnam. Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8 to 1, and the enemy fire is so intense from 100 or 200 yards away that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the Medevac choppers to stop coming in. You're lying there, listening to the enemy machineguns, and you know you're not getting out. Your family is halfway 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 machinegun noise you faintly hear the sound of a helicopter. You look up to see an unarmed Huey but it doesn't seem real, because there are no Medevac markings on it. Ed Freeman is coming for you. He's not Medevac, so it's not his job, but he's flying his Huey down into the machinegun fire anyway. Even after the Medevacs were told not to come, he's coming anyway. And he drops it in, and sits there in the machinegun fire, as they load 2 or 3 of you on board. Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire, to the waiting doctors and nurses. And he kept coming back...... 13 more times..... and took over 30 of you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out. Medal of Honor recipient Ed Freeman died recently in Boise, Idaho at the age of 80. Oh yeah, Paul Newman died that day too. You've probably never heard about Ed but you knew all about Paul, didn't you? Some are considered heroes because of what they are perceived to be; some are heroes because it's what they are - the first are worshipped the latter quietly forgotten. Goodbye Ed, thank you for the fathers you saved and for their children, grandchildren and those yet to come. Click to Enlarge 13.41 KB ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnC Posted February 11, 2009 Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 Now thats a true american hero-Rest in Peace Ed John Missing from the news You're a 19 year old kid; critically wounded, and dying in the jungle in the La Drang Valley, 11-14-1965, LZ Xray, Vietnam. Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8 to 1, and the enemy fire is so intense from 100 or 200 yards away that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the Medevac choppers to stop coming in. You're lying there, listening to the enemy machineguns, and you know you're not getting out. Your family is halfway 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 machinegun noise you faintly hear the sound of a helicopter. You look up to see an unarmed Huey but it doesn't seem real, because there are no Medevac markings on it. Ed Freeman is coming for you. He's not Medevac, so it's not his job, but he's flying his Huey down into the machinegun fire anyway. Even after the Medevacs were told not to come, he's coming anyway. And he drops it in, and sits there in the machinegun fire, as they load 2 or 3 of you on board. Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire, to the waiting doctors and nurses. And he kept coming back...... 13 more times..... and took over 30 of you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out. Medal of Honor recipient Ed Freeman died recently in Boise, Idaho at the age of 80. Oh yeah, Paul Newman died that day too. You've probably never heard about Ed but you knew all about Paul, didn't you? Some are considered heroes because of what they are perceived to be; some are heroes because it's what they are - the first are worshipped the latter quietly forgotten. Goodbye Ed, thank you for the fathers you saved and for their children, grandchildren and those yet to come. Click to Enlarge 13.41 KB ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phillip Posted February 11, 2009 Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 Well said Mike. Heres to Ed; a real hero. 21 guns Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon Whitmore Posted February 11, 2009 Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 Thanks for posting that Mike. It makes me think of the uncle I never had the chance to meet. He was a helicopter pilot who was shot down for the 7th and last time at the end of his second tour.... They will be missed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul N Frey Posted February 17, 2009 Report Share Posted February 17, 2009 I think that was the 7th Battalion of the 1st Cav Air Mobile and the movie "We Were Soldiers" was made about it. We had the same thing happen to my unit - 2nd Battalion 1st Cav and out of 53 only 11 of us walked out. Thanks to people like Ed many of the men survived to live another day - no thanks to McNamara and Westmorland using us a cannon fodder! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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