MOH Recipient Ed Freeman Dies

Idaho Statesman ^ | 7/13/2009

[Just another Joe]

As Ed "Too Tall" Freeman lay ill in a Boise hospital over the past few weeks, many came to pay their respects to the 80-year-old national war hero and former helicopter pilot.

One unexpected visitor offered a very personal thank you to Freeman, a veteran of three wars and recipient of the highest military award -- the Congressional Medal of Honor -- for his actions on Nov. 14, 1965, at Landing Zone X-Ray, Ia Drang Valley, Vietnam.

[Just another Joe]

You're a 19 year old kid. You're critically wounded, and dying in the jungle at LZ X-ray in the Ia Drang Valley, Vietnam on November 14th 1965. 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 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 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 Medivac, so it's not his job, but he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire. After the Medivacs were ordered not to come in Ed Freeman is coming anyway.

He drops it in, and sits there taking 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 keeps coming back; 13 more times! Ed takes out about 30 of you and your buddies who would never have survived otherwise.

Medal of Honor Recipient, Ed Freeman, died last August 2008 at the age of 80, in Boise, ID.

Medal of Honor Recipient Ed Freeman!

Thanks again Ed for what you did those many years ago. May you Rest In Peace

Since the Media didn't give him the kind of coverage that Michael Jackson got maybe we can see that everyone knows who Ed Freeman was.

[SJSAMPLE]

Ed died last year.
Over the past week, we’ve been seeing this posted as if it were recent news.

Is there something recent happening that causes this to be posted?

[afraidfortherepublic]

Thank you for letting me know. Thanks for the post.

[Just another Joe]

Ed died last year.

I understand that.
Did you hear anything in the news about it?

There are celebrities, then there are heroes.

You hear all about the celebrities.
What do you hear about the heroes?

[wita]

You hear all about the celebrities.
What do you hear about the heroes?

AMEN!

[Kirkwood]

Please change the date of the article to the correct one (August 21, 2008).

[TruthInThoughtWordAndDeed]

I don’t care if Ed died ten years ago.

My screen is wet and out of focus.

[Just another Joe]

Oooops, sorry, I just went and put todays date in.
My bad.

Admin Mod, can you change the date of the article to August 21, 2008, please?

[immadashell]

We Were Soldiers Once...And Young written by Hal Moore, the commanding officer of the ground troops, was made into the movie We Were Soldiers starring Mel Gibson. The book is worth reading, the movie is worth watching. God Bless "Too Tall" and his flight leader Bruce "Snakes**t" Crandall, both deserving recipients of our nation's highest honor. God Bless the forgotten heroes of the Vietnam War.

[SJSAMPLE]

I remember the day his death was announced.

I think we need to hear tales of guys like Ed Freeman constantly, but I was wondering why the story of Ed’s death was being repeatedly re-posted.

[Just another Joe]

I think we need to hear tales of guys like Ed Freeman constantly, but I was wondering why the story of Ed’s death was being repeatedly re-posted.

I would say that there is an email going around, sort of in "retaliation" for the type of coverage that Michael Jackson got that REAL heroes don't get..

[mosesdapoet]

The Congressional Medal of Honor when I was was in was refered to as the CMH. Why is the Conressional part of it dropped off and its now refered to as MOH by FRs?

[Just another Joe]

Why is the Conressional part of it dropped off and its now refered to as MOH by FRs?

With the Congress we've had for the past 8 years or so do you really need to ask?

I understand that Congress approves the CMH recepients but the common form of the expression is Medal of Honor.

[IYAS9YAS]

Why is the Conressional part of it dropped off and its now refered to as MOH by FRs?

Perhaps it is because Congress, itself, has no honor.

[SunkenCiv]

...your own Infantry Commander has ordered the Medivac helicopters to stop coming in... Your family is half way around the world-12,000 miles away-and you'll never see them again... Then, over the machine gun noise, you faintly hear that sound of 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 Medivac, so it's not his job, but he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire. After the Medivacs were ordered not to come in Ed Freeman is coming anyway. He drops it in, and sits there taking 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 keeps coming back; 13 more times!

JaJ, bravo for your words!

[mosesdapoet]

Tell that to the troopers of the eighty duce or to the Marines...Because that’s what we called it

[Just another Joe]

Tell that to the troopers of the eighty duce or to the Marines...Because that’s what we called it

Understood.
What the military calls it and what it is commonly known as in the civilian world can be two different things.

[Vigilanteman]

He rarely missed Friday lunches at Boise's Din Fung Buffet, where a group of Purple Heart veterans met each week for the past seven years.

I'll guarantee that John F. Kerry wasn't one of them.