Posted on 02/25/2004 6:03:21 AM PST by ALOHA RONNIE
NEVER FORGET
JOHN KERRY called American Soldiers fighting for Freedom during the Vietnam War ..Terrorists.
.......vs......
MEL GIBSON decided he had to do his "PASSION of the Christ" while filming "WE WERE SOLDIERS" ..our true story about we American Soldiers fighting for Freedom during the Vietnam War. *
(* This per STEVE McVEETY, Producer of "The PASSION of the Christ" -&- "WE WERE SOLDIERS" ..on the PAX TV Network, February 22/24, 2004)
Signed:.."ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer / Vet-"WE WERE SOLDIERS" Battle of IA DRANG-1965
NEVER FORGET
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NEVER FORGET
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...and to think, it all began with...
RANDALL WALLACE’s “WE WERE SOLDIERS” Redux:
http://www.rahsclassof62.org/fightordie.html
(See Discovery Channel’s ‘FIGHT of DIE’ You Tube Link)
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NEVER FORGET
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In RANDALL WALLACE’s truly riveting “FIGHT or DIE” Discovery TV Special JOE GALLOWAY correctly states about he and others surrounded by an overwhelming Communist NVA Enemy in the IA DRANG Valley of November 1965...
..”We had to fight or die there because there was no running for us. For we had no where to run to. At Landing Zone X-Ray we were isolated 17 miles from everything and the nearest road in an area just crawling with enemy.”
At IA DRANG’s Landing Zone Falcon, we were isolated 12 miles from everything and the nearest road.
And if LZ X-Ray had fallen, that same NVA enemy would have been on us at LZ Falcon in 15 minutes.
For we had no where to run to either..!!!
http://www.lzxray.com
http://www.lzxray.com/guyer_collection.htm
(Suggest checking out http://www.Discovery.com for repeat TV airings of ‘FIGHT or DIE”)
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NEVER FORGET
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CLARITY =
Vietnamese perspective
http://www.ArmchairGeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=65242
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NEVER FORGET
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That was a nice thank you from Miss Saigon.
Roger that, Marty. One of the most moving and touching films EVER about what war does to those who fight and those who wait at home.
I wept as those telegrams were delivered and lost it completely when Willie Godboldt’s wife got hers.
I read that the young actress in that role had no idea how to play that scene the morning of the shoot and just let it happen when the camera rolled. She produced — for me at any rate — perhaps the most emotionally wrenching and palpable 20 seconds in any film.
I hope Wallace and Gibson make more movies together and that Nick-Glennie Smith does the scores.
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With The LOVE Itself =
Congressional Medal of Honor recipient ED (”Too Tall”) FREEMAN of Boise died Wednesday
http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2065130/posts
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“NEVER, ever, leave your Wingman”
PERSONIFIED
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"Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth… … and touched the face of God".
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NEVER FORGET
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MEL’s -PASSION- sparked by -WE ARE SOLDIERS-
http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1085111/posts
http://www.Freerepublic.com/~aloharonnie/
http://www.Freerepublic.com/~anita1/
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NEVER FORGET
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NEVER FORGET
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They are still soldiers
http://www.ArmchairGeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66978
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Just for the LOVE of it..!!
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NEVER FORGET
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Thanks ALOHA RONNIE,here’s a bump.
Nice pic,....dropped in on 336 th : )
Were you a Warrior,...or a T Bird?
Have you read *Into Laos By Keith William Nolan,....LAM SON 719/ Operation Dewey Canyon II....1971
The bravery of the Helicopter crews,.....Hell,...the bravery of all American forces applied to that fiasco is hallmark!
F-4 Phantom dropping the hurt on Hill 881 near Khe Sahn in support of 3rd Marine.
"Yes, Gentlemen. I agree: mining Haiphong and bombing Hanoi is a go. Do what you have to do; let me know what you need."
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.
"A guy came into the hospital and said, 'You don't know me, but I was one of those people you hauled out of the X-Ray,'" said Mike Freeman, 54, one of Ed's two sons. "He said, 'Thanks for my life.' "
Freeman died Wednesday.
His Medal of Honor citation credits him with helping save 30 seriously wounded soldiers in 14 separate rescue missions in an unarmed helicopter.
Since the Medal of Honor was created during the Civil War, 3,467 have been awarded, according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.
The heroics of Freeman and the others involved in the Ia Drang campaign are immortalized in the Mel Gibson movie "We Were Soldiers," which is based on the book "We Were Soldiers Once ... And Young." A sequel, "We Are Soldiers Still," was released this month.
Freeman, a Mississippi native who married an Idahoan, began his military career at 17 with a two-year stint in the Navy during World War II.
"He joined the Navy and hated it. The ocean thing was not his bag," Mike Freeman said.
So he joined the Army, serving four years in Germany before getting deployed to the Korean conflict.
The 6-foot-4 tell-it-like-it-is Southerner got the name "Too Tall" because he was told he was too tall to be a pilot. That didn't stop him from pushing to fly.
"He was tenacious about getting into flight school. He drove them insane until they let him in," Mike Freeman said.
He proved his mettle by becoming one the Army's most heralded helicopter pilots. Two streets at Fort Rucker, Ala., where Freeman trained to be a helicopter pilot, were recently named in honor of Freeman and Maj. Bruce P. Crandall, his commanding officer in the Ia Drang campaign.
In the early 1960s, Freeman served as aviation adviser to the Idaho Army National Guard.
"He was a super instructor. He was not one of these guys who get excited very easily," said retired Maj. Gen. Jack Kane, former commanding general of the Idaho National Guard.
Kane, a second lieutenant in 1963-64, got his first helicopter lessons from Freeman. Decades later, Kane attended the 2001 Medal of Honor ceremony for Freeman at the White House.
"It was, really, a super-moving moment," said Kane, who was in a meeting at the Pentagon when Freeman called to invite him to the ceremony.
Freeman retired from the military in 1967 and a few years later moved to Idaho with his wife, Barbara, and sons, Mike and Doug. But he didn't give up flying. He went to work for the Department of Interior's Office of Aircraft Services.
Mike Freeman said his dad made sure that helicopter pilots contracted by Department of Interior agencies were up to snuff.
"Anyone who flew for the government had to get past him," he said.
Freeman retired from flying in 1991 with more than 25,000 hours of flying time, including 18,000 in helicopters, according to his family and a 2002 newsletter published by the Idaho Military Historical Society and Museum. That's nearly three years in the air. [excerpt end]
Soldiers of the 1/7th Cavalry disembark from a UH-1 Huey at LZ X-Ray during the battle of Ia Drang.
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NEVER FORGET
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The REAL DEAL =
1st Cavalry Divsion (Airmobile) Home Base in Vietnam =
An Khe (Video)
http://www.ArmchairGeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67810
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NEVER FORGET
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NEVER FORGET
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CLARITY =
Gov. SCHWARZENEGGER Signs Legislation to Create GOLD STAR FAMILY License Plate
http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2092165/posts
http://www.Freerepublic.com/~aloharonnie/
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NEVER FORGET
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