Landing Zone X - Ray

[Ben]

http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p545/Ben35049/unnamed%202_zpsnchpeskc.jpg (http://s1155.photobucket.com/user/Ben35049/media/unnamed%202_zpsnchpeskc.jpg.html)



( 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 Army, died last Wednesday at the age of 70, in Boise, Idaho.



May God Bless and Rest His Soul.

Medal of Honor Winner Captain Ed Freeman.

[nagantguy]

did a report on this in high school. great story great man.

[Bad Water Bill]

May he rest in peace as he has already seen his share of he77.

[wch]

An outstanding example of just one of the heroes that have come forward through our history.

[obssd1958]

Thanks for posting this, Ben. After reading it, it prompted me to do a little more reading about him.
He was a true hero, and although Snopes and Wikipedia are not the most reliable of sources, they both honor him appropriately.

From Wikipedia (just to clear up the age and date of passing mistake above):



Born

(1927-11-20)November 20, 1927
Neely, Mississippi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neely,_Mississippi)



Died

August 20, 2008(2008-08-20) (aged 80)
Boise, Idaho (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boise,_Idaho)



Buried at

Idaho State Veterans Cemetery, Boise, Idaho




From Snopes:

None of this should not be allowed to obscure the accomplishments of the very real Ed Freeman, who at a White House ceremony in July 2001 was presented with the Medal of Honor by President George W. Bush. President Bush said of Freeman on that occasion:

By all rights, another president from Texas should have had the honor of conferring this medal. It was in the second year of Lyndon Johnson's presidency that Army Captain Ed Freeman did something that the men of the 7th Cavalry have never forgotten. Years passed, even decades, but the memory of what happened on November 14, 1965 has always stayed with them.

For his actions that day, Captain Freeman was awarded the distinguished Flying Cross, but the men who were there, including the commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Bruce Crandall, felt a still higher honor was called for. Through the unremitting efforts of Lieutenant Colonel Crandall and many others and the persuasive weight from Senator John McCain, the story now comes to its rightful conclusion.

That story began with a battalion surrounded by the enemy in one of Vietnam's fiercest battles. The survivors remember the desperate fear of almost certain death. They remember gunfire that one witness described as the most intense he had ever seen, and they remember the sight of an unarmed helicopter coming to their aid. The man with the controls flew through the gunfire not once, not 10 times, but at least 21 times. That single helicopter brought the water, ammunition and supplies that saved many lives on the ground, and the same pilot flew more than 70 wounded soldiers to safety.

General Eisenhower once observed that when you hear a Medal of Honor citation, you practically assume that the man in question didn't make it out alive. In fact, about 1 in 6 never did, and the other five, men just like you all here, probably didn't expect to.

Citations are also written in the most simple of language, needing no embellishment or techniques of rhetoric. They record places and names and events that describe themselves. The medal itself bears only one word and needs only one, valor.

As a boy of 13, Ed Freeman saw thousands of men on maneuvers pass by his home in Mississippi. He decided then and there that he would be a soldier. A lifetime later the Congress has now decided that he's even more than a soldier because he did more than his duty. He served his country and his comrades to the fullest, rising above and beyond anything the Army or the nation could have ever asked.

It's been some years now, since he left the service and was last saluted.

But from this day, wherever he goes, by military tradition, Ed Freeman will merit a salute from any enlisted personnel or officer of rank. Commander Seevers, I'll now ask you to read this citation of the newest member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, and it'll be my honor to give him his first salute.

Read more at http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/freeman.asp#gErPpXlG2tQTsoWs.99

[xs11jack]

After the Medal of Honor, he should have gotten a silver Star for each time he came back!
Ole Jack

[SSGOldfart]

Thank you Ben for this post I spent many a day waiting for a bird to come in if it wasn't for men like Col Freeman lots of us wouldn't be here today.

[Ben]

All of you that served should be held in high admiration by ALL Americans !

[osteodoc08]

True grit

[CLAYPOOL]

Well Done Sir, Well Done... !

[bear67]

Great post! Thanks!
I needed to read something positive today.

[tygar]

Ed Freeman was even know to us Marines & was held in high regard. We also held in high regard other Army helo pilots, from my end the 282nd Black Cats! Those boys were as good as any & saved our azs lots of times. Rotor heads had some serious balls!

[DIRT Farmer]

Many years later as a civilan medic the bird coming up to power with injured on board shook me up.
To all who flew/fly to support the guys on the ground.

[smoked turkey]

What a fitting tribute to a true hero. The words spoken about him by President Bush were very inspiring. He deserved every bit of it and probably more. I say a humble "Thank-You" to anyone who has served to keep us a free people.

[gray wolf]

Thank you Sir

https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-ts=1422579428&v=WdDYNI7V0co&x-yt-cl=85114404

[LUBEDUDE]

Now THAT is whatcha call a HERO!