[Nfbf-l] Captain Ed Freeman Boise Idaho Passed Away In 2008 A Medal Of Honor Hero
REPCODDS at aol.com
REPCODDS at aol.com
Thu Mar 29 12:35:06 UTC 2012
See below!!!
Circulating via forwarded email, a tribute to Vietnam War hero and Medal
of Honor recipient Ed Freeman, who died at the age of 80 in Boise, Idaho on
August 20, 2008.
Status: True (see details below)
Ed Freeman
You're an 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 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 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 Medi-Vac 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.
Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire, to the Doctors and
Nurses.
And, he kept coming back.... 13 more times.....
And took about 30 of you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten
out.
Medal of Honor Recipient , Ed Freeman , died last Wednesday 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 about some Hip-Hop Coward beating the crap out of his
"girlfriend"
Medal of Honor Winner Ed Freeman!
Shame on the American Media
Analysis: From the closing sentences above, one could come away with the
impression that the courageous life and quiet death of retired Army Captain
and Medal of Honor recipient _Ed W. Freeman_
(http://dailynightly.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/07/11/265756.aspx) had been completely ignored by the
media. Not so, as the partial list of news sources further down this page
shows. It may not have made front-page news, but Freeman's passing on August
20, 2008 was commemorated in a special segment on the NBC Nightly News, an AP
national wire story, and obituaries published in newspapers across the
country.
As stated in the email, in 2001 Freeman was awarded the nation's highest
military honor some 36 years after the fact for his heroic actions as a
Vietnam War helicopter pilot on November 14, 1965. He was presented with a
citation by President George W. Bush which read as follows:
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 Air Mobil (ph).
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 Idrang 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
Paceeds (ph) 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.
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