You're a 19 year old kid.
You're critically wounded and dying in
The jungle somewhere in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam ..
It's November 11, 1967.
LZ (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 Air Force, 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
Now... YOU pass this along. Honor this real hero.
Please.
A hero, no doubt. According to Wikipedia, the events occurred in 1965, and Freeman died in 2008.
Looked myself and you are right it was in 65. The Metal of Honor Citation does reflect that what was written about above was accurate. Must take a lot caring to sit and take fire for the benefit of others you don't know, a different kind of bravery than those who are fighting back, but thinking about it makes me think, maybe not.
jud
> Check it out
>
> We need more people like him in this world!
Agreed!! What a hero...I'm sure he got lots more "heart awards" when he arrived at the Pearly Gates. :love:
TTerhune said it best. But where are they? I think they come in all shapes and sizes. They may be among you and you just don't know. Let's hope we never have to find out who they are at the expense of the ones who, like them, would do anything.
That is the action of a true hero. Someone who thinks of others without concern for themself.