You're a 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 themachine 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.
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 themachine 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.
24 Comments
John
Hail Ed Freeman, Hero of America. As I sit here tasting the bile in my mouth from the excess shown a plastic clown who could allegedly sing and dance, I'm reminded that the path to purity is remembering, and trying my best to emulate, people exactly like Ed Freeman. Keep him mind as your shining ideal of American manhood and none of the garbage that is the mass media will ever stick to you.
The truly amazing thing is that among American servicemen, Ed Freemen was but one (ok, he was not just an exceptional man, but an exceptional hero...my point still stands) of hundreds of true heroes...yet we rarely ever hear about them. Wonder what is on the TV?
John
And I spelled his name incorrectly once...Freemen? Freeman, Sir, and I will never forget. Perhaps it was just a Freudian slip.
paonejim
Mr. Freeman is what our country is made of, heros that have gone unoticed. Thank you for sharing this story.
therooster
Extremely Remarkable !
Tarantulas
Ed Freeman died on August 20, 2008.
Anonymous
Good story, but you might want to format the text turn it black so it strains the eyes a bit less.
Anonymous
Mr. Freeman.
Thank you sir.
Jon Brooks
Today July 10th is my birthday, reading about Mr. Freeman and his life is my most precious gift today. God Bless you sir as I know He has. RIP
Anonymous
A great man! We will miss you.
Jack Ely
Vietnam produced few heroes, and I say that as a vet. Mr. Freeman is obviously one. Personally, I would like to see this man enshrined as the greatest hero of the Vietnam war...... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Thompson,_Jr. He also died a couple of years ago.
jkumpire
If I ever get a chance to show my children this page, I will do it in the hope that they will both end up being the same kind of person this guy was. I hope I will meet in him in Heaven one day, and I pray to God that one day our country will produce more men like him in public life, instead of the clowns that seem to get all the attention now.
Thank your for your service to your country Ed Freeman, R.I.P.
StevenHansen
i am not in any way reducing the contribution of Mr. Freeman, but vietnam was full of heroes. these veterans watched their friends died, but when they returned home and wore their uniform - people spat on them.
americans mistreatment of these veterans reached depths unimaginable today. they suffered mental distress and effects from agent orange - which the government denied were problems.
because the war was not seen as just - americans took out their anger on the military.
and when it was all said and done, we walked away from that war making the contribution of these heroes worthless.
i will never, never support a war where americans die for some theory some high ranking bureaucrat pulled out of his ass in support of some puppet government which does not have the support of the people of that country. get the hell out of iraq. get the hell out of afghanistan.
Anonymous
What does this have to do with pedophiles?
battery4well
Comment Flagged as Inappropriate
Mark Maguire
Nice story.....RIP Mr Freeman
EdunNital
Tarantulas is correct re: Ed Freeman's passing.
Michael Jackson died Thursday, 25 June 2009. Based on my investigation, the article is the text of a spam that was altered after Michael Jackson's death. It degrades a true hero through falsehoods. This is a spam sham shame.
Ed Freeman died Wednesday, 20 August 2008 sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Freeman, http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008127946_apidobitfreeman1stldwritethru.html, http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/freeman.asp, and Idaho Statesman; "MOH Recipient Ed Freeman Dies."; 21 August 2008."
NavyVet
While I disagree with the altering of Mr. Freeman's death date, I don't disagree with the point the email was trying to make. Mr. Freeman was a genuine hero, and I'd bet that his death was not picked up by any of the major news agencies, unlike Mr. Jackson's. That's the whole point. We as a nation have our priorities so screwed up, that we don't know what a hero looks like anymore, and worse yet, our kids don't even understand what the word hero means.
JasonRines
Navy Vet is correct in it's intent but blogosphere news has far to go in story credibility validation. This market is opportunity for normalization and be much more valuable to the public. I apologize to the group for syndicating this.
roy chow
Navy Vet: the incredible irony of this is that Mr. Freeman's passing was actually covered extensively by NBC and then picked up by AP and CNN as well as his local Idahoan media outlets.
Media (and society) in general needs to keep priorities in perspective, I agree. But I wish angry people would please let Mr. Freeman rest in peace. Please do your part by un-hinging any mention of Mr. Freeman with media's mimicking American society's celebrity fixation.