A true American

You're a 19 year-old kid.
You're critically wounded and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley.
November 11, 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.
You look up to see an unarmed 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 anyway.

Even 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!!

He 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 , Idaho.

May God Rest His Soul.

I bet you didn't hear about this hero's passing, but we've sure seen a whole bunch
about Michael Jackson...

Thank you for sharing that!

Excellent post. Ive never heard of the man, but I am definitely sick & tired of hearing about that worthless sick scumbag Jacko, and countless other pointless, meaningless "celebrities"!!!!!!! !!

Nice job LL2, what a great tribute. RIP Ed Freeman, your tour of duty in hell is over.

Good Story! Too bad everybody is looking up to the Hollywood scumballs and not the real people.

People like this is why people want to become Americans.....

Wasn't this the battle that Movie "We Were Soldiers" was about. Mel Gibson stared.

Living Large2 wrote:

You're a 19 year-old kid.
You're critically wounded and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley.
November 11, 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.
You look up to see an unarmed 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 anyway.
Even 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!!
He 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 , Idaho.
May God Rest His Soul.
I bet you didn't hear about this hero's passing, but we've sure seen a whole bunch
about Michael Jackson...

Nice tribute, he was not kid when he did this, he just missed WWII by my calculations, would have been 36 or so in 1965. More should be done for these guys as should there be for all vets.

Not enough being done for vets although the new GI Bill is a good start.

Living Large2 wrote:

I bet you didn't hear about this hero's passing, but we've sure seen a whole bunch
about Michael Jackson...

and it makes sense because michael died 4 months ago, and was known by billions, and ed died just over a year ago, and although he was something more than a man, well, he died a year ago...

celebrities of Jackson's stature work extremely hard for their fame and you can't take that away.
soldiers such as freeman, moore and crandall worked extremely hard for their country and you can't take that away.
unfortunately, many people today, as then, see no distinction.

There are very few true Americans out there anymore. That is a horrendous shame.

The chopper pilots in Nam were some of the most courageous men I ever met. I didn't know Ed Freeman but he was not atypical...they were all heroes as far as I was concerned.

Granny Smith wrote:

There are very few true Americans out there anymore. That is a horrendous shame.

Horrendous shame? So you'd heard about Ed Freeman before this? I assure you there are more out there than you will EVER hear about. And they don't have to be connected to some (political) war.

Usually they are every-day people who do un-everyday things. And perhaps only once, or twice. Think about Coastguard men and women. They throw themselves out there in the very middle of completely uncontrollable conditions to save other people lives. And that is exactly what they put themselves in that position to do. More so than most firefighters you will ever run across. A fire can be somewhat controlled by others while other firefighters run into it to save lives. And I think firefighters are the true everyday they breath heroes. They have actually earned the title hero(es). There is no control over raging hurricane force storms while jumping into the middle of it to save lives and even property though.

Sorry, but there are far more than just a few "true Americans out there any more." It's only because you don't hear about them all that makes you say that.

We have become complacent enough to believe that heroes come in times of war. And that is just plain wrong.

Seenitbefore wrote:

<quoted text>
Horrendous shame? So you'd heard about Ed Freeman before this? I assure you there are more out there than you will EVER hear about. And they don't have to be connected to some (political) war.
Usually they are every-day people who do un-everyday things. And perhaps only once, or twice. Think about Coastguard men and women. They throw themselves out there in the very middle of completely uncontrollable conditions to save other people lives. And that is exactly what they put themselves in that position to do. More so than most firefighters you will ever run across. A fire can be somewhat controlled by others while other firefighters run into it to save lives. And I think firefighters are the true everyday they breath heroes. They have actually earned the title hero(es). There is no control over raging hurricane force storms while jumping into the middle of it to save lives and even property though.
Sorry, but there are far more than just a few "true Americans out there any more." It's only because you don't hear about them all that makes you say that.
We have become complacent enough to believe that heroes come in times of war. And that is just plain wrong.

That is a job they applied for because they wanted to do it. None of them consider themselves any different than anyone else.

Big O wrote:

<quoted text>
That is a job they applied for because they wanted to do it. None of them consider themselves any different than anyone else.

unbelievable

Veterans Days is November 11, how will we as Americans honor the Veteran. Will we attend memorial services, March in parades or attend a parade, Voulunteer at a vets home. How will we honor those men and woman who sacrificed so much for the freedom we enjoy today.

Momma Marie wrote:

Veterans Days is November 11, how will we as Americans honor the Veteran. Will we attend memorial services, March in parades or attend a parade, Voulunteer at a vets home. How will we honor those men and woman who sacrificed so much for the freedom we enjoy today.

Wonderful post Momma Maria. I wonder what some of the answers will be.

Seenitbefore wrote:

<quoted text>
unbelievable

Why "unbelievable"? I have 2 cousins that are retired after over 20 years each in the USCG, one of which ran the USCG Academy for awhile. If I called either of them "heroes", they would laugh at me. For them, it was their chosen profession and nothing more. Being elevated to "hero status" in not their forte.

Big O wrote:

<quoted text>
Why "unbelievable"? I have 2 cousins that are retired after over 20 years each in the USCG, one of which ran the USCG Academy for awhile. If I called either of them "heroes", they would laugh at me. For them, it was their chosen profession and nothing more. Being elevated to "hero status" in not their forte.

And fantastic for them. Really! That makes them even more deserving of it.

Unbelievable mostly because you totally missed the point of the post and instead when off on your own personal tangent.

Living Large2 wrote:

You're a 19 year-old kid.
You're critically wounded and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley.
November 11, 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.
You look up to see an unarmed 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 anyway.
Even 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!!
He 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 , Idaho.
May God Rest His Soul.
I bet you didn't hear about this hero's passing, but we've sure seen a whole bunch
about Michael Jackson...

Why would people say this poster is a peanut and this is spam? Bravo poster.