OT. Maybe this story will turn the board in another direction for a bit.

[ruready4somefootball]

You're a 19 year old kid.
You are critically wounded and dying in the jungle somewhere in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam .
It's November 11, 1967.
LZ (landin...g 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.
I bet you didn't hear about this hero's passing, but we've sure seen a whole bunch about the thug Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin,
The gov. shut down, "what difference does it make!!!?")
and the bickering of congress over Health & OBAMA CARE!
BUT NOTHING ABOUT THE PASSING OF
Medal of Honor Winner Captain Ed Freeman.
Shame on the media !!!
Now... YOU pass this along.
Honor this real Hero.
Please

 

[Blitz8RUCrazy]

Sounds like a great guy with strong values. RIP. Certainly deserving of the title, Hero.

 

[LC-88]

Nice post. Puts things in perspective.

He died in 2008. He won his CMOH in the I Drang Valley in November of 65 not 67. He was depicted in the movie "We Were Soldiers". Great movie if you have not seen it.

Enlisted in the Navy at 17 during WW II.

One of 14 survivors out of 257 in his unit in the opening engagements at Pork Chop Hill in Korea. Was field promoted from SGT. to 2 LT., and took what was left of his new company back into the battle.

Wow.

 

[RUforester72]

I feel so insignificant when I think of heroes like him.

 

[RU62]

There are many other hero's like this that do not get the accolades and thanks thst they fullybdesetve. I know of one of my classmates and a former Rutgers athlete who recently passed away and only fully learned of his helicopter exploits in Vietnam which earned him some medals. Like many he never mentioned much about this and we didn't know how much of a hero he was until his funeral and military honor guards were present. To be honest there are probably many other veterans in our country who just do not want to talk about or recall their Vietnam experience...and probably rightly so.

Thank you Ed Freeman and OP for putting things into perspective. If only the media would do a quick daily thank you etc to recognize our heros we all might appreciate what they have done to serve our country better as opposed to some of the junk that is featured on the nightly newcasts.

 

[Saint Puppy]

Amazing and does put things in perspective.

 

[KT71]

Excellent post and excellent story! God bless America and our brave men and women who defend it daily!!

 

[RUBand]

Thank you for posting story, what he did is remarkable.

 

[dvb91]

Big +1 and bump for our veterans.

 

[RUinsane]

You might do some fact clean up. The Battle of the Ia Drang (LZ XRay) occurred November 14–18, 1965. Also, Col. (now General) Moore never closed the LZ on his men. Quite the contrary, he knew the helicopters were their lifeline and that without them they would all be killed. In fact, he eventually had to call Broken Arrow in order to bring down the full strength of bombers and artillery to keep the NVA at bay. The 8-1 outnumbering is accurate, but I can tell you the men on the ground never thought they "were not getting out" They focused on the task in front of them and taking the fight to the NVA. Why do I know these things? Because my Father-In-Law was one of those soldiers who stepped off the first set of helicopters to land in LZ-XRAY, and fought in the Creekbed for three long days. He's even quoted in the book "We Were Soldiers..And Young" Capt. Freeman, Joe Marm (also a MOH winner from that battle) and all the soldiers that fought that battle against incredible odds do deserve our thanks and respect. If you are ever driving around Ocean County you can recognize him from his vanity plates (IADRANG and LZXRAY) with a small Cav Patch stuck on the license plate. And for those who don't know, that Battle of the Ia Drang military significance is that it was the first major engagement in the history of warfare where helicopters were used primarily to deploy infantry into enemy territory i.e. Air Cavalry became a reality. Also, this battle taught the NVA that the US's artillery and Bombers were too strong and that large scale battle like this were not the way to fight the war.

 

[scarleteagle]

I just recently finished the book we were soldiers once, and young. Crazy what soldiers went through in that stupid, stupid war. Insanity, really. Don't ruin the post with political garbage though, guy was a hero in his own right regardless of who people vote for.

 

[RUinsane]

Don't ruin the post with political garbage though, guy was a hero in his own right regardless of who people vote for.

Who said anything political?

 

[srru86]

And we should not forget RU's own:
COL Jack Jacobs, (ret.)
Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni

Medal of Honor Society

Twitter

 

[mdk01]

You might do some fact clean up. The Battle of the Ia Drang (LZ XRay) occurred November 14–18, 1965. Also, Col. (now General) Moore never closed the LZ on his men. Quite the contrary, he knew the helicopters were their lifeline and that without them they would all be killed. In fact, he eventually had to call Broken Arrow in order to bring down the full strength of bombers and artillery to keep the NVA at bay. The 8-1 outnumbering is accurate, but I can tell you the men on the ground never thought they "were not getting out" They focused on the task in front of them and taking the fight to the NVA. Why do I know these things? Because my Father-In-Law was one of those soldiers who stepped off the first set of helicopters to land in LZ-XRAY, and fought in the Creekbed for three long days. He's even quoted in the book "We Were Soldiers..And Young" Capt. Freeman, Joe Marm (also a MOH winner from that battle) and all the soldiers that fought that battle against incredible odds do deserve our thanks and respect. If you are ever driving around Ocean County you can recognize him from his vanity plates (IADRANG and LZXRAY) with a small Cav Patch stuck on the license plate. And for those who don't know, that Battle of the Ia Drang military significance is that it was the first major engagement in the history of warfare where helicopters were used primarily to deploy infantry into enemy territory i.e. Air Cavalry became a reality. Also, this battle taught the NVA that the US's artillery and Bombers were too strong and that large scale battle like this were not the way to fight the war.

Indeed, there are some facts that need to be cleaned up. Most people would recognize the name "Too Tall" more than Freeman. Around that time I was in a boarding school with Hal Moore's two oldest sons while he was stationed in Korea. One went West Point, one Harvard. Never a mention of Ia Drang. But Hal Moore is an amazing individual, as was Freeman

 

[scarleteagle]

Who said anything political?

Brown, treyvon Martin, government shutdown, obamacare.... Did you read the last 1/4 of the post?

 

[MADHAT1]

Ed Freeman Obituary - Boise, ID | Idahostatesman.com
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/idahostatesman/obituary.aspx?pid=116135560