| RIP Capt. Ed Freeman | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Sep 8 2008, 12:15 PM (336 Views) | |
| Acc Esq | Sep 8 2008, 12:15 PM Post #1 |
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This kind of heroism is truly humbling!! You're an 18 or 19 year old kid. You're critically wounded, and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley, 11-14-1965 in 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 Medi-Vac 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, and you look up to see a 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...... at least 21 more times..... and took about 70 of you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out. Medal of Honor Winner Ed Freeman died Wednesday, August 20 at 80, in Boise, ID. None of that is Hollywood fiction! God Bless Ed Freeman. Thank GOD for men like Ed Freeman and others like him who put others before themselves. Conformation of the above is on the following web page: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/07/20010716-1.html |
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| Deleted User | Sep 8 2008, 12:18 PM Post #2 |
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Deleted User
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When I think of the self-involved dopes that pass as heroes today....and then there is a true hero like this. Thanks for posting...and may he rest in peace. |
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| Soobs | Sep 8 2008, 12:24 PM Post #3 |
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God Bless....Amen to that! |
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| LTC8K6 | Sep 8 2008, 12:40 PM Post #4 |
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Assistant to The Devil Himself
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RIP. "Thank GOD for men like Ed Freeman and others like him who put others before themselves." Indeed... |
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| Tidbits | Sep 8 2008, 12:51 PM Post #5 |
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Thank you Ed. |
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| Deleted User | Sep 8 2008, 12:56 PM Post #6 |
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Deleted User
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Yes. The current crop of "heroes" consists of Crystal Mangum, Barak Obama, Madonna Constantine, Hilary Clinton, ... Actually, this is not completely true. There are lots of brave, patriotic citizens in this country. Think of Iraq: when things get rough, most Americans rise to the occasion. It is our leaders that stink (and not all of them, either). McCain is miserable as a leader - but who can fault him as a soldier? |
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| DANinZA | Sep 8 2008, 01:59 PM Post #7 |
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And he sure as Heck wasn't a Democrat!! |
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| longstop | Sep 8 2008, 02:12 PM Post #8 |
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longstop
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Great Guy, Thank you for being there ! |
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| teddy bear | Sep 8 2008, 02:30 PM Post #9 |
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Like Dean Sue thinking Whoopi Goldburg was a leader. As I read this moving account I couldn't help think about john Kerry's phoney purple hearts (one was probably self inflicted) and silver star for leaving the swift boat (not a smart thing for the Capt to do) to capture a badly wounded VC on the shore. |
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| Acc Esq | Sep 8 2008, 02:43 PM Post #10 |
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BTW, I do not want to mislead anyone. These are not my eloquent words. I pasted this verbatim from an email I received this morning from a retired USMC officer. Be sure to read the link -- this MOH is recent (2001) and is attributed in part to the intense lobbying of John McCain. |
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| Baldo | Sep 8 2008, 03:05 PM Post #11 |
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Another Great Man! I salute him and all CMOH winners http://www.cmohs.org/ The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in action against an enemy force which can be bestowed upon an individual serving in the Armed Services of the United States. Generally presented to its recipient by the President of the United States of America in the name of Congress, it is often called the Congressional Medal of Honor. I once attended an Army Navy Football game, and they introduced a WW II winner in attendance. Listening to the deadening roar from the middies and cadets was a special moment. Another one was the story of Desmond T. Doss. Desmond T. Doss (January 17, 1919–March 23, 2006) was the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor (Cpl. Thomas W. Bennett, an army medic during the Vietnam war, is the only other). He was a Private First Class (at the time of his Medal of Honor heroics) in the U.S. Army assigned to the Medical Detachment, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division. He died the same day as another Medal of Honor recipient, David Bleak. Desmond Doss refused to kill, or carry a weapon into combat, because of his personal beliefs as a Seventh-day Adventist. He thus became a medic, and by serving in the Pacific theatre of World War II helped his country by saving the lives of his comrades, while also adhering to his religious convictions. His Medal of Honor was earned by the risks he took to save the lives of many comrades. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Doss His touching story about his love of his fellow man is recorded here (be sure to turn down the music) http://www.homeofheroes.com/profiles/profiles_doss2.html Edited by Baldo, Sep 8 2008, 03:06 PM.
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| Jezebelle | Sep 8 2008, 04:41 PM Post #12 |
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Acc, thanks for bringing in this story. May this great man rest in eternal peace. Edited by Jezebelle, Sep 8 2008, 04:42 PM.
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