"Naturally, I had a certain degree of
fear," said the retired Army major, who also wears three Distinguished
Flying Crosses. "But after awhile, I just accepted the fact that it was
coming sooner or later. I figured it would be soon than later, but it
didn't."
Freeman said it was hot for the grunts on the ground and hot for him in
the air at Landing Zone X-Ray in South Vietnam's Ia Drang Valley. "I
don't know how many times my chopper was hit during that 14 hours, but
it was a lot," he said. "Every time a round hit it sounded like
somebody tapping it with a hammer. You can feel it, too."
By Rudi Williams
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, July 23, 2001 – "I was
frightened, but you've got to control fear, or fear will get you killed
-- quicker," Medal of Honor recipient Ed W. Freeman said as he
described flying his Huey helicopter in and out of a hot landing zone
in Vietnam on Nov. 14, 1965.
His
main concern was an enemy hit on vital areas like his throttle or oil
lines. He said he wasn't too worried about his fuel tank being hit
because he had self-sealing tanks. "For his actions that day,
Capt. Freeman was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross," President
George W. Bush said during the Medal of Honor awards ceremony at the
White House on July 16, 2001. "But the men who were there, including
the commanding officer, Lt. Col. Bruce Crandall, felt a still higher
honor was called for. Through the unremitting efforts of Lt. Col.
Crandall and many others, and the persuasive weight from Sen. John
McCain, the story now comes to its rightful conclusion."
During the battle, though intense enemy fire warded off other
helicopters, Freeman flew 14 missions, delivering supplies going in and
evacuating wounded soldiers coming out. Some of the estimated 30
soldiers he rescued would not have survived otherwise, according to the
award citation. "The last trip was made at 10:30 at night
through the lights, mortar fire and everything else that was happening
in there," Freeman recalled. "The colonel told me he had adequate
ammunition and supplies to last him until daylight. He said, 'Don't
come back.' I said, 'Good.'" He said he probably would have
continued to fly all night had that been necessary. He logged 14.5
flight hours that day without shutting down the engine. "We had hot
refueling," Freeman explained. "We'd park, shut the helicopter down to
a flight idle and turn the radios off." While ground crews serviced his
Huey, he said, he chowed down on cans of franks and beans. He
doesn't recall being concerned about his Huey malfunctioning during
those long hours. It didn't, but if it had, Freeman said his attitude
had been, "That's the way it is." The Ia Drang battle wasn't
the only time Freeman flew into a hot landing zone to help besieged
infantrymen. Another time, he said, he was just passing by an area when
saw fighting going on in the palm trees below. Then he received a radio
call, "Serpent 26, is that you?" "Affirmative," Freeman responded. "I'm in deep trouble, could you come and help?" the voice asked. "Sure, give me some smoke," Freeman said. "It's awfully hot in here," the caller warned. "It won't be any hotter for me than it is for you," Freeman responded. The infantryman popped a green smoke grenade and Freeman landed right on top of it.
"I hauled about eight injured soldiers out of there," Freeman said. "I
took 52 rounds in the helicopter and still got it out of there.
"We were soldiers and we do our duty," said the newest Medal of Honor
recipient. "It was my duty because they assigned me to fly helicopters,
it was my duty to put it through its paces, and I did it."
 | Medal of Honor recipient retired Army Maj. Ed W. Freeman (left) chats with Gen. Eric Shinseki, Army chief of staff, after being inducted into the Pentagon's "Hall of Heroes." The afternoon ceremony for Freeman on July 16, 2001, followed President Bush's morning presentation of the medal in the White House. Photo by Rudi Williams. |
You're critically wounded, and dying in
the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley, 11-14-1965. LZ Xray, 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 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...... 13 more times..... and took about 30 of
you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out.
Source: various emails and also found on Snopes
Medal of Honor Recipient Ed Freeman died August 20, 2008 at the age of 80, in Boise, ID.
Here is a video, which was shot in 2007, where you can listen to (Ret) Major Ed "Too Tall" Freeman himself, as he talks about his actions that day as he flew in and out of Landing Zone X-Ray in South Vietnam's Ia Drang Valley. Be patient with the video. Here is what the lady who made it had to say.
sauce1969
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