Youre a 19 year old kid. Youre critically wounded and dying in the jungle somewhere in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam. Its November 11, 1967. LZ (landing 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. Youre lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns and you know youre not getting out. Your family is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and youll 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 doesnt seem real because no MedEvac markings are on it. Captain Ed Freeman is coming in for you. Hes not MedEvac so its not his job, but he heard the radio call and decided hes flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire anyway. Even after the MedEvacs were ordered not to come.Hes 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
Posted on: Mon, 10 Mar 2014 05:24:18 +0000