Liz, my dear friend. What an inspiring story and thank you so much for sharing it with us in such beautiful prose. This is the spirit of blogging and sharing the human spirit! Thank you so much. We need these stories in this time of crisis!
It's so interesting what makes the news and what doesn't - isn't it? Often it is the headlines that grab our attention - and give the impression that it is those headlines that are important, impactful and relevant. Were it only so. Should this have been on the front page maybe?
Courage.
You're a 19 year old kid.
You're critically wounded and dying in the jungle somewhere in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam .
It's 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 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 Michael
Jackson and Tiger Woods.
Medal of Honor
Winner Captain Ed Freeman ...
If you or someone you know is thinking of Buying or Selling property in Cultus Lake, Chilliwack, Hope, Abbotsford, Langley or anywhere in the Fraser Valley Area of B.C. - or if you would like more information please give Liz Moras of Landmark Realty Chilliwack a call at- 604-799-0459 or e-mail at lizmoras@gmail.com.
Copyright © 2010 By Liz Moras, All Rights Reserved. Please do not use without permission. Information provided by this author is only an opinion, it is not guaranteed, may be based on information collected from several sources, and may be time sensitive. It is not necessarily representative of the opinions of Landmark Realty Chwk. Ltd.
Jeanean
Thankyou for sharing the story of this magnificent hero. If only the world had more of him. We cannot overlook or forget these great individuals.
Great re-blog Jeanean...I will go over and say hi to Liz and thank her for posting as well.
I wil do the same as Jane and give Liz a shout. Too many of our brave men and women who have fought past wars do not get the thanks they should have. Great post.