Unknown Heroes

You're a 19 year old kid.
You are critically wounded and dying in the jungle somewhere in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam .
Its November 14, 1965 . 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.
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 Army, died at the age of 80, in Boise, Idaho.
I bet you didn't hear about this hero's passing,Medal of Honor, Bronze star, & Purple Heart recipient Captain Ed Freeman.
Now... YOU pass this along.
Honor this real hero.

I had a great uncle die that day.

They say he was a great man.

They all where great men.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/33412196/james-david-smith

We have lost a lot of hero's that only a few know about. Everyone in our Armed Forces are all hero's. Thank them!

Thanks K. Stories like that we'd to be told more .

Great men and women silently doing what has to be done for our freedoms and safety. Selflessly putting themselves in danger so ALL OF US can live our lives in the greatest country in the world. Respect our soldiers and the flag they stand under.

True American Hero!

A BIG THANK YOU to all of'em !!!

He was ,(IS) A Great American Hero

Thanks for posting

That's what I call a TRUE hero , not some turkey legger crying about working 5 days a week instead of 4 down at the local hospital because of some virus .

I just can't agree with this. For example, I don't consider Alexander Semyon Vindman a hero, although he served in our armed forces. My grandfather served in WW1, in the quartermaster corps, but I don't think that makes him a hero. Many others served and did their duty in our all volunteer military forces and did their jobs well, but that doesn't differentiate them from folks in the private sector who also do their jobs well or from other members of the military. A few service men and women in active war zone duty do differentiate themselves with selfless acts of bravery in support of their fellow service members. Those are the true heroes and I think it cheapens their selfless acts to say all service members are heroes.

Wow, what a great story, a true American hero indeed! Thanks for sharing!

I've been in & out of LZ Xray many times.

Met Ed Freeman , Joe Galloway and Hal Moore at a squadron reunion at Fort Rucker, AL in 2002.

What some don't know is that both Freeman ( Too Tall) and Bruce Crandall (snake****) had to change aircraft several times because of damage from small arms fire. But they just kept flying. Also, Galloway who was not military, was awarded the bronze star for his efforts. They don't make many like those guys

Some of those chopper pilots over there were one step short of crazy! That said, the adrenaline rush and being young and "bullit proof" caused some of them to become real life heros. I don't believe any had even considered what the consequencesof their actions could do, they just seen the need and did it, the best they could. Gave it all they had, and became heros, especially to the ones they saved!

They say those young warrant officers flying those hueys in the heat of battle made them do things that they weren't engineered or designed to do.

I think most of them were. These folks were crazy brave.

Thanks to those who served.

X2