Here's the contents of that email.
Ed Freeman
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 helicopter, and you look up to see an un-armed 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.
Medal of Honor Recipient, Ed Freeman, died March 25th, 2009 at the age of 80, in Boise, ID.May God rest his soul.
Medal of Honor Winner
Ed Freeman!
THANKS AGAIN ED FOR WHAT YOU DID FOR OUR COUNTRY.
RIP
16 comments:
Thanks for this post, Grandpa Eddie. Real heroes are often unrecognized... the world might be a much better place if we could focus on the good people do rather than the damage.
skyewriter - It is so sad that the people who do the most good are the ones we hear the least about.
Thank you for posting that.
Gordon - You're welcome my friend.
I just wish I would have known of this sooner. A hero like Ed should not pass quietly.
In an age when our leaders so cavalierly disregard the lives of young fighting men and women for ill-gotten gain, it's wonderful to be reminded that there were, are and always be people who value those lives, even at the expense of their own. This was a special person. Thank you for posting this.
ZIRGAR - He was a very special person. Especially to a lot of mothers. He deserved a much better send-off.
You are welcome, my friend.
Wow! A real hero indeed.
This made me think of something that happened at the walk this morning - we do a lot of work with vets at my work, because we're a mental health nonprofit and they have such terrible PTSD coming back from wars, as you know, I'm sure.
So I went out to give some cookies at the walk to the people sleeping outside on the grass, and one of them had a US Army hat and old, ragged uniform on. It just broke my heart. These guys deserve so much better than what we give them when they get home.
"Walkin the walk" has little to do with "talkin" the talk. Thanks for this one Eddie.
I wish that there had been better coverage of this "hero's" passing. This is what I think of when I think of hero.
I would have liked to have been able to shake this man's hand and just say thank you.
Thanks for sharing this story with us!
Wow! He was a true American hero. I wonder if he came for my brother before he died. Thank you, Eddie for posting this. I've been going in and out of memories of my brother all day - good memories.
Riot Kitty - We don't do enough for those who return home from war. Many never receive the care the need. They are all heroes to someone in their own special way.
willis - Mr Freeman definitely "walked the walk."
You're welcome, my friend.
Hermit Jim - Mr Freeman deserved much more than what he got at his passing. I, too, would have loved to meet him and shake his hand.
Nancy - Hold on to those good memories of your brother. He, too, is a hero.
All too often the actions of men like Ed Freeman go unnoticed or unreported. I wish I'd had the honor of meeting him. At least the got the medal. His death reminds me of the untold number of troops - men and women - who have never been honored for their actions.
We've all heard or read about how front line troops feel about REMF's - and their disdain is probably justified, but at least they served - unlike Bush and Chaney, who are the ones all Americans should disdain.
jeg43 - I wish I had the chance to meet him, too, just to tell him Thank You. I don't know if any of the troops he saved were any I knew, but they were someone's friends, sons, and brothers.
There are so many that should be honored who never are.
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