If you read We Were Soldiers, Once ... And Young, or saw the movie, you may remember the helicopter pilot who kept showing up whenever Hal Moore needed him most. You may remember the character, but I'd like you to remember the man -- MAJ Ed Freeman, the aviation company's commander...
You should've heard the brags we passed around when Too Tall actually got his MOH. Damn, but we were proud of him...
Six is inbound with the numbers, Fiddlers' Green contingent -- make a hole!
And now is the time at the Castle that we Dance...
We used to joke that Vietnam helicopter pilots earned medals for valor every day -- and sometimes somebody actually got one.Boise Medal of Honor recipient passes away
03:23 PM MDT on Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Maj. Ed Freeman died at a Boise hospital Wednesday. He was 80 years old.
His exploits in the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam were featured in a book and on film, and for his heroism, he was awarded the nation's higest honor.
This morning, Major Ed Freeman, known as "Too Tall," passed away at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise. He was 80 years old.
Freeman's youngest son, Doug Freeman, says his father died from health complications due to Parkinson's Disease.
Freeman was a helicopter pilot, who flew multiple missions under heavy enemy fire to re-supply the 7th Cavalry in the Ia Drang Valley, and evacuate wounded troopers.
The 1965 battle was the subject of the book "We Were Soldiers Once, and Young" by Lt. Gen. Hal Moore, and the Mel Gibson movie adaptation "We Were Soldiers."
Freeman was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism during the Vietnam War by President George W. Bush in July of 2001.
Lt. Col. Tim Marsano, with the Idaho National Guard, says funeral services have been scheduled for Saturday. Freeman will then be buried at the Idaho Veterans Cemetery in Boise.
You should've heard the brags we passed around when Too Tall actually got his MOH. Damn, but we were proud of him...
Six is inbound with the numbers, Fiddlers' Green contingent -- make a hole!
And now is the time at the Castle that we Dance...
a toast to his memory!
One of my wife's uncles was a 2LT in B 1/7 at Ia Drang (George Jennings). He may owe his life as much to Freeman as to anyone else.
I was in CSC 1/7 from '74-'75, and in spite of our usual solders' disdain for seriousness (and the Custer-had-it-coming mockery), most of us had a pretty good idea about our unit's history and we wore that crest proudly. It is still the unit and crest I am most fond of, along with the 1st Cav patch, of course.
BTW, I'm serious about knowing the unit history. We had a British exchange officer for a BN XO (named Osborne, I think) and he was supposedly a student of the 7th Cav. We were given a small pamphlet we were told he wrote about the 7th Cav that we had to learn so we could answer guard mount questions. That was my first real taste of being part of an organization whose past members were almost a palpable presence, and though it sounds silly, I never see that unit crest without feeling some kinship to the other people who have and are wearing it. It's the closest I come to being a 'fan' of any team.
I will go further, and suggest his award of the Congressional Medal of Honor, both for his gallantry in Ia Drang, and his devotion to those attacked on 9-11.
Godspeed, Maj. Freeman.
Godspeed, Col. Rescorla.
Fiddlers Green indeed...I first read about Maj Freemen's heroism in " We Were Soldiers, Once and Young"... For me, more than forty years later, the ever present and comforting sound of a chopper coming to save your butt or to just evac your sorry exhausted ass out of Indian Country is the evocative sound of my whole time in country... A toast to Maj Freemen and by inference to all chopper pilots and crew...you all made a difference when it mattered....RIP..Godspeed and ...Gary Owen... Best