Today's post is by Jim Feeney. I know I'm on hiatus for important things, but Jim asked his readers to pass this on, so here it is--and thanks, Jim.
*P.S. Informed Comment has an excellent post this morning: a Ghoul's Glossary for the ShutdownYou'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 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 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 Lindsay Lohan, Tiger Woods
and the bickering of congress over HealthReform.
Medal of Honor Winner Captain Ed Freeman
Shame on the media !!!
Now... YOU pass this along.
Honor this real hero.
Please.
Capt Freeman truly earned his Medal of Honor.
ReplyDeleteI don't know Mr Feeney, but I do know that the above email has been circulating for several years. Within a year of Capt Freeman's death (2008), a small federal facility had been named after him.
Cop Car
I'll tell Jim. He made an honest mistake about Capt Freeman's recognition for his brave deeds. Thanks, Cop Car....
DeleteI doubt that any of us is immune to taking things as current when they come to us in an email. We can't reasonably be expected to fact check everything that we receive, can we? As I wrote, above, "Capt Freeman truly earned his Medal of Honor." That's the important part of the message from Mr Feeney.
ReplyDeleteCop Car
Jim is a fabulous guy. and he's as careful as anyone I know. but....most of us have fallen down that trap. thanks for your kind words, CC
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