Major Ed Too Tall Freeman an American Hero

August 20, 2008 was a quiet day for the most part. The day came and went with no fan fare. There were many things in history that happened on August 20.

1641 - Scotland and Britain signed the Treaty of Pacification.
1741 - Danish navigator Vitus Jonas Bering discoveredAlaska.1866 - It was formally declared byU.S. President Andrew Johnson that the American Civil War was over. The fighting had stopped months earlier.
1882 - Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" debuted in Moscow.1940 - France fell to the Germans during World War II.
1945 - Tommy Brown of the Brooklyn Dodgers became the youngest player to hit a home run in a major league ball game. Brown was 17 years, 8 months and 14 days old. 1955 - Col. Horace A. Hanes, aU.S. Air Force pilot, flew to an altitude of 40,000 feet. Hanes reached a speed of 822.135 miles per hour in a Super Sabrejet.
1955 - Bo Diddley made his first appearance at the Apollo Theater in New York City. 1977 -Voyager 2 was launched by theUnited States. The spacecraft was carrying a 12 inch copper phonograph record containing greetings in dozens of languages, samples of music and sounds of nature. 1998 - The U.N. Security Council extended trade sanctions against Iraq for blocking arms inspections.

But what you do not see in that list was the passing of Major Ed W. Freeman. Major Freeman was a much decorated veteran; among those is the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest honor. In fact, unless you served with him or pass the United States Postal Service located at 103 West Main Street in McLain, Mississippi every day, you probably never heard of him.

Freeman was born in Neely, Mississippi on November 20, 1927, the sixth of nine children. It was there at the young age of 13 years old, he saw thousands of men on maneuvers pass by his home in Mississippi. At that instant, he knew then that he would become a soldier. So at the age 17 and without graduating from high school, Ed enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He proudly served, during World War II aboard the USS Cacapon (AO-52) for two years. After the war was over, he returned to his hometown and graduated high school.

As soon as High school was completed, Freeman joined the US army in 1946. After his completion of boot camp, he was assigned to the Corps of Engineers. During that time and prior to the Korean War he achieved the rank of First Sergeant. Now even though he was assigned to the Corps of Engineers, he actually fought as an infantry soldier on the ground. He was a part of the famous battle of Pork Chop Hill. In fact, he was one of the 14 survivors out of 257 men who made it through the opening stages of the battle. His actions earned him a battlefield commission and he was promoted to second lieutenant. He then given command of B Company and led them back up Pork Chop Hill.

A childhood dream of his was to become a pilot. The commission he earned made him eligible to fulfill that dream. But instead he was disappointed. At six feet four inches, he was "too tall" for pilot duty. Because of this he became known by the nickname of "Too Tall" for the rest of his career. However, in 1955, the height limit for pilots was raised and Freeman was accepted into flying school. His dream was now about to become true.

Freeman was trained and certified on Army fix wing fighters. Shortly after earning his wings on the planes, he went back to pilot school and switched to helicopters. Once he was a pilot he flew sorties for the rest of the Korean War. After the Korean War, he was a part of an imitative to map the entire world by air.

In 1965 he was given orders to go to Vietnam as a Helicopter pilot. He was placed second in command of a unit of 16 copters.He was as aCaptain in Company A, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion,1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile).

It was here that Freeman earned his Medal of Honor. On November 14, 1965, Freeman and his unit transported a battalion of soldiers to theLa Drang Valley. This was later to be called the Battle of La Drang. After dropping off the soldiers Freeman flew back to base. The soldiers began their patrol and quickly came under fire. In fact they were extremely outnumbered and surrounded. The fire fight quickly escalated to severely intense. The Americans were putting up a great fight but were talking large casualties. The fighting became so intense; it was becoming difficult to get rescue helicopters onto the scene. There is a contradiction as to what happened next. Some accounts state the senior officer in charge ordered the medical evacuation helicopters not to return to the landing areas. Other accounts say the medical evacuation helicopters refused to fly in to the landing zone. Either way, the injured soldiers were not being evacuated. Upon returning to Base Freeman heard what was occurring and that the soldiers were not being air lifted out. Freeman and his commander, MajorBruce Crandall hopped on their lightly armoredUH-1 Huey and flew to the LZ in support of the embattled troops. Freeman made a total of fourteen trips to the battlefield, bringing in provisions as well as ammunition and taking out wounded soldiers under heavy enemy fire. Several times when returning to base, the chopper he was flying had taken too much damage to keep flying, so he just took the next available chopper and went back. He rescued a total of 84 soldiers that day. Upon landing for the last time, it was discovered that Freeman himself had been hit four times as well. It was not clear at what points he was shot, but he kept flying despite it.

Shortly after recovering from his injuries, he was promoted to the rank ofMajor, designated as a Master Army Aviator. A year later his tour in Vietnam was over and he rotated back to the United States. He remained stationed there until his retirement in late 1967. Freeman retired with 23 medals, receiving his highest honor in 2001. Also at the time of his retirement, he logged more than he had 17,000 flight hours in helicopters and 8,000 in fixed-wing aircraft. The last honor bestowed upon him was by the 111^th Congress when they named his hometown Post Office after him.

Freeman was put in for the Medal of Honor by Command, but it turns out it was past the two year deadline for filing. In 1995, the two year deadline was lifted. His name was reapplied and on July 16, 2001, in theEast Room of the White House he was presented his Medal of Honor by PresidentGeorge W. Bush.

My American View

As a boy of 13, Ed Freeman saw thousands of men on maneuvers pass by his home in Mississippi. He decided then and there that he would be a soldier. A lifetime later the Congress has now decided that he's even more than a soldier because he did more than his duty. He served his country and his comrades to the fullest, rising above and beyond anything the Army or the nation could have ever asked. In an era when criminals are heroes, Gangster Rappers are put on a pedestal; true heroes like Major Freeman are totally overlooked. I can only hope that this patriot writing about him can start a wave of addressing are true hero’s and make sure they get remembered as well as the stories of their heroism is never forgotten. It saddens me that we are only a short 10 years from that faithful day of September 11, and I am amazed how many have forgotten of the sacrifices of our first responders. Hero’s like them and Major Freeman do not grow on trees. NEVER FORGET!

That is my American View, what is yours.

American View© encourages comments. In brief:

1. Keep it civil and stay on topic
2. No vulgarity, racial slurs, name-calling or personal attacks.
3. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked.

The primary rule here is pretty simple: Treat others with the same respect you'd want for yourself. This blog and its contents are copyright © protected, all rights reserved