Two Americas
May 27, 2015 21:55:38 #
It seems these days that there are two Americas. There's the one that most of us know on a daily basis and maybe more so on Memorial Day when we honor the fallen, the wounded, and all who sacrificed in the service of our country. We of that first America celebrate with friends and family alike over barbeques the freedoms that were hard won and these days, harder to keep. We read stories like the following about soldiers that went above and beyond.
Ed Freeman
You're a 19 year old kid. You're critically wounded, and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley , 11-14-1965,LZ X-ray, Vietnam. Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8 - 1, and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200 yards away, that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the MediVac 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, 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 last Wednesday at the age of 80, in Boise , ID ......May God rest his soul.....
Ed Freeman, who at a White House ceremony in July 2001 was presented with the Medal of Honor by President George W. Bush. President Bush said of Freeman on that occasion:
By all rights, another president from Texas should have had the honor of conferring this medal. It was in the second year of Lyndon Johnson's presidency that Army Captain Ed Freeman did something that the men of the 7th Cavalry have never forgotten. Years passed, even decades, but the memory of what happened on November 14, 1965 has always stayed with them.
For his actions that day, Captain Freeman was awarded the distinguished Flying Cross, but the men who were there, including the commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Bruce Crandall, felt a still higher honor was called for. Through the unremitting efforts of Lieutenant Colonel Crandall and many others and the persuasive weight from Senator John McCain, the story now comes to its rightful conclusion.
That story began with a battalion surrounded by the enemy in one of Vietnam's fiercest battles. The survivors remember the desperate fear of almost certain death. They remember gunfire that one witness described as the most intense he had ever seen, and they remember the sight of an unarmed helicopter coming to their aid. The man with the controls flew through the gunfire not once, not 10 times, but at least 21 times. That single helicopter brought the water, ammunition and supplies that saved many lives on the ground, and the same pilot flew more than 70 wounded soldiers to safety.
General Eisenhower once observed that when you hear a Medal of Honor citation, you practically assume that the man in question didn't make it out alive. In fact, about 1 in 6 never did, and the other five, men just like you all here, probably didn't expect to.
Citations are also written in the most simple of language, needing no embellishment or techniques of rhetoric. They record places and names and events that describe themselves. The medal itself bears only one word and needs only one, valor.
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.
It's been some years now, since he left the service and was last saluted.
But from this day, wherever he goes, by military tradition, Ed Freeman will merit a salute from any enlisted personnel or officer of rank. Commander Seevers, I'll now ask you to read this citation of the newest member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, and it'll be my honor to give him his first salute.
Ed Freeman's Medal of Honor citation reads as follows:
Captain Ed W. Freeman, United States Army, distinguished himself by numerous acts of conspicuous gallantry and extraordinary intrepidity on 14 November 1965 while serving with Company A, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). As a flight leader and second in command of a 16-helicopter lift unit, he supported a heavily engaged American infantry battalion at Landing Zone X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley, Republic of Vietnam. The unit was almost out of ammunition after taking some of the heaviest casualties of the war, fighting off a relentless attack from a highly motivated, heavily armed enemy force. When the infantry commander closed the helicopter landing zone due to intense direct enemy fire, Captain Freeman risked his own life by flying his unarmed helicopter through a gauntlet of enemy fire time after time, delivering critically needed ammunition, water and medical supplies to the besieged battalion. His flights had a direct impact on the battle's outcome by providing the engaged units with timely supplies of ammunition critical to their survival, without which they would almost surely have gone down, with much greater loss of life. After medical evacuation helicopters refused to fly into the area due to intense enemy fire, Captain Freeman flew 14 separate rescue missions, providing life-saving evacuation of an estimated 30 seriously wounded soldiers some of whom would not have survived had he not acted. All flights were made into a small emergency landing zone within 100 to 200 meters of the defensive perimeter where heavily committed units were perilously holding off the attacking elements. Captain Freeman's selfless acts of great valor, extraordinary perseverance and intrepidity were far above and beyond the call of duty or mission and set a superb example of leadership and courage for all of his peers. Captain Freeman's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army.
Ed Freeman passed away years ago but his story is still an inspiration to something more, something greater. It resonates with me and I'm sure it will resonate with some of you.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Then there is the other America. You all know the one I am talking about. The America where failure is the norm. Failure to rise up, failure to achieve, failure to move forward. I think Baltimore is just the latest failure we all have heard about where this years Memorial Day was celebrated by putting more people in the ground through senseless deaths, where politicians there absolve themselves of any responsibility, and now where they are asking America to foot the bill for the damage they have done to themselves and their city.
There has been a Civil War here my friends even if the evening news doesn't call it that. I for one cannot remember a time in my life when the divide between races was greater, the gap in wealth was more vast, or the sense that it was all out of our control was more dire. The powers that be, the elected officials in Washington, have done nothing to stem the tide. Instead they celebrate the war on women, the war on income, the war on the police, and the war on freedom.
God save us.
Ed Freeman
You're a 19 year old kid. You're critically wounded, and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley , 11-14-1965,LZ X-ray, Vietnam. Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8 - 1, and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200 yards away, that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the MediVac 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, 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 last Wednesday at the age of 80, in Boise , ID ......May God rest his soul.....
Ed Freeman, who at a White House ceremony in July 2001 was presented with the Medal of Honor by President George W. Bush. President Bush said of Freeman on that occasion:
By all rights, another president from Texas should have had the honor of conferring this medal. It was in the second year of Lyndon Johnson's presidency that Army Captain Ed Freeman did something that the men of the 7th Cavalry have never forgotten. Years passed, even decades, but the memory of what happened on November 14, 1965 has always stayed with them.
For his actions that day, Captain Freeman was awarded the distinguished Flying Cross, but the men who were there, including the commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Bruce Crandall, felt a still higher honor was called for. Through the unremitting efforts of Lieutenant Colonel Crandall and many others and the persuasive weight from Senator John McCain, the story now comes to its rightful conclusion.
That story began with a battalion surrounded by the enemy in one of Vietnam's fiercest battles. The survivors remember the desperate fear of almost certain death. They remember gunfire that one witness described as the most intense he had ever seen, and they remember the sight of an unarmed helicopter coming to their aid. The man with the controls flew through the gunfire not once, not 10 times, but at least 21 times. That single helicopter brought the water, ammunition and supplies that saved many lives on the ground, and the same pilot flew more than 70 wounded soldiers to safety.
General Eisenhower once observed that when you hear a Medal of Honor citation, you practically assume that the man in question didn't make it out alive. In fact, about 1 in 6 never did, and the other five, men just like you all here, probably didn't expect to.
Citations are also written in the most simple of language, needing no embellishment or techniques of rhetoric. They record places and names and events that describe themselves. The medal itself bears only one word and needs only one, valor.
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.
It's been some years now, since he left the service and was last saluted.
But from this day, wherever he goes, by military tradition, Ed Freeman will merit a salute from any enlisted personnel or officer of rank. Commander Seevers, I'll now ask you to read this citation of the newest member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, and it'll be my honor to give him his first salute.
Ed Freeman's Medal of Honor citation reads as follows:
Captain Ed W. Freeman, United States Army, distinguished himself by numerous acts of conspicuous gallantry and extraordinary intrepidity on 14 November 1965 while serving with Company A, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). As a flight leader and second in command of a 16-helicopter lift unit, he supported a heavily engaged American infantry battalion at Landing Zone X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley, Republic of Vietnam. The unit was almost out of ammunition after taking some of the heaviest casualties of the war, fighting off a relentless attack from a highly motivated, heavily armed enemy force. When the infantry commander closed the helicopter landing zone due to intense direct enemy fire, Captain Freeman risked his own life by flying his unarmed helicopter through a gauntlet of enemy fire time after time, delivering critically needed ammunition, water and medical supplies to the besieged battalion. His flights had a direct impact on the battle's outcome by providing the engaged units with timely supplies of ammunition critical to their survival, without which they would almost surely have gone down, with much greater loss of life. After medical evacuation helicopters refused to fly into the area due to intense enemy fire, Captain Freeman flew 14 separate rescue missions, providing life-saving evacuation of an estimated 30 seriously wounded soldiers some of whom would not have survived had he not acted. All flights were made into a small emergency landing zone within 100 to 200 meters of the defensive perimeter where heavily committed units were perilously holding off the attacking elements. Captain Freeman's selfless acts of great valor, extraordinary perseverance and intrepidity were far above and beyond the call of duty or mission and set a superb example of leadership and courage for all of his peers. Captain Freeman's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army.
Ed Freeman passed away years ago but his story is still an inspiration to something more, something greater. It resonates with me and I'm sure it will resonate with some of you.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Then there is the other America. You all know the one I am talking about. The America where failure is the norm. Failure to rise up, failure to achieve, failure to move forward. I think Baltimore is just the latest failure we all have heard about where this years Memorial Day was celebrated by putting more people in the ground through senseless deaths, where politicians there absolve themselves of any responsibility, and now where they are asking America to foot the bill for the damage they have done to themselves and their city.
There has been a Civil War here my friends even if the evening news doesn't call it that. I for one cannot remember a time in my life when the divide between races was greater, the gap in wealth was more vast, or the sense that it was all out of our control was more dire. The powers that be, the elected officials in Washington, have done nothing to stem the tide. Instead they celebrate the war on women, the war on income, the war on the police, and the war on freedom.
God save us.
May 27, 2015 22:06:33 #
It is my strong belief that the other president from Texas who should have given this great man the medal had a lot to do with the great divide in our country today.
May 28, 2015 01:00:21 #
May 28, 2015 01:37:56 #
May 28, 2015 01:39:51 #
BamaTexan wrote:
It is my strong belief that the other president from Texas who should have given this great man the medal had a lot to do with the great divide in our country today.
How so please, just interested not argumentative, curious maybe.
May 28, 2015 11:41:41 #
letmedance wrote:
How so please, just interested not argumentative, curious maybe.
LBJ was the author of the "Great Society". His programs did more to promote socialism and the breakdown of the nuclear family that any president in history.
May 28, 2015 12:17:42 #
BamaTexan wrote:
LBJ was the author of the "Great Society". His programs did more to promote socialism and the breakdown of the nuclear family that any president in history.
Thanks, for some reason I thought you were referring to George H. Bush. Makes sense now.
May 28, 2015 13:31:13 #
May 28, 2015 13:31:38 #
May 28, 2015 13:52:20 #
BamaTexan wrote:
LBJ was the author of the "Great Society". His programs did more to promote socialism and the breakdown of the nuclear family that any president in history.
Hind sight is 20/20. He put that stuff in place when I was 7-8 years old so I really don't know much personally about how things were before that. That being said, it does not appear to have had much of a helpful effect on society. Those that accept the "benefits" don't seem to be able to use it as a leg up and those that pay for them resent their tax dollars being squandered by life long abusers.
I had asked my father years ago about Welfare. He told me it used to be called General Relief. You got your money at the Town Hall where you lived. The person handing it to you was more likely than not a neighbor or someone in town that knew you and your situation. Unless you were shameless you didn't collect for long.
Today it's a faceless enterprise. Checks get sent to your house. The people at the office live somewhere else so they don't really know you. Here in my state you can self declare. That's right. You can just walk in, call, or probably do it online and say..."I need money". Accountability is gone from the office that hands out the money and we are surprised that people on the receiving end abuse that?
The same goes for the corporate welfare. The tax breaks, the carbon credits (s**m of the century), etc. At least there is some hope that somewhere down the line that will t***slate into new jobs. And let's face it, Jobs are what gives people hope, a future. I think that has changed too. Now companies just take the money and move half their stuff to Sri Lanka or some other far off corner of the world where OSHA, EPA, etc. can't touch them, and we are paying for it. The candle is lit at both ends with the great middle class in the middle. Sooner or later there just won't be any of it left.
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