More detail on this person: BOISE - Idaho
Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Ed
Freeman has passed away.
He was 80 years old.
Freeman, who lived in Boise, died at about 8:30
a.m. Wednesday from complications from
Parkinson's disease, a family member said.
Freeman was a Vietnam veteran who was honored
for his heroic services. He piloted a helicopter
and saved more than 30 men during the war.
His heroics grew nation wide attention when his
character was featured in Mel Gibson's war movie,
"We Were Soldiers." Actor Mark McCracken played
the character of Ed "Too Tall" Freeman in the
popular flick.
The family released a statement Wednesday
afternoon:
"Our family is grateful for all the wonderful
wishes we've received these past few weeks, from
our friends and from those we don't even know. The
support of the people of Idaho has been
overwhelming, and my father really appreciated
those kind words and wishes."
"He had visits from Governor Otter, Secretary of
the Interior Kempthorne and Major General Lafrenz
of the Idaho National Guard. Many others either
came to see him or passed on their kind words to
us."
"My father touched a lot of people over the years
during his career in the U.S. Army and as a
civilian pilot with the federal government at the
National Interagency Fire Center. People could
relate to him, and those who knew him have told me
they thought of him as a wonderful, friendly,
humorous person with a lot of integrity."
"He made an impression on people. I knew him not
only as my father, but as my best friend. We spent
many hours together, fishing and just hanging out
with each other. My family and I will miss him
more than words can express."
Freeman's funeral will be held at 11 a.m. at 2760
E Fairview Ave. in Meridian. Burial will be at
Idaho State Veterans Cemetery.
Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Ed
Freeman of Boise died Wednesday
From: http://www.2news.tv/news/27180989.html
Medal of Honor recipient Ed "Too Tall" Freeman
holds his medal in this file photo.
Katy Moeller - kmoeller@idahostatesman.com
Edition Date: 08/20/08
Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Ed
Freeman of Boise died Wednesday morning,
according to a friend of the Freeman family. He
was 80 years old.
Freeman, who was born in November of 1927 in
Mississippi, received the Medal of Honor for
heroic actions he took as an Army helicopter pilot
on Nov. 14, 1965, in Vietnam.
As a flight leader and second in command of a
16-helicopter lift unit, he supported a heavily
engaged infantry battalion at Landing Zone X-Ray
in the la Drang Valley. He flew 14 separate rescue
missions, providing life-saving evacuation of an
estimated 30 seriously wounded soldiers.
Freeman has lived in Idaho for the past 30 years.
Farewell to an American hero
By Joseph L. Galloway
McClatchy Newspapers
(08/21/2008)
For the better part of 60 years, two old Army
pilots who loved each other argued over many a
meal and drink as to which of them was the second
best pilot in the world.
The two shared the cockpits of old Beaver prop
planes and Huey helicopters; they shared rooms in
military hooches all over the world; they shared a
love of practical and impractical jokes and they
shared an undying love of flying and soldiers and
the Army.
They also shared membership in a very small and
revered fraternity of fewer than 105 men who are
entitled to wear around their necks the light blue
ribbon and gold pointed star that is the Medal of
Honor, America's highest decoration for heroism
above and beyond the call of duty.
Their story was told in a book my buddy Lt. Gen.
Hal Moore and I wrote 15 years ago titled "We
Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young" and in the Mel
Gibson movie, "We Were Soldiers," released in the
spring of 2002. Too Tall and Old Snake were ably
portrayed in the movie.
Their argument over which of them is the Best
Pilot in the Whole World sadly came to an end this
week when our friend and comrade-in-arms Maj. Ed
(Too Tall to Fly) Freeman slipped the surly bonds
of earth and headed off to Fiddler's Green, where
the souls of departed cavalrymen gather by
dispensation of God Himself.
Too Tall Ed was 80 years old when he died in a
hospital in Boise, Idaho, after long being ill
with Parkinson's disease. He turned down a full
dress hero's funeral in Arlington National
Cemetery in favor of a hometown service and burial
in the National Cemetery in Boise, close to the
rivers he loved to fish and the mountains he flew
through in his second career flying for the U.S.
Forest Service.
A few days before the end, his old buddy Lt. Col.
Bruce (Ancient Serpent 6) Crandall came to the
hospital to say his goodbyes to Too Tall Ed, and
to enjoy one last round of arguing with Ed over
that question of which of them was the best pilot
in the world.
In a fine display of the sort of gallows humor
that's always helped men who know the horrors of
war keep some of their sanity, Bruce told Ed that
he intended to settle the question once and for
all by borrowing a helicopter, sling-loading Ed's
coffin below it and then lowering it into the
grave where Too Tall will rest -- something that
only the Best Pilot in the World could do.
Something that only the best friend in the world
could tell a dying man.
These two men received their Medals of Honor long
after the deeds that earned them in the furious
battles of the Ia Drang Valley in November of 1965
at the dawn of our long, bitter war in Vietnam.
President George W. Bush presented Too Tall Ed
with his medal in 2001 and hung the medal around
Old Snake Crandall's neck in 2007.
When their friends in the 1st Battalion, 7th U.S.
Cavalry were surrounded and fighting for their
lives near the Cambodian border and needed
ammunition and water and helicopters to carry out
the gravely wounded, Bruce and Ed flew their Huey
helicopters, again and again, into a small
clearing swept by North Vietnamese machine gun
and rifle fire.
I rode into Landing Zone X-Ray sitting atop a case
of hand grenades on one of Bruce Crandall's
missions after dark on November 14, 1965,
wondering if one of those bullets might turn us
all into a puff of greasy smoke. I rode out of
X-Ray after the battle ended on November 16, again
on Bruce's helicopter.
In later years, he and Ed and I would joke about
the love-hate relationship that I and the
infantrymen had with the chopper pilots: Hated
them for flying us into Hell and dumping us off;
loved them for coming back to get us when it was
time to leave.
Mostly we laughed ourselves silly as first Ed,
then Bruce recounted tales of one escapade after
another; of moonlight requisition raids against
the U.S. Air Force for needed or merely desired
goodies unavailable from the Army supply chain; of
the time Bruce was caught trying to sling-load a
10 kilowatt generator off its pad on an
airbase.
Now Too Tall Ed Freeman, a much larger than
life-size hero at 6 feet 7 inches tall and a much
better friend than we deserved, is gone, and we
are left with too large a hole in our hearts and
in our dwindling ranks.
Cleared for Takeoff, Ed!
Burial information: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA
This information was last updated 05/18/2016
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