Memorial Remembrance

[Herb]

A HERO IS ONE WHO DOES WHAT OTHERS AVOID DOING.... BLESS THEM!


SOLDIERS, POLICE, FIREMEN, LINEMEN, RISK THEIR LIVES FOR TOTAL STRANGERS, WHO USUALLY DON'T EVEN ACKNOWLEDGE

WHAT IT TOOK TO DO WHAT THEY ACCOMPLISHED

So, marrying my wife makes me a hero?

[HARRIS]

NO, IT MAKES HER ONE !

[Suzuki Johnny]

Tbeck wrote:
Nobody has more respect for medal of honor recipients than I and I shared my experience with meeting several. With that said have you ever noticed that while reading the citation to accompany the award that many if not most were simply trying to survive a very bad situation, something that I believe most people would do.




I also have the highest respect for MoH recipients and I have had the pleasure of meeting one, he was an employee of Boeing Louisiana working on a KC-135 refueler contract.
There was nothing in his outward appearance that would have noted him to be an exceptional person, he was friendly and down to earth kind of guy, we talked for over 30 minutes on our lunch break.

But
I have to differ with your comment T...you said that many if not "most" people would do to survive a very bad situation..
I can only assume you are using a life or death situation.

I don't think, in my honest opinion, most people would not react the same way..some but not most.

[Tbeck]

SJ, first I apologize for making a post that distracted folk's from the stories you've been posting and that I frequently open to read.
That's why I created the other post, so this one doesn't get all crapped up. Again my apologies.

To your response directly, I respectfully disagree and if you like perhaps we can discuss it further in my post so my comments don't crap this one up.

[Herb]

WWII most decorated soldier.

https://www.military.com/history/almost ... n=20240122

By the war's end, he would famously receive every medal for valor the United States offered, along with three Purple Hearts for his trouble.

[Suzuki Johnny]

US Army Medal of Honor Recipient Charles Hagemeister:
On March 20, 1967, while conducting combat operations against a hostile force, Hagemeister's platoon suddenly came under heavy attack from three sides by an enemy force occupying well-concealed, fortified positions and supported by machine guns and mortars.
Seeing two of his comrades seriously wounded in the initial action, Hagemeister, unhesitatingly and with total disregard for his safety, raced through the deadly hail of enemy fire to provide them medical aid. Upon learning that the platoon leader and several other soldiers had been wounded.
Hagemeister continued to brave the withering enemy fire and crawled forward to render lifesaving treatment and to offer words of encouragement. Attempting to evacuate the seriously wounded soldiers, Hagemeister was taken under fire at close range by an enemy sniper.
Realizing that the lives of his fellow soldiers depended on his actions, Hagemeister seized a rifle from a fallen comrade, killed the sniper, three other enemy soldiers who were attempting to encircle his position, and silenced an enemy machine gun that covered the area with deadly fire.
Unable to remove the wounded to a less exposed location and aware of the enemy efforts to isolate his unit, he dashed through the fusillade of fire to secure help from a nearby platoon. Returning with help, he placed men in positions to cover his advance as he moved to evacuate the wounded forward of his location.
These efforts successfully completed, he then moved to the other flank and evacuated additional wounded men despite the fact that his every move drew fire from the enemy. Hagemeister's repeated heroic and selfless actions at the risk of his life saved the lives of many of his comrades and inspired their actions in repelling the enemy assault.

[Herb]

https://www.military.com/history/2024/0 ... n=20240129



The First Medal of Honor Recipient of the Vietnam War Dies at Age 89





...Donlon was on guard duty when 800 North Vietnamese troops blew the roof off their makeshift chow hall at 2:30 in the morning. Inside the camp were just 360 CIDG trainees, 12 Green Berets and one Australian adviser. As mortars rained down, he marshaled his men to move ammunition from the burning buildings and set up defensive lines. He then started moving ammo where it needed to go.

Camp Nam Dong, a Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) training base in Vietnam. (U.S. Army)
As he began running ammo to his gun crews, he saw the camp's main gate was under attack by a team of Viet Cong sappers. To prevent them from breaching the outer perimeter, he stopped his ammo run to eliminate all three of the sappers. Then, through a hail of enemy grenades, he dashed for a mortar pit, taking a severe stomach wound as he moved. When he got to the pit, he found the gun crew there had also been wounded. He shoved a handkerchief into his stomach wound and covered its withdrawal.

As he dragged the team's wounded sergeant out of the pit and to the next defensive position, Donlon was wounded again, this time by a mortar in his left shoulder. Despite these injuries, he had to keep moving. Through enemy fire, he carried a 60-millimeter mortar to a new location, where he found more wounded men, administered their first aid and armed them with the mortar and a 57-millimeter recoilless rifle he'd picked up from another gun pit. As he left to return with more ammunition for the weapons, he was wounded a third time, as a grenade sent shrapnel into his leg.

Now crawling, he directed mortar fire to the eastern sector of the camp. He would have to move from position to position for the rest of the battle, directing his men while lobbing grenades of his own. He was wounded a fourth time as a mortar peppered his face and body. When daylight came and helicopters were finally able to remove the wounded, about 60 enemy troops were dead, along with 57 South Vietnamese, two Americans and their one Australian adviser. He waited until every last one of his wounded soldiers were evacuated before he allowed himself to be taken....

[HARRIS]

IN TODAY'S WORLD, EVERYONE WOULD BE USING THEIR CELL PHONES TO RECORD THE ONSLAUGHT !

[Herb]

Just heard about this today...

Rest in peace.

https://dailycaller.com/2024/02/16/mari ... mawhinney/

[Suzuki Johnny]

U.S. Army Medal of Honor Recipient Terry Kawamura
On March 20, 1969, Corporal Kawamura was serving as a member of the 173d Engineer Company. An enemy demolition team infiltrated the unit quarters area and opened fire with automatic weapons.
Disregarding the intense fire, Cpl. Kawamura ran for his weapon. At that moment, a violent explosion tore a hole in the roof and stunned the occupants of the room. Cpl. Kawamura jumped to his feet, secured his weapon and, as he ran toward the door to return the enemy fire, he observed that another explosive charge had been thrown through the hole in the roof to the floor.
He immediately realized that two stunned fellow soldiers were in great danger and shouted a warning. Although in a position to escape, Cpl. Kawamura unhesitatingly wheeled around and threw himself on the deadly charge causing his immediate death. Disregarding his own life, Cpl. Kawamura prevented serious injury or death to several members of his unit. God Bless Terry Kawamura... and God Bless our vets!

[Herb]

Ed Freeman

Ed W. Freeman

Freeman in 2001
Nickname(s) Too Tall
Born November 20, 1927
Neely, Mississippi
Died August 20, 2008 (aged 80)
Boise, Idaho
Buried Idaho State Veterans Cemetery, Boise, Idaho
Allegiance United States
Service/branch United States Navy (1944–46)
United States Army (1948–67)
Years of service 1944–1946
1948–1967[1]
Rank Major
Unit Company A, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile)
Battles/wars World War II
Korean War
Battle of Pork Chop Hill
Vietnam War

Battle of la Drang
Awards Medal of Honor
Distinguished Flying Cross (3)
Bronze Star
Purple Heart
Air Medal (16)
Ed W. "Too Tall" Freeman (November 20, 1927 – August 20, 2008) was a United States Army helicopter pilot who received the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions in the Battle of Ia Drang during the Vietnam War. During the battle, he flew through machine gunfire 14 times, bringing supplies to a trapped American battalion and flying dozens of wounded soldiers to safety. Freeman was a wingman for Major Bruce Crandall who also received the Medal of Honor for the same missions.

Early life
Freeman was born in Neely, Greene County, Mississippi, the sixth of nine children.[2] When he was 13 years old, he saw thousands of men on maneuvers pass by his home in Mississippi. He knew then that he would become a soldier.[3]

Freeman grew up in nearby McLain, Mississippi,[4] and graduated from Washington High School.[2] At age 17, before graduating from high school, Freeman served in the United States Navy for two years. After the war, he returned to his hometown and graduated from high school. He joined the United States Army in September 1948, and married Barbara Morgan on April 30, 1955. They had two sons: Mike, born in 1956, and Doug, born in 1962.[4]

Military career
World War II
During World War II, Freeman served for two years in the United States Navy on the USS Cacapon (AO-52).[4]

Korean War
By the time of the Korean War, Freeman reached the army rank of first sergeant. Although he was in the Corps of Engineers, his company fought as infantry soldiers in Korea. He participated in the Battle of Pork Chop Hill and earned a battlefield commission as one of only 14 survivors out of 257 men who made it through the opening stages of the battle. His second lieutenant bars were pinned on by General James Van Fleet personally. He then assumed command of B Company and led them back up Pork Chop Hill.

The commission made him eligible to become a pilot, a childhood dream of his. However, when he applied for pilot training he was told that, at six feet four inches, he was "too tall" for pilot duty. The phrase stuck, and he was known by the nickname of "Too Tall" for the rest of his career.[5] In 1955, the height limit for pilots was raised and Freeman was accepted into flying school. He first flew fixed-wing army airplanes before switching to helicopters. After the Korean War, he flew the world on mapping missions.

Vietnam War
By the time Freeman was sent to Vietnam in 1965, he was an experienced helicopter pilot and was placed second-in-command of his sixteen-aircraft unit.[5] He served as a captain in Company A, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile).[6]

On November 14, 1965, Freeman and his unit transported a battalion of American soldiers to the Ia Drang Valley. Later, after arriving back at base, they learned that the soldiers had come under intense fire and had taken heavy casualties. Enemy fire around the landing zones was so heavy that the landing zone was closed to medical evacuation helicopters. Freeman and his commander, Major Bruce Crandall, volunteered to fly their unarmored, lightly armed UH-1 Huey in support of the embattled troops. Freeman made a total of fourteen trips to the battlefield, bringing in water and ammunition and taking out wounded soldiers under heavy enemy fire in what was later named the Battle of Ia Drang.

Freeman was subsequently promoted to the rank of major, designated as a Master Army Aviator, and was sent home from Vietnam in 1966.

Medal of Honor

Ed Freeman (left) is congratulated by President George W. Bush after receiving the Medal of Honor.
Freeman's commanding officer nominated him for the Medal of Honor for his actions at Ia Drang, but not in time to meet a two-year deadline then in place.[5] He was instead awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.[2] The Medal of Honor nomination was disregarded until 1995, when the two-year deadline was removed. He was formally presented with the medal on July 16, 2001, in the East Room of the White House by President George W. Bush.[5]

Freeman's official Medal of Honor citation reads:

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.[6]

After receiving the Medal of Honor, Ed Freeman was inducted into the Pentagon's Hall of Heroes on July 17, 2001. Army Chief of Staff General Eric Shinseki (left) officiated and was assisted by Sergeant Major of the Army Jack L. Tilley.

[Suzuki Johnny]

WWII uncovered: Medal of Honor Recipient Jack Lummus: From the New York Giants to the Beaches of Iwo Jima
Jack Lummus, of Ennis Texas, was a sports star at Baylor University. Excelling in both baseball and football, Jack was nominated for two consecutive years as an All-American. However he left Baylor early to enlist with the Army Air Corps. Unfortunately, Jack washed out in flight school.
Jack returned to baseball briefly in the minor leagues and then signed with the New York Giants. As a rookie he played nine games. "On December 7, 1941, the Giants were playing the Brooklyn Dodgers. Around half-time, the Associated Press ticker in the press box gave out a message saying, "Airplanes identified as Japanese have attacked the American Naval Base at Pearl Harbor." The players continued the game, knowing nothing of the attack.
Jack enlisted with the US Marine Corps on January 30, 1942. He graduated from Officer's Training School at Quantico on December 18, 1942. Initially, Lummus was assigned to the Marine Raiders at Camp Pendleton - ultimately attaching to the 27th Marines, 5th Marine Division.
"In January 1944, he was assigned as Executive Officer, Company F, 2nd Battalion, 27th Marines. In August 1944, the Division was transferred to Camp Tarawa outside of Waimea, Hawaii. Lummus boarded the USS Henry Clay for the trip. After four months of training, the Division was assigned to the V Amphibious Corps and would fight to take the Island of Iwo Jima." - USMC Archive
According to US Marine Corps records: "First Lieutenant Jack Lummus was in the first wave of Marines to land at Red One."
"On March 6, Lummus was put in command of E Company’s third rifle platoon. Two days later, the platoon was at the spearhead of an assault on an objective near Kitano Point. As Lummus charged forward, assaulting pillboxes on his own, his men watched as he survived several shrapnel hits, only to step on a land mine. Despite horrific damage to his legs, Lummus continued to push his men forward, demanding that they not stop for him." - National World War II Museum
According to the National World War II Museum: "Lummus was triaged and evacuated to the Fifth Division Hospital, where doctors did all they could to save his life. Despite 18 pints of blood transfusions and their best efforts, the damage to Lummus’ body was too much, even for his athletic frame. Before he died, Lummus said to one of the surgeons, “I guess the New York Giants have lost the services of a damn good end.” A few hours later, Lummus asked for a sip of coffee, after which he laid back, closed his eyes, and smiled as he took his last breath."
First Lieutenant Jack Lummus was 29 years old at the time of his passing.
"Jack Lummus was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on May 30, 1946.
His military and athletic legacy continue today, as the U.S. Navy named a maritime prepositioning ship in his honor, the USNS 1st Lt Jack Lummus, in 1986, and the New York Giants inducted him into their Ring of Honor on October 11, 2015" - The National Medal of Honor Museum
Jack lies in rest at Myrtle Cemetery in Ennis Texas. Lest We Forget.
#ww2uncovered #honorourveterans #bayloruniversity #newyorkgiants #rememberthefallen #honorthefallen #MedalofHonor #iwojima #WWII #WWIIveteran #WorldWarII #lestweforget
WWII uncovered description and photos sourced by: USMC Archive, National World War II Museum, Baylor University and Ancestry Database

[Suzuki Johnny]

After serving aboard USS Enterprise, Naval aviator ENS James H. Howard resigned his commission in 1941 to join the Flying Tigers, achieving ace status. When the group disbanded, he was commissioned a captain in the U.S. Army Air Forces and scored another six victories, making him an ace in two operational theaters. His valiant flying while defending B-17s during a bombing run resulted in Howard becoming the only fighter pilot in Europe to be awarded the Medal of Honor.
https://thewarzone.blog/major-james-howell-howard-was.../

[Suzuki Johnny]

Billy Walkabout (March 31, 1949 – March 7, 2007) is thought to be the most decorated Native American soldier of the Vietnam War. He received one Distinguished Service Cross (upgraded from Silver Star), one Bronze Star Medal, one Army Commendation Medal, and one Purple Heart. Other sources[which?] and images report multiple awards of silver stars, bronze stars, army commendation medals, purple hearts and air medals.[citation needed]
Background and family
Walkabout was born on March 31, 1949, in Cherokee County, Oklahoma.[2] He was a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, belonging to the Blue Holly Clan, Anisahoni, and was the son of Warren Walkabout and Bobby Jean Chaudoin Walkabout.[3]

Military service
Walkabout served as a combat infantryman in Vietnam, serving in Company F (LRP) ( 1 Feb 1969 became L co 75th Inf RGR ) 58th Infantry, which was attached to the 101st Airborne Division. Walkabout distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions on 20 November 1968 during a long range reconnaissance patrol southwest of Hue.
After successfully ambushing an enemy squad on a jungle trail, the friendly patrol radioed for immediate helicopter extraction. When the extraction helicopters[citation needed] arrived and the lead man began moving toward the pick-up zone[citation needed], he was seriously wounded by hostile automatic weapons fire. Sergeant Walkabout quickly rose to his feet and delivered steady suppressive fire on the attackers while other team members pulled the wounded man back to their ranks. Sergeant Walkabout then administered first aid to the soldier in preparation for medical evacuation. As the man was being loaded onto the evacuation helicopter, enemy elements again attacked the team.

Maneuvering under heavy fire, PFC Walkabout positioned himself where the enemy were concentrating their assault and placed continuous rifle fire on the adversary. A command-detonated mine ripped through the friendly team, instantly killing three men and wounding all the others. Although stunned and wounded by the blast, Sergeant Walkabout rushed from man to man administering first aid, bandaging one soldier's severe chest wound and reviving another soldier by heart massage. He then coordinated gunship and tactical air strikes on the enemy's positions. When evacuation helicopters arrived again, he worked single-handedly under fire to board his disabled comrades. Only when the casualties had been evacuated and friendly reinforcements had arrived, did he allow himself to be extracted. He retired as a second lieutenant.

Death
Grave at Arlington National Cemetery
He suffered from complications arising from exposure to the Agent Orange defoliant used in Vietnam.[2] He was waiting for a kidney transplant and took dialysis three times a week. He died of pneumonia and renal failure in a hospital in Norwich, Connecticut, survived by his wife and several children from earlier marriages.

Walkabout was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia.[4]

He was honored in a portrait, Walkabout: A Warrior's Spirit, by Cherokee artist Talmadge Davis.