This happened many years ago, in a faraway country.\u00a0 It is not a parable.\u00a0 It is a true story. Although it’s always worth remembering, a recent event IMO makes remembering it now vice on its anniversary apropos.<\/p>\n
A Tall Man<\/span><\/p>\n It had been a long day already.\u00a0 The tall man was tired.<\/p>\n He\u2019d been flying for hours already, providing support for his fellow soldiers.\u00a0 They were catching hell from the enemy.<\/p>\n The tall man was no longer a youngster.\u00a0 In less than a week, he\u2019d turn 38.<\/p>\n This wasn\u2019t the first time he’d been to war.\u00a0 In fact, this was the tall man’s third war.<\/p>\n As a youngster, he\u2019d quit school at 17 to serve in World War II.\u00a0 He served\u00a0 in the Navy, on a fleet oiler \u2013 supporting strikes against Luzon and Formosa,\u00a0 and operations at Iwo Jima, and at Okinawa.\u00a0 He\u2019d survived.\u00a0 He\u2019d seen Tokyo Bay after the surrender.<\/p>\n Then he came home and was discharged.\u00a0 He\u00a0 finished high school.\u00a0 He married his girl.<\/p>\n But as a boy, he\u2019d always wanted to be a soldier.\u00a0 So he joined the Army after he finished high school.<\/p>\n The tall man had something special.\u00a0 By late in the Korean War, he\u2019d become a First Sergeant.\u00a0 He saw more action, this time at Pork Chop Hill.\u00a0 He survived again, receiving a battlefield commission afterwards.<\/p>\n The commission opened another door for the tall man – or so he thought.\u00a0 Another of his boyhood ambitions was to be a pilot.\u00a0 As an officer he could apply to go to flight school.\u00a0 He applied.<\/p>\n The Army closed that door quickly, though; they turned him down.\u00a0 \u00a0He truly was a tall man.\u00a0 At 6-foot-4, \u00a0they said he was \u201ctoo tall\u201d for pilot duty.<\/p>\n But a couple of years later, the door opened again.\u00a0 Regulations had changed, and the tall man was no longer \u201ctoo tall\u201d.\u00a0 (The nickname had already stuck, however, and would follow him for the rest of his career.)\u00a0 He reapplied for flight school.\u00a0 This time he was accepted.\u00a0 He passed and became a pilot.<\/p>\n The tall man served in various dangerous assignments.\u00a0\u00a0 He flew mapping support missions over remote locations worldwide.\u00a0 He made friends – one, in particular.\u00a0\u00a0 They eventually parted ways, but would meet again.<\/p>\n Eventually he ended up in Vietnam.\u00a0 He also ended up working for an old snake \u2013 one he knew well.<\/p>\n The Old Snake<\/span><\/p>\n The old snake had also been flying that day.\u00a0 He’d been doing the same thing as the tall man.\u00a0 Although he was called old snake (well, that was most of it \u2013 I\u2019ll spare you the scatological bit that was sometimes added), at 32 he was actually close to six years younger than the tall man.<\/p>\n He\u2019d not seen much action before.\u00a0 He\u2019d been too young to serve in World War II, and had\u00a0 attended college during Korea.\u00a0 However, in 1953 he was drafted.\u00a0 He received a commission and went to flight school.\u00a0 Though he’d deployed to the Dominican Republic, Vietnam was his first major war.\u00a0 This was his first tour in Vietnam.<\/p>\n Like the tall man, the old snake also had been assigned to fly mapping duty over remote locations worldwide.\u00a0 That\u2019s how they first met.<\/p>\n And like the tall man, there was also something special about the old snake.\u00a0 The Army had noticed.\u00a0 Today, the old snake commanded the tall man\u2019s unit.<\/p>\n Just how special the tall man and the old snake truly were was about to become evident.<\/p>\n Flight Leader and Wingman<\/span><\/p>\n The old snake had just returned to base.\u00a0 He\u2019d been flying for hours already.\u00a0 He commanded the aviation unit performing the insertion of two battalions of soldiers and supporting them afterwards.\u00a0 He led from the front.<\/p>\n Those troops were now in serious trouble.\u00a0 The enemy had found the US battalions and had attacked, fixing them in place.\u00a0 The enemy was strong \u2013 vastly stronger than anticipated.\u00a0 The soldiers were hugely outnumbered. They particularly needed water and ammunition.\u00a0 Otherwise, they’d be overrun and annihilated.<\/p>\n There were also wounded.\u00a0 Lots of wounded.\u00a0 And all Landing Zones (LZs) in their area were red (\u201chot\u201d).<\/p>\n The old snake had flown eight sorties that day before he started bringing back wounded.\u00a0 MEDEVAC wasn\u2019t his mission, but he wasn\u2019t going to leave wounded behind if he could carry them.\u00a0 So he started bringing back wounded on his return trips.<\/p>\n The old snake returned to base with wounded twice.\u00a0 After the second return, MEDEVAC wouldn\u2019t fly any more missions with him.\u00a0 Policy at the time required a 5-min green period at an LZ before a MEDEVAC bird could land.\u00a0 All LZs in the area were currently red – \u201ctoo hot\u201d for MEDEVAC operations.<\/p>\n The old snake\u2019s exact words at that point may never be reliably known, given excitement and stress.\u00a0 Reputedly they were something along the lines of, “I\u2019m going back.\u00a0 Who\u2019s coming with me?\u201d\u00a0 Perhaps there were an additional word or three added for emphasis.<\/p>\n The tall man heard.\u00a0 The tall man went with the old snake, flying as his wingman.<\/p>\n Their aircraft were loaded with all the water and ammunition they could carry.\u00a0 They went back.<\/p>\n They landed, unloaded their cargo of water and ammunition. \u00a0They took on a different, precious cargo for their return \u2013 wounded soldiers.\u00a0 Then they returned to base and offloaded the wounded.<\/p>\n Then they repeated the process.\u00a0 And repeated it again.\u00a0 And again.<\/p>\n They did this a total of\u00a0 twelve times before losing daylight.\u00a0 Twelve missions bringing in critical water and ammunition, and bringing out wounded – all after MEDEVAC had stopped flying.\u00a0 Between them they evacuated over 70 wounded soldiers.\u00a0 They brought in enough water and ammunition to allow the two besieged battalions to survive the night.<\/p>\n They did all of this in unmarked, unarmed helicopters.\u00a0 And since they were not MEDEVAC flights and were bringing in supplies and ammunition, they did this as legitimate wartime targets \u2013 not that the enemy seemed to much care about that one way or the other.<\/p>\n Aftermath<\/span><\/p>\n After his last mission, the MEDEVAC unit commander accosted the old snake.\u00a0 He castigated him for having MEDEVAC pilots accompany him to a \u201chot\u201d LZ to evacuate wounded earlier in the day.\u00a0 He reportedly told the old snake to never do that again.<\/p>\n Thankfully some of the old snake\u2019s men were nearby to restrain him physically.\u00a0 Beating the hell out of a senior officer (or worse) is generally not very well-received in the Army, even if and when richly deserved.<\/p>\n The old snake and the tall man were rewarded for their acts \u2013 initially with the Distinguished Flying Cross.\u00a0 The old snake\u2019s award was later upgraded to the Distinguished Service Cross.\u00a0 The tall man\u2019s wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Reputedly, the tall man\u2019s commander tried to submit him for the Medal of Honor, but didn\u2019t make the then-current 2-year deadline.\u00a0 I don\u2019t personally know whether the old snake\u2019s threatening the MEDEVAC unit commander had anything to do with the delay, or with the absence of any such recommendation for the old snake.\u00a0 But it wouldn\u2019t surprise me if that were true.<\/p>\n Both continued their service with the Army.\u00a0 Both eventually retired from the Army as decorated heroes.<\/p>\n And that would probably have been the end of the story.\u00a0 Except years later, a couple of people wrote a book.<\/p>\n Fast Forward <\/span><\/p>\n About 27 years later, a book was published relating the events of that day.\u00a0 The book was a huge success.\u00a0 The old snake\u2019s and tall man\u2019s heroism became well known outside the Army.<\/p>\n Federal law was also changed to allow later submission of Medal of Honor recommendations under certain conditions.\u00a0 After the book was released, both the old snake and the tall man were submitted for the Medal of Honor.\u00a0 Their recommendations were being considered.<\/p>\n Reputedly the old snake asked that his recommendation be withdrawn in order to to enhance his wingman\u2019s chances.<\/em>\u00a0 If that actually is true – it worked.\u00a0 An old injustice was corrected.\u00a0 The tall man\u2019s Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism that day was upgraded to the Medal of Honor about nine years after the book was published.<\/p>\n Soon after that, a movie based on the book was released.\u00a0 And fate \u2013 or good karma, or justice, or whatever you want to call it \u2013 then intervened on behalf of the old snake.<\/p>\n The old snake\u2019s Medal of Honor recommendation was resurrected.\u00a0 And six years after his wingman, a second injustice was corrected.\u00a0 The old snake\u2019s Distinguished Service Cross was revoked \u2013 when it was replaced by the Medal of Honor.<\/p>\n When\/Where\/Who\/Why The heroism of the old snake and the tall man occurred almost 47 years ago \u2013 on 14 November 1965.\u00a0 It occurred at LZ X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley, South Vietnam.<\/p>\n The old snake was MAJ Bruce P. Crandall, call sign \u201cAncient Serpent Six\u201d.\u00a0 The tall man was CPT Ed W. \u201cToo Tall\u201d Freeman.<\/p>\n Their unit was A Company, 229th<\/sup> Assault Helicopter Battalion.\u00a0 The units they supported that day were 1st and 2nd Battalions, 7th Cavalry.<\/p>\n The book and movie? \u201cWe Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young\u201d.<\/p>\n I do not know \u2013 nor do I want to know \u2013 what MEDEVAC unit was involved that day, or the name of the unit’s commander.\u00a0 Yes, they were just \u201cfollowing standard procedures\u201d.\u00a0 But good leaders and good units also know when to deviate from standard procedures when common-sense or battlefield reality dictates.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t.\u00a0 Thankfully, MEDEVAC policy was later changed.<\/p>\n Ed Freeman retired from the Army as a Major in 1967.\u00a0 He received his belated Medal of Honor<\/a> in a White House ceremony on July 16, 2001.\u00a0 Regrettably, MAJ Freeman passed away on August 20, 2008 , aged 80.\u00a0 He was probably in the welcoming party for CSM Plumley at the Pearly Gates a couple of days ago.<\/p>\n Bruce Crandall retired from the Army as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1977.\u00a0 He received his belated Medal of Honor<\/a> from the POTUS on February 26, 2007.\u00a0 On April 15, 2010, he also received an honorary promotion to Colonel, US Army (Retired).\u00a0 As of this writing he is still alive.<\/p>\n The why?\u00a0 Simple.\u00a0 Their brothers-in-arms needed their help. “I will never leave a fallen comrade.<\/em>”<\/p>\n — — —<\/p>\n Thank God that such men lived.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\n<\/span><\/p>\n