![\"web1_airmen-honored\"](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/web1_airmen-honored-300x206.jpg\")
<\/a><\/center><\/p>\nYou may remember back in June when Larry McElroy<\/a> approached the gates of Little Rock Air Force Base at a high rate of speed and then crashed into a lamp pole. As Staff Sergeant Zachary Freese and Airman 1st Class Codee Smith approached the vehicle, McElroy leaped out brandishing a rifle. When he pointed the weapon at Freese amd Smith, they put him down. Well, yesterday they were awarded Air Force Commendation Medals for their actions that day according to the Arkansas News<\/a>;<\/p>\n McElroy aimed the rifle at one of the guards, and the guards then shot McElroy, who died a day later.<\/p>\n According to the release, Col. Charles Brown Jr., 19th Airlift Wing and installation commander, told the airmen Monday, \u201cWhen the wolf came knocking at the door \u2026 you ran to the sound of gunfire. It\u2019s impressive that when civilians took cover, you ran toward danger. \u2026 Your actions quite literally saved lives.\u201d<\/p>\n Freese said, \u201cOne thing that stays with me is how the events went from a vehicle accident to a man with a weapon. It happened so quickly, but we were ready.\u201d<\/p>\n Freese attributed that readiness to extensive training.<\/p>\n \u201cMuscle memory played a large part in how we responded that day,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n McElroy was a little bit nutty – he thought someone at the Air Force Base was listening to his brainwaves or something. His wife and him both hallucinated that they were being held hostage by 25 armed men at some point and his father told authorities that his son had been using drugs fairly regularly. Well, that problem is solved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"