'Ed Freeman... A True Hero'

You're an 18 or 19 year old kid. You're critically wounded and probably dying, in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley, 11-14-1965. LZ Xray, Vietnam. Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8 to 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 1/2 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 otherwise.

Medal of Honor Recipient Ed Freeman died recently at the age of 80, in Boise, ID. May God rest his soul.

(Oh yeah, Paul Newman died that day too. I guess you knew that --- He got a lot more press than Ed Freeman did.)

A few related links...

http://craig.senate.gov/releases/ed082808.cfm

http://dailynightly.msnbc.msn.com/archive/.../11/265756.aspx

This was sent to Al Panebianco, 45th Inf Div:

Hello,

I was just wanted to alert your members to my book, which will be

published soon by the University of Oklahoma Press. It is a

narrative history that begins with Pearl Harbor and ends with

individual GIs returning home to their families in late 1945. I have

relied on interviews with more than 350 veterans of the 99th who

wanted to tell their story. The book focuses on the experiences,

actions, hardships, and emotions of ordinary young men who became

combat soldiers. It is a good read, and the 45th Division makes

several appearances in the story.

Best.

Robert E. Humphrey Sacramento, CA

================

The book in question is:

Once Upon a Time in War: The 99th Division in World War II (Campaigns and Commanders)

War vet widows wrongly denied benefits

Failure to update computers; money seized from elderly survivors' accounts

updated 5:21 p.m. ET, Sat., Dec. 13, 2008

WASHINGTON - Widows of war veterans have been wrongfully denied up to millions of dollars in government benefits over the past 12 years because of computer glitches that often resulted in money being seized from the elderly survivors' bank accounts.

The Veterans Affairs Department said Saturday it wasn't fully aware of the problem. It pledged to work quickly to give back the pension and disability checks — ranging from $100 to more than $2,500 — that hundreds of thousands of widows should have received during the month of their spouse's death.

"This problem must be fixed," said VA Secretary James Peake. The department indicated in an "action plan" provided to The Associated Press that up to millions of dollars in back payments could be given to widows sometime after next February, once it can identify them.

To expedite matters, the VA said widows who believe they were wrongfully denied payments can call its help line at 1-800-827-1000.

Congress passed a law in 1996 giving veterans' spouses the right to keep their partners' final month of benefits. It instructed the VA to make changes as needed to comply with the law, which took effect for spouses of veterans who died after Dec. 31, 1996.

But the VA never updated its automated computer systems, which send out checks and notification letters. As a result, widows were either denied the final month of payment or asked to send the checks back. In many cases, if the checks were already deposited or spent, the U.S. Treasury moved to seize the money directly from the widow's account.

'Flawed practice'

Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, who chairs the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, confronted Peake about the problem in a letter last week after receiving a complaint from a widow. In response, Peake instructed the Veterans Benefits Administration to update its systems as quickly as possible to prevent future denials of benefits.

"This flawed practice has caused serious hardship for many widows," Akaka said Saturday. "Now that this problem has been brought to light, I trust that surviving spouses will receive the benefits they are due."

The VA has yet to identify the exact number of widows affected, but acknowledged Saturday it could be "sizable." Akaka's committee estimates that 50,000 widows each year since 1996 could be affected, based on VA numbers indicating more than 100,000 veterans die each year — some of whom may have been single or divorced — while receiving VA benefits.

Here's and article sent to me by Gerome

The Lost Battalions

Received this letter. It refers to a tune on our JUKEBOX. I have no info on it. I wrote to him and said I would post his letter here. Maybe one of you knows more about this song, other than the title....

Hello,

I have been listening to some songs on your music of WWII website. I have a couple of questions, I hope you can help me.

I am interested in the song "This is your war." I'm having a hard time finding information on it. Can you tell me who wrote it, when it was written, and who performs it? How popular was it in the WWII years and where was it played?

Thanking you in advance for any information,

Kassidy Mather