MOH recipient

[letterboy]

Just read this in the Army times. . .

Pilot who helped save 70 gets Medal of Honor

By Matthew Cox - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Feb 26, 2007 10:13:08 EST

President Bush will bestow the Medal of Honor today on retired Lt. Col. Bruce Crandall in a White House ceremony.

In a recent interview, the honoree said he can’t stop thinking about the men on the ground who inspired him to repeatedly expose his helicopter to intense enemy fire during the Battle of Ia Drang 42 years ago.

The retired Army helicopter pilot said it was “the bravery of the infantry on the ground” that he remembers most about that fierce fight in November 1965.

“They were so calm in their radio transmissions. … You knew that you had to act in order to give them the support they needed. You wanted to be the best above the best,” Crandall said.

Crandall, now 74, is set to receive the Medal of Honor for his actions at Landing Zone X-Ray, where he repeatedly flew his UH-1D Huey under North Vietnamese army machine gun and rocket fire to rescue and re-supply 1st Cavalry Division soldiers.

Crandall was a major when he and then-Capt. Ed Freeman flew 14 missions in separate aircraft to rescue more than 70 casualties.

“Without their support, both by re-supplying us with ammo and bringing the reinforcements, we might well have been over-run,” retired Army Col. Ramon Nadal said in a recent Army press release.

Crandall and Freeman were originally awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for their actions. Freeman’s award was upgraded to the Medal of Honor in July 2001, after it was submitted for review in the late 1990s. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., backed the 2003 Medal of Honor nomination for Crandall, who left the service as a lieutenant colonel. Their awards are the result of a law Congress passed in 1995 that allows the Army to review, at the request of lawmakers, award recommendations that are outside the prescribed time limit.

Helicopter air assault was a new concept at the time of Ia Drang. The Army had stood up the 11th Air Assault Division at Fort Benning, Ga., in 1963. It was a test outfit, thrown together to refine and perfect a new way of fighting wars using helicopter troop transport.

Like many of the pilots chosen for the test unit, Crandall had served as a pilot in a topographical unit in the Army Corps of Engineers.

“It produced the most experienced pilots — we flew fixed-wing and helos,” he recalled. “The Corps picked a lot of experienced pilots to go to air assault.”

After long months of hard training, the 11th Air Assault changed names in 1965 and took the identity of the 1st Cavalry Division. In Vietnam, cavalrymen carved an airfield out of the jungle at An Khe.

On Nov. 14 of that year, soldiers from 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, found themselves surrounded and outnumbered by North Vietnamese army units.

Crandall and Freeman flew back-to-back missions under fire for more than 14 hours.

“That was the longest day by far; I didn’t see that again,” he said.

The Battle of Ia Drang wasn’t the only time Crandall found himself flying into hot landing zones in Vietnam. Months later, he volunteered to rescue soldiers from a nighttime battle in the middle of a Vietnamese village when no one else would fly into the tiny landing zone under enemy fire, Nadal said in the release.

In 1966, Crandall received the Aviation and Space Writers Helicopter Heroism Award for rescuing a dozen soldiers during that incident.

Despite his success, Crandall admits he has his regrets from the war.

“There were decisions I made in Vietnam that I wish I hadn’t made,” he said. He described a resupply mission he authorized Dec. 28, 1965. The helicopter and the four crewmen aboard went down and were never recovered, he said.

“We looked in every hole in the trees, and we never found them,” he said. “When you lose people, it’s tough; MIAs are tougher than having a person killed. … When somebody is missing, how do you tell [his family], ‘We don’t know where your husband is? We don’t know where your son is?’”

In the days leading up to the award ceremony, Crandall said, “It’s a great honor for me, but it is also to recognize aviation, and the people that were in that battle. It’s a credit to all those who served in Vietnam.”

Army Times columnist Robert F. Dorr contributed to this story.

From here. . . http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/02/ATCrandall070226/

 

[The Kraken]

The Cav . . . one helluvan outfit.
Crandall was with "A" Co. 229th Avn. Bn. (Bandits) and Freeman was with "B" Co. 229th Avn. B. (Killer Spades) if my decrepit old memory serves me correctly . . . it's been a long, long time.

Bout time . . . . they're lucky to be alive to talk about it.

The Kraken (Killer Spade 13 - "B" Co. 229th Avn. Bn., 11th Avn. Grp., 1st Cav. Div. (Airmobile)

 

[james croft]

Am happy to see them get what was long overdue. Very brave guys.

 

[mdb]

Am happy to see them get what was long overdue. Very brave guys.

James: I agree. I personally witnessed the bravery of Army pilots durning my year in Vietnam. They came out no matter what the weather or the LZ conditions. I watched a young Army Warrant Officer land on a heat tab-provided some light-in zero/zero conditions-driving Monsoon rain, no vis at all. He saved the life of a young Marine that night. Our board member and moderator The Kraken is one of those men.

 

[letterboy]

I hope I can be half as brave as some of the men before me when in the heat of battle. . .

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

Right on... Wonderful to see these gallant men receive their due.

Kraken, thank you again for your service. Welcome home. Ditto for you, MDB.

J, everyone is afraid when the chit hits the fan. The brave are those who accept their fear, and then surrender themselves to their mission and comrades, instead of their fear. Thank you to you for your service, as well.

 

[Rick Murchison]

It has taken far too long!
BZ to Colonel Crandall, American Hero!
Rick

 

[battles2a5]

I hate to dumb down this award with a reference to a book/movie but it this the same chopper pilot that was featured in "We were Soldiers Once... and Brave"? The guys that served under Hal Moore?

 

[letterboy]

I hate to dumb down this award with a reference to a book/movie but it this the same chopper pilot that was featured in "We were Soldiers Once... and Brave"? The guys that served under Hal Moore?

Thats the hollywood version of the events yes. . .

 

[Blitz]

The term Charlie Mike means a lot to guys like Crandall. I had my life saved by a evac pilot, I can't even drag up the words to thank them. Nothing ever seemed sincere enough.