25. The Other Heroic Three-War-Veteran Who Shone at the Battle of Ia Drang
Sergeant Major Basily Plumlely was not the only heroic WWII and Korean War veteran who distinguished himself in the Battle of Ia Drang. That engagement also witnessed the exploits of Ed “Too Tall” Freeman, a helicopter pilot from Mississippi who began his military in WWII when he dropped out of high school to join the US Navy. By the time the Vietnam War came along, Freeman had switched services to the Army, and in 1965, he was a captain in the 1st Cavalry Division‘s 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion. At Ia Drang, Freeman repeatedly flew through heavy gunfire to supply the surrounded Americans, and to fly out dozens of wounded.
Two decades earlier in WWII, Freeman had served the USS Cacapon, an oil tanker that supplied Pacific Theater operations, including the Solomons, the Philippines, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. Discharged from the Navy after the war, Freeman went back to high school, graduated, then enlisted in the Army in 1948. Two years later, as a first sergeant in Korea, he fought in the Battle of Pork Chop Hill. Out of 257 Americans at the start of that battle, Freeman was one of only 14 survivors. His conduct earned him a battlefield commission and command of a company, which he promptly led back up Pork Chop Hill.