16. Ed Freeman’s Military Career Took Him From the Navy in WWII, to the Army in Vietnam
Basily Plumlely was not the only WWII and Korean War veteran who distinguished himself in the Battle of Ia Drang. That engagement also witnessed the exploits of a helicopter pilot from Mississippi, named Ed “Too Tall” Freeman. A captain in the 1st Cavalry Division’s 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, Freeman repeatedly flew through heavy gunfire to supply the surrounded Americans, and to fly out dozens of wounded.
Freeman had dropped out of high school to join the US Navy during WWII. He ended up serving aboard the USS Cacapon, an oil tanker that supplied the American advance in the Pacific, including operations in the Solomons, the Philippines, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. Discharged from the Navy after the war, Freeman graduated high school, then enlisted in the Army in 1948. Two years later, he was a first sergeant in Korea, fighting 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.
