H1HU

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Farewell to an American hero

By Joseph L. Galloway | McClatchy Newspapers

For the better part of 60 years, two old Army pilots who loved each other argued over many a meal and drink as to which of them was the second best pilot in the world.

The two shared the cockpits of old Beaver prop planes and Huey helicopters; they shared rooms in military hooches all over the world; they shared a love of practical and impractical jokes and they shared an undying love of flying and soldiers and the Army.

They also shared membership in a very small and revered fraternity of fewer than 105 men who are entitled to wear around their necks the light blue ribbon and gold pointed star that is the Medal of Honor, America’s highest decoration for heroism above and beyond the call of duty.

Their story was told in a book my buddy Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and I wrote 15 years ago titled "We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young" and in the Mel Gibson movie, "We Were Soldiers," released in the spring of 2002. Too Tall and Old Snake were ably portrayed in the movie.

Their argument over which of them is the Best Pilot in the Whole World sadly came to an end this week when our friend and comrade-in-arms Maj. Ed (Too Tall to Fly) Freeman slipped the surly bonds of earth and headed off to Fiddler’s Green, where the souls of departed cavalrymen gather by dispensation of God Himself.

Too Tall Ed was 80 years old when he died in a hospital in Boise, Idaho, after long being ill with Parkinson’s disease. He turned down a full dress hero’s funeral in Arlington National Cemetery in favor of a hometown service and burial in the National Cemetery in Boise, close to the rivers he loved to fish and the mountains he flew through in his second career flying for the U.S. Forest Service.

A few days before the end, his old buddy Lt. Col. Bruce (Ancient Serpent 6) Crandall came to the hospital to say his goodbyes to Too Tall Ed, and to enjoy one last round of arguing with Ed over that question of which of them was the best pilot in the world.

In a fine display of the sort of gallows humor that's always helped men who know the horrors of war keep some of their sanity, Bruce told Ed that he intended to settle the question once and for all by borrowing a helicopter, sling-loading Ed’s coffin below it and then lowering it into the grave where Too Tall will rest — something that only the Best Pilot in the World could do. Something that only the best friend in the world could tell a dying man.

These two men received their Medals of Honor long after the deeds that earned them in the furious battles of the Ia Drang Valley in November of 1965 at the dawn of our long, bitter war in Vietnam. President George W. Bush presented Too Tall Ed with his medal in 2001 and hung the medal around Old Snake Crandall’s neck in 2007.

When their friends in the 1st Battalion, 7th U.S. Cavalry were surrounded and fighting for their lives near the Cambodian border and needed ammunition and water and helicopters to carry out the gravely wounded, Bruce and Ed flew their Huey helicopters, again and again, into a small clearing swept by North Vietnamese machine gun and rifle fire.

I rode into Landing Zone X-Ray sitting atop a case of hand grenades on one of Bruce Crandall’s missions after dark on November 14, 1965, wondering if one of those bullets might turn us all into a puff of greasy smoke. I rode out of X-Ray after the battle ended on November 16, again on Bruce’s helicopter.

In later years, he and Ed and I would joke about the love-hate relationship that I and the infantrymen had with the chopper pilots: Hated them for flying us into Hell and dumping us off; loved them for coming back to get us when it was time to leave.

Mostly we laughed ourselves silly as first Ed, then Bruce recounted tales of one escapade after another; of moonlight requisition raids against the U.S. Air Force for needed or merely desired goodies unavailable from the Army supply chain; of the time Bruce was caught trying to sling-load a 10 kilowatt generator off its pad on an airbase.

Now Too Tall Ed Freeman, a much larger than life-size hero at 6 feet 7 inches tall and a much better friend than we deserved, is gone, and we are left with too large a hole in our hearts and in our dwindling ranks.

Cleared for Take off, Ed!

Also see Ed Freeman - Wikipedia

H1HU

Touch and go at one point on Sunday but we found a window in the weather to fly to Rawcliffe. I flew front lefthand seat to Rawcliffe then stayed on the ground to do the checks before she lifted for home. Good crowd there and had a couple of hours showing the old girl off. Bumped into a couple of people I haven't seen for some time which was pleasant surprise. Plus enjoyed driving the jeep after so long aswell. So all in all a good day apart from the rain. Extra entertainment came in the shape of a motorhome getting stuck and a Dodge trying to extricate it, but having to give in and let a Reo take over. All adds to the fun.

H1HU

Sorry been busy this weekend with 509. Will post some more pictures very soon.

H1HU

Whilst down at Beaulieu we flew off in the Huey and landed at the home of a friend of one of the pilots. This house is built on the site of an old mansion that was occupied by both the British and American military during and after the war. In the copse were the remnants of two vehilces but I have not been able to identify them. These are just some of the photos I took so can post more if need be. There was a dome Ford hubcab amongst the remnants.

Fascinated to know what they are. The guy who's land they are on is open to offers if anyone feels the urged to take on such a restoration or can make good use of the bits and pieces that are there.

H1HU

At the moment we are going to be at Rawcliffe on the Sunday only, weather permitting. We still need to finalise one or two things but nothing major.

I might even venture out with the jeep for this one to give it a run out. Do come and say hello.

H1HU

Cholmondeley Pageant of Power was an excellent weekend though by the very nature of the event green machines thin on the ground. There was one Jeep and one Reo that was owned by the scrutineer. (Photo below from the Turbosport forum)

509 out and about this weekend. In Poynton near Stockport on Saturday. Then flying south to Coventry Airport, arriving priobably six thirty 'ish, to reposition for a private event we our appearing at on Sunday afternoon at Allesley.

Gives us a chance to have a look at the Air Museum and Air Atlantiques fleet. So if you are in the area you might hear us.

What ever you do this weekend, enjoy.

H1HU

Thanks for your interest in 509 and subsequent machine(s). You're right that the arrival of the OH6a/Loach/Little Bird was mentioned in Flypast. As the article mentioned it is undergoing rebuild to return it to it's military configuration it would have been in out in Vietnam. It is hoped it will arrive around November. This means over the winter months all the paperwork can be sorted so that it will be ready for the air show season. As for the AH1, the owner of 509/Loach is going over to America in the next few months to see the work being done on the OH6 so the Cobra might crop up in conversation.

We were supposed to be at Woodvale yesterday (sunday) . We had a ground there but unfortunately we were unable to fly. As a consequence there were a few disappointed people who had travelled to Woodvale to see us. We equally disappointed as we were looking forward to our flight down there and to show 509 off once again on home territory. Ah well.

All things being equal we will be at the Pageant of Power at Cholmondeley Castle (pronounced Chumley). 509 will be doing a flying display both days but we're hoping to have her close up to the crowd to get closer look rather than parked miles away from anyone.

H1HU

This has just been brought to my attention

Just some background, 2 Para alone have on this tour sent back over 50 casualties to the UK and from one who has been to Selly Oak I know that many cannot be accommodated so when all of the casualties from other battle groups are added to the figure, how is ONE ward in an NHS hospital going to cope? It cannot cope, the individual troops are sent home to recover relying on NHS visiting services which themselves are over committed.

A lot more than 5000 names are needed for this petition and quite cynically, Downing Street has put a time limit of one month for this to be achieved.

Do what you can. Please copy the link below to confirm your signature on the petition at the bottom of this email'

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Wounded/ the petition was created by Denzil Connick and reads:

'We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Create a dedicated Military &

Veterans Hospital within the UK.'

H1HU

We are very proad of the old girl and enjoy showing her off to as many as possible. Unfortunately we at the mercy of those that book/unbook us as to where we end up showing her off. Although August is avery busy month all our booking are up north.

Woodvale on the 3rd, 9/10th at Cholmondsley festival of speed, 23rd we're at Poynton at the agricultural show (should be interesting), 24th we're at a function near Coventry, and finally the 30/31 we're at Rawcliffe Hall for the North Lancs South Cumbria MVT bash.

Good to see any of you at any of those do's.

H1HU

I would just like to say that the decision/other circumstances surrounding the Huey not attending was nothing to do with us, we agreed in good faith to attend, it was the committee/organisers of Mayhem that cancelled our appearance.

Just wanted to clear that one up as previous postings are still rather ambiguous.

H1HU

To answer a few of your questions. Phil Connolly is a mate of mine and so he asked me to act as 'crew master' for the Huey. I often fly in the front left hand seat and help with the checks on startup, navigation, retuning the radio and squark frequencies and what ever else he needs help with. It just helps to share the load so the pilot can do what he does best, fly the thing!! Or I'm in the back and make sure everything is ok on the outside of the Huey during the start up sequence and to check for any fuel or hydraulic leaks. I have flown it though not for very long and with the pilot shadowing my every move for obvious reasons.

It's a real honour and privelige being a member of the 509 crew, not just being able to fly in the machine, but making contact and meeting with the veterans of the 129th, the Assault Herlicopter Company in which 509 flew. They were totally ignored by their own people on their return after serving in Vietnam. They still fight to this day with the authorites to get their military pensions and health benefits. Many are suffering from terrible health problems which quite clearly are linked with their time in Vietnam. It was at the request of the 129th members that we put, somewhere on the Huey, the names of their unit that were KIA/MIA. What they didn't expect was them to be on the side doors.

Phil and I last year went over to America to surprise the 129th'ers at the annual re-union organised by the The Vietnam Helicopter Crew Members Association. Only two guys knew we were going to walk in the room where the three that we had re-united with 509 earlier in the year were sat with their friends. Was that an emotional trip as they unanimously made Phil, myself and Neil Airey, our chief pilot, full members of the 129th AHC.

So there you have a little more background to the Huey. Load more on the huey website.

Military Mayhem.......all I can say is that it is not our choice not to come, we were more than happy to fly down and stay for the weekend. Other than that I really can't say anymore, it is not my place to. It is up to the organiser/committee members to answer the question. If you take a look at the events page on the huey.co.uk site you might clean a little more, though not alot.

G-Huey that we nicked off the Argies in the Falkalnds was in fact commandeered by one of our current pilots of 509, Rob Tierney. It was he that started flying it in Falklands and brought it back to this country and started flying on the air show circuit up until the late 80's when it was sold. It then lived at various museum until it was bought by an enthusiast and put back in the air. It is based at North Weald but at present is not flying as it went 'tech'. Not heard anything of it since except that it is still at North Weald.

There is a very recent video on you tube taken by the police helicopter that followed us in to Speke airport in Liverpool. Just type in huey 509 on youtube and it comes up along with my videos. The police video is the one with the picture of 509's tail. Enjoy

Hope that helps with your questions.

H1HU

Had a busy weekend with taking 509 to Ltham Green and then to the 75th Anniversary of Liverpool Airport. Flying into Speke we had a police escort and they kindly filmed us all the way from RAF Woodvale. This is the link to the video

Plus here are some photos of us on the green with two WW2 jeeps and an M38 plus some of Speke

I've used the following when I put my ML back together. Terry Roberts I bought my tinware off and the cast folding footrests.

Simply Wizard for basic research info. Alan Abrams who runs the site is very friendly and very helpful.

Villiers Services speak for themselves

http://Http://www.simplywizard.co.uk/

Villiers Services Engine & gearbox parts for all post-war Villiers engines by mail order 01384-265797

Terry Roberts (Metal Magic) Reproduction cycle parts Tel. 01189-731631

There is also a Yahoo group for the 'Famous James' which has proved useful to me at times.

As has been mentioned be very careful as quite a few post war Ml's have been converted to the wartime model. Research is the key to know what you are looking for.

Here are a couple of photos of my ML. One as it was prepared to go airborne, probably for the first time, though not in the type of transport it was envisaged to carry it. The other was taken last year at Jeep and Cheerful at Doncaster Aeroventure Museum.

Fascinating selection of photos with explanation as to what they are about on this page

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7457795.stm

H1HU

When i have logged in and click on 'user cp' or 'your notifications' and click on unread private messages it immediately comes up saying I'm not logged in (when clearly I am as it welcomes H1HU) then log in again and it says I'm not logged in and so it goes on.......Hey it's not vital but would be nice.

H1HU

Hi Mark not letting me read my pm's for some reason.

H1HU

I think you need to ask that question to the organisers/committee. Not really for me to say.

H1HU

One you wil not have to worry about is Huey 509 as she will not be attending, which is a real shame as she is such a crowd puller.

H1HU

Here you are a few from Lytham Hall this weekend.

I like this one for nose art.

Anyone in Lancashire today, particularly around Lytham Hall then you will see and here 509. We're supporting their open day from 12.30 until 4. It's to say thank you for their help when we re-united members of the 129th Assault Helicopter Company with one of their old machines.

We're down at Beaulieu next weekend and on the 31st May/1st June were at the Airborne Forces do at Newby Hall near Ripon.

May see you around.

Olivedrab

Looking like Huey 509 will be there for the two days. So if you are going to be at the event come along and say hello and get a closer look at this amazing (I would say that wouldn't I) helicopter.

I log in then click on user cp to update info and it then asks me to log in, but I'm already logged in.

For some reason I don't have seem to have the functionality I should.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Looks like I might be down your way depending on crewing levels.....make sure everything is tied down well!!