Above and Beyond
More heroism at the Ia Drang recognized. Bruce Crandall, aka “Snakeshit” because that’s how low he liked to fly, has just been awarded the Medal of Honor, 40 years after the fact:
Crandall, then a major and commander of Company A, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), dodged intense enemy fire as he repeatedly flew to a landing zone to rescue and resupply besieged 1st Cavalry Division ground troops.
The narrative for Crandall’s Medal of Honor credits him with displaying leadership by example and fearless courage as he “voluntarily flew his unarmed helicopter through a gauntlet of enemy fire on flight after flight, delivering desperately needed ammunition, water and medical supplies into one of the most hotly contested landing zones of the war.”
Crandall led a flight of 16 helicopters in support of the 1st Cavalry Division’s 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, which was out of water, running dangerously low on ammunition and engaging about two regiments of North Vietnamese army infantry “determined to overrun and annihilate them,” the narrative reads.
When the enemy fire got so intense that the infantry commander closed the landing zone, Crandall volunteered for the mission. He and his wingman, Maj. Ed Freeman, are credited with saving more than 70 wounded soldiers by transporting them to safety.
Freeman received the Medal of Honor for his efforts in July 2001.
If you read “We Were Soldiers Once … And Young,” then you know Crandall’s story. Thanks to another American hero, Silver Star recipient and Ia Drang vet Larry Gwin, for calling attention to this.
‘Nam vet Bill Faith weighs in, with art.
Topics: military
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 12:45 pm on Monday, February 12, 2007
3 Responses to “Above and Beyond”
Leave a Reply
Trackback URLYou must be logged in to post a comment.
February 12th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
It’s about damned time!
I guess I should be feeling pure happiness about this but part of me is reacting with “Why the hell did it take so long?” Why did so many American warriors who earned medals for their valor in Viet Nam never get them? Enough of that …
February 12th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
$1000+ a month of back pay for 40 years for the good Major amounts to a nice payday (I know it isn’t about the money, but that part is nice too).
February 12th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
We Were Soldiers Once
Jules Crittenden has a post up about Bruce Crandall finally being awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor, forty years after the battle in the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam that was written about in the book We were soldiers once…And Young …