Celebrity Death Thread

[King Cole]

Sure seems like alot of people get killed as a result of ATV accidents.....

We had a Polaris trailblazer but I sold it because everyone kept crashing on it, even those in the family that have dirt bikes.
My theory is with 4 wheels on the ground there is this false sense of security that you don't have with only 2 wheels. So you feel you can push a little harder, go a bit faster, turn a little sharper, jump bigger things etc then what your really capable of.

[YT]

RIP LeRoi

[LWC]

I like extra wheels. Got training wheels on my Motorcycle still.

[-Deborah-]

Medal of Honor recipient Ed Too Tall Freeman has died. Below is not his obituary, because I could not find one that was in depth enough to show what a hero this man was. Instead, below is his biography:

ED W. FREEMAN

Captain, U.S. Army Company A, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile)

By the time the Korean War broke out, Ed Freeman was a master sergeant in the Army Engineers, but he fought in Korea as an infantryman.

He took part in the bloody battle of Pork Chop Hill and was given a battlefield commission, which had the added advantage of making him eligible to fly, a dream of his since childhood. But flight school turned him down because of his height: At six foot four, he was ?too tall? (a nickname that followed him throughout his military career). In 1955, however, the height limit was raised, and Freeman was able to enroll.

He began flying fixed-wing aircraft, then switched to helicopters. By 1965, when he was sent to Vietnam, he had thousands of hours? flying time in choppers. He was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), second in command of a sixteen-helicopter unit responsible for carrying infantrymen into battle. On November 14, 1965, Freeman?s helicopters carried a battalion into the Ia Drang Valley for what became the first major confrontation between large forces of the American and North Vietnamese armies.

Back at base, Freeman and the other pilots received word that the GIs they had dropped off were taking heavy casualties and running low on supplies. In fact, the fighting was so fierce that medevac helicopters refused to pick up the wounded. When the commander of the helicopter unit asked for volunteers to fly into the battle zone, Freeman alone stepped forward. He was joined by his commander, and the two of them began several hours of flights into the contested area. Because their small emergency-landing zone was just one hundred yards away from the heaviest fighting, their unarmed and lightly armored helicopters took several hits. In all, Freeman carried out fourteen separate rescue missions, bringing in water and ammunition to the besieged soldiers and taking back dozens of wounded, some of whom wouldn?t have survived if they hadn?t been evacuated.

Freeman left Vietnam in 1966 and retired from the Army the following year. He flew helicopters another twenty years for the Department of the Interior, herding wild horses, fighting fires, and performing animal censuses. Then he retired altogether.

In the aftermath of the Ia Drang battle, his commanding officer, wanting to recognize Freeman?s valor, proposed him for the Medal of Honor. But the two-year statute of limitations on these kinds of recommendations had passed, and no action was taken. Congress did away with that statute in 1995, and Freeman was finally awarded the medal by President George W. Bush on July 16, 2001.

Freeman was back at the White House a few months later for the premiere of We Were Soldiers, a 2002 feature film that depicted his role in the Ia Drang battle. As he was filing out of the small White House theater, the president approached him, saluted, and shook his hand. ?Good job, Too Tall,? he said.

==================

RIP and thank you for your bravery and heroic service to this country.

[Panoptes]

What a patriot. RIP

[DanO]

RIP Too Tall.

GO LIONS "08" !!!!!!!!

[Drew]

RIP T2. Thank you.

[YT]

RIP to a real American hero!

Thank you for your service to this country!

[Sharkbait]

I salute you , Sir.

[jaadam4]

Airborne Sir!!!

That's what heroes are made of

[Newbomb Turk]

LimeRock was closed down today Wednesday [Aug 21] or an hour and a half so Paul Newman could take a few last laps there in his GT1 Corvette and say goodbye. He was diagnosed with cancer 18 months ago and is not expected to make it past September."

[FVD]

That's sad. I like Paul Newman, always one of my favorite actors.

[Newbomb Turk]

His salad dressing and sauce company has donated over 120 million dollars to charity so far....

[LWC]

A good man and a hell of an actor.

[romster]

His salad dressing and sauce company has donated over 120 million dollars to charity so far....

Now that is truly remarkable.