Dick Winters
Major Richard D. "Dick" Winters commanded what is now known to the world as Easy Company, part of the 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment, and 101st Airborne Division. Winters, jumping as a First Lieutenant and second in command of Easy Company on D-Day, assumed the company's command position when his senior officer's plane was lost in the invasion. Winters positioned his paratroopers to take out four murderous 105mm artillery pieces that could have held up the invasion on Utah Beach. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and recommended for the Congressional Medal of Honor, which he had already won at the time.
Winters, promoted to Captain, led Easy Company through what was known as the Market Garden operation, the Battle of the Bulge, the Liberation of Dachau, and the capture of Hitler's "Eagle's Nest." He returned to the Army for four years in the Korean conflict, voluntarily.
After Korea, Winters lived quietly in Hershey, Pennsylvania, where he started a business.
Winters is survived by his wife of 62 years, Ethel.
Ed Freeman
Captain Ed W. Freeman, U S Army, distinguished himself with numerous acts of conspicuous gallantry and extraordinary intrepidity on November 14, 1965. Captain Freeman was a flight leader and second in command of a 16-helicopter lift supporting the Infantry in Viet Nam.
The ground unit, almost out of ammunition, took some of the heaviest casualties of the war. Its pinned down men needed to be evacuated, but there were no Medivac helicopters, and enemy fire was too heavy. The infantry commander closed the helicopter landing zone due to intense enemy fire.
Nonetheless, Captain Freeman risked his own life by flying his unarmed helicopter through a gauntlet of enemy fire time after time, delivering ammunition, water and supplies. He flew 14 separate rescue missions providing life saving evaluation of 30 seriously wounded soldiers. All flights were made into an emergency landing zone within 100 and 200 meters of the defensive perimeter where heavily committed troops were holding off attacking elements.
Captain Freeman continued to fly even though he suffered four wounds in the legs and arms during the course of the day.
Captain Freeman died at Boise, Idaho on August 8, 2008.