We salute Ed Freeman, American hero, but not the e-mail hoax linking him to Michael Jackson

Right here, right now we are breaking the e-mail chain.

We won’t be forwarding the e-mail to all of our friends on war hero Ed Freeman, who supposedly died in anonymity while Michael Jackson died, triggering “24/7 news coverage,” the e-mailers are likely to point out.

“This death seems to be worth marking,” a journalism professor at USC’s newly rechristened Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism wrote yesterday as he sent along an attachment that chides the media for disregarding the story of a true American hero.

Problem is, Freeman died more than a year ago.

Freeman, of Boise, Idaho, received the Medal of Honor. He flew his chopper more than a dozen times into a Vietnam jungle to save wounded men who were trapped under enemy fire so threatening that regular medical choppers were grounded.

His hometown paper, and many others, did cover this remarkable man’s death when he died at 80 — on Aug. 20, 2008.

For weeks, we’ve been receiving e-mails that shake a virtual finger at us and our obit-writing colleagues around the country for ignoring Freeman, who they claim died the same week Jackson did in June.

Soon after receiving the first of these, we knew the Freeman-Jackson link to be untrue because we did what we do with every name that is submitted: We asked our librarian to do research.

Snopes, the urban legend clearinghouse, did its best to clear up the confusion, in an “Ed Freeman” entry last updated in July. But the e-mail campaign that uses his death to complain about “all Jackson coverage all the time” continues.

To borrow a tired phrase, “please send this to every red-blooded American you know.”

-- Valerie J. Nelson

Comments

[BRM]

Wow! Imagine newspapers using librarians to do research. What a concept! Double wow! A journalism professor at an American University spreading stupid rumors in email chain letters. What's this guy's name? He should be fired. With teachers like these, it's no wonder this generation is so dumb!

[SJC]

Fire our Journalism Professor. Probably not. But we should at least send him to the USC Library to get a refresher course ... he can then teach the same research skill to his students ... The librarians are especially good these days in tracking down internet myths ...

[JAF]

I don't think the real issue was the timing of the two deaths - that was not what was being compared. What was being compared was the amount of attention that was given to Michael Jackson vs Ed Freeman or any other person who has done much more for our country. I don't think the media is main one to blame but the American people's priorities have greatly degenerated. (It is the same with paying teachers so little - the people who profoundly affect our children and the future of the USA - and paying ball players - who "entertain" us - incredible amounts of money.) I am not saying Jackson or ball players are bad but the American people's values are upside down!!

[Ron Johnston]

He is what America is supposed to be about. There are so many untold stories about the great people that have made America what it was. Unfortunately, we've become a country of winers and gripers and only want to take, not give. This man was more concerned about others than himself. It is so sad to see our country bowing and appologizing to the rest of the world when they envy what we "had" here. Now we're the laughing stock for the resto of the world. Come to America, take what you want, get what you want, do what you want, you don't have to obey the laws, you don't have to be legal, and we'll food, cloth and furnish you with everything for free, just bitch enough till you get what you want. While old taxpayers and the baby boomers that have paid every penny the government has squandered and blown on frivilous pork belly projects, they want more and are spending not only what we had, but what we would have had in the future. What Ed Freeman did was as an American, but more so as a human being that cared about saving others.
He exemplifies what the COST OF FREEDOM is. Thank God for him, because it gives me hope that America will survive.

[NFL Jerseys]

Alice In Wonderland, which is the best adventure stories of all time is more attractive and grand format thanks to the cast is fantastic dimension 3.

[VinceTheHeroEnergyShot Guy]

Although this was almost a year ago, we should never forget the sacrifices that those in the military, as well as our local fire and police, make every day so that we can enjoy the freedom that we so often take for granted.