Combat edit
Between 10–11 March 1968, Freeman was a Paramilitary Officer in the CIA's Special Activities Division and was assigned to command a remote outpost at Phou Pha Thi's Lima Site 85 north of the CIA base at Long Tieng, Laos where the US Air Force had installed a strategic radar system to enable US bombers to launch more accurate raids on North Vietnam. When the Vietnamese overran the 3,000-foot (910 m) mountain outpost, Freeman and a small security detachment of Hmong rushed to the top of the mountain where they engaged in close combat with the enemy, resulting in Freeman's wounding. Freeman was carrying only a sawed-off shotgun and a side arm when he was hit in the back of the leg. Unable by that time to rescue any of the Air Force personnel, Freeman, CIA agent John "Woody" Spence, and their Hmong team were ordered off the mountain. Seven United States personnel, including Freeman and Spence, returned alive from the mission.[2]
Freeman was awarded the CIA's Intelligence Star.[3]
Later career edit
In his later career, Freeman served with distinction in the Agency's Counterterrorism Center, where he handled some of the CTC's most dangerous assignments.[4]
Notes edit
- ^ ""We . . . pushed our luck one day too long"". This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here. 2013-04-07. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
- ^ ""We . . . pushed our luck one day too long"". This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here. 2013-04-07. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
- ^ "Air America" (PDF). CIA.gov. April 2, 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 17, 2020. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
- ^ "Howard Freeman" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-03-15. Retrieved 2014-08-30.
References edit
- Castle, Timothy N. (2000). One Day Too Long: Top Secret Site 85 and the Bombing of North Vietnam. New York; Chichester, Sussex: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231103176.
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