3-24-10 Unsung Heroes

I got an email the other day (thank you, Uncle Wes!) that got me to thinking about all of the unsung heroes that each of us encounter at work. I’d like to reproduce the body of that email here for you…..

“You’re a 19 year old kid. You’re critically wounded and dying in the jungle somewhere in the central highlands of Vietnam.

It’s November 11, 1967.
LZ (land zone) X-ray.

Your unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 yards away, that your CO has ordered the MediVac helicopters to stop coming in.

You’re lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns and you know that you’re not getting out. Your family is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you’ll never see them again.

As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.

Then -- over the machine gun noise -- you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter.

You look up to see a Huey coming in. But… It doesn’t seem real because no MediVac markings are on it.

Captain Ed Freeman is coming for you.

He’s not MediVac so it’s not his job, but he heard the radio call and decided he’s flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire anyway.

Even after the MediVacs were ordered not to come.

He’s coming anyway.

And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 3 of you at a time on board. Then he flies you up and out through the gun fire to the doctors and nurses and safety.

And, he kept coming back!! 13 more times. Until all the wounded were out. No one knew until the mission was over that the Captain had been hit 4 times in the legs and left arm.

He took 29 of you and your buddies out that day. Some would not have made it without the Captain and his Huey.

Medal of Honor Recipient, Captain Ed Freeman, United States Air Force, died last Wednesday at the age of 70, in Boise, Idaho.”

While I can’t vouch for the veracity of all the contents, I can ponder the story and what it means for the executive.

A couple of things come to mind……

First, do you know who your Armed Service veterans and active duty reserve personnel are? And what have you done lately to thank them for their past service? And how easy do you make it for the active service personnel to fulfill their commitment to the country as well as their commitment to your company? These men and women have, and will, sacrifice a lot for this country (so will their families). And while we may not always agree with our government’s position relative to the various armed conflicts going around the world, we still owe it to our veterans and active service personnel to recognize their sacrifice.

Second, did you notice the phrase “it’s not his job, but he heard the radio call and decided to fly….. Anyway”? Do you know the people you have in your organization that answer the call at work… that see the problem and just jump in? They are the people that end up in the thick of things every time. They observe, analyze, dissect, and then roll up their sleeves and jump in to help. As executives, we can’t live without them. But unfortunately, we often don’t adequately recognize them. Perhaps it is time to find those folks that just quietly get things done. Determine what motivates them and then give them the rewards and recognition that are well-deserved.

Cheers!