medal of honor stars graphic
MEDAL OF HONOR:
Lieutenant Colonel Bruce P. Crandall
Lieutenant Colonel Bruce P. Crandall

MEDAL OF HONOR

Vietnam War

"I will always be in awe of Lt. Col. Bruce Crandall for his extraordinary bravery and brilliant flying skills under the most difficult wartime conditions — flying continuously into a hot LZ to support a U.S. battalion surrounded by elements of three Vietnamese regiments. By risking his own life in leading these hazardous flights, Lt. Col. Bruce Crandall provided exceptional leadership to the rest of his company which continued throughout the three-day ordeal. "

John D. Herren
Colonel, retired, United States Army
Excerpt from nomination letter written on behalf of Lt. Col. Bruce Crandall

Lt. Col. Bruce P. Crandall

Lt. Col. Bruce P. Crandall

born

February 17, 1933

hometown

Olympia, Washington

Unit

A Company, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile)

Deployments

Dominican Republic Expeditionary Force; two tours of Vietnam

A Master Army Aviator

Retired Lt. Col. Crandall is a veteran Master Army Aviator in both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. He led over 900 combat missions during two tours in Vietnam. Born in 1933, Crandall grew up in Olympia, Wash., where he played baseball and became a high school All-American athlete. He was drafted into the Army in 1953.

Col. Bruce Crandall entered the military just as the Korean War was winding down, he was commissioned as an officer and went through flight training on both fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft.

Col. Bruce Crandall entered the military just as the Korean War was winding down, he was commissioned as an officer and went through flight training on both fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft."

Bruce Crandall and spouse Arlene living in Tripoli, Libya, near Wheelus AFB. Crandall's first overseas flying assignment was to Wheelus AFB mapping the desert for two years flying YU-1 Otter, L-20 Beaver, L-19 Birddog and H-23 Raven aircraft as an instructor pilot.

After commissioning and graduation from fixed-wing and helicopter training conducted by the Air Force and Army, he was assigned to a mapping group based out of the Presidio of San Francisco "that at the time was the largest flying military aviation unit in the world." From there he went to fly L-19 Bird Dogs and L-20 Beavers in Alaska, again for topographic studies. Crandall's first overseas flying assignment was to Wheelus Air Force Base in Tripoli, Libya, mapping the desert for two years flying YU-1 Otter, L-20 Beaver, L-19 Bird Dog and H-23 Raven aircraft as an instructor pilot and unit test pilot.

His next overseas tours were flying over thousands of square miles of previously unmapped mountains and jungles in Central and South America. For this mission, he was based out of Howard Air Force Base, Panama, and Costa Rica. While assigned to the 11th Air Assault Division, Crandall helped develop air-assault tactics as a platoon commander. In early 1965, he joined the Dominican Republic Expeditionary Force as a liaison to the 18th Airborne Corps. Later that year, he would command the 1st Cavalry Division's Company A, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion at An Khe, Vietnam. Using the call sign "Ancient Serpent 6," he led a flying unit supporting eight battalions on the ground.

On Nov. 14, 1965, Crandall led the first major division operation of airmobile troops into Landing Zone X-Ray in Vietnam's Ia Drang Valley and is credited with evacuating some 70 wounded comrades with his wing man and fellow Medal of Honor recipient Maj. Ed Freeman. The two also flew in the ammunition needed for the 1st Bn., 7th Cav. Regiment to survive. The craft he was flying was unarmed.

In January 1966, during the first combined American and South Vietnamese Army operation, "Operation Masher,"" Crandall, while under intense enemy fire and with only a spot flashlight beam to guide him , twice dropped his Huey helicopter through the dense jungle canopy to rescue 12 wounded Soldiers. For his courage in that incident Crandall received the Aviation & Space Writers Helicopter Heroism Award for 1966.

Ancient Serpent 6

Ancient Serpent 6 — Emblem painted on Lt. Col. Crandall's Huey

After an assignment in Colorado, he attended the Armed Forces Staff College. Soon he was back in Vietnam, this time flying Huey gunships — "a big improvement" — supporting the 1st Bn., 9th Cavalry Squadron, 1st Cav. Div.

In January 1968, four months into his second tour, Crandall's helicopter was downed during another rescue attempt due to Air Force bombs going off too close to where he was flying. After five months in the hospital, with a broken back and other injuries, he resumed his career as a student earning a degree through the University of Nebraska in 1969. In Bangkok, Thailand, he would become a facility engineer managing 3,800 people. He subsequently served as deputy chief of staff, deputy installation commander, and commander of the 5th Engineer Combat Bn., all at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

South America was supposed to be his next assignment, and he and his wife, Arlene, attended the Defense Language Institute, Monterey, California, as Spanish language students in preparation for an role as aviation and engineering advisor to Argentina — an assignment that never came. A stroke sidelined Crandall, ending his flying career. After his recovery, the Crandalls did find the language training useful when he was sent to Caracas, Venezuela as the Defense Mapping Agency's director for the Interamerican Geodetic Survey.

In his final Army assignment, he served as senior engineer advisor to the California Army National Guard. Crandall retired from the Army in 1977 as a lieutenant colonel. Utilizing his master's degree in public administration, Crandall became city manager of Dunsmuir, California, for three years. He and Arlene then moved to Mesa, Arizona, where he served in the Public Works Department for 13 years, the last four as the public works manager.

In 1994, Crandall was inducted into the Air Force's "Gathering of Eagles" — an organization set up to recognize pioneers of aviation and heroic flyers. In 2001, Crandall was an aviation consultant on a movie about the Ia Drang Valley battle. The movie, based on the book "We Were Soldiers Once...and Young" was released in 2002. In 2004, Crandall was inducted into the Army Aviation Hall of Fame.

Throughout his career, Crandall was honored with many awards and decorations, including: the Distinguished Flying Cross with one oak leaf cluster; the Bronze Star Medal; the Meritorious Service Medal; the Air Medal (24 awards); the Army Commendation Medal; the Purple Heart; the National Defense Service Medal with one oak leaf cluster; the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal; the Vietnam Service Medal (four campaigns); the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal with 60 device; a Presidential Unit Citation; a Meritorious Unit Citation; the Master Army Aviator Badge; the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Gold Star (three awards) and the Armed Forces Reserve Medal.

He and Arlene, married in 1956, have three sons and five grandchildren. The Crandalls live in Manchester, Washington.

Retired Col. Bruce Crandall, a Medal of Honor recipient, poses for a picture with a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter from Task Force Lobos, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division March 28, 2012. Photo coutersy of DVIDS.

Army Maj. Bruce Crandall's UH-1D Iroquois helicopter climbs skyward after discharging a load of infantrymen on a search-and-destroy mission in Vietnam.

Army Maj. Bruce Crandall's UH-1D Iroquois helicopter climbs skyward after discharging a load of infantrymen on a search-and-destroy mission in Vietnam.

The Battle

November 14 - 16, 1965 | Plei Me, Landing Zone X-Ray, la Drang Valley, Vietnam

The 1st Cavalry Division shoulder sleeve insignia. The traditional Cavalry color of yellow and the horse's head is symbolic of the original organizational structure of the Cavalry. The color black is symbolic of iron, alluding to the organizational transition from mounted horses to tanks and heavy armor.

The 1st Cavalry Division shoulder sleeve insignia. The traditional Cavalry color of yellow and the horse's head is symbolic of the original organizational structure of the Cavalry. The color black is symbolic of iron, alluding to the organizational transition from mounted horses to tanks and heavy armor.

The 1st Cavalry Division

Read Unit History

In 1963, Crandall reported to Fort Benning, Georgia, to help lead a new air cavalry unit. He was the liaison for the 18th Airborne Corps in the Dominican Republic Expeditionary Force in early 1965 before he left to be a commanding officer on his first deployment to Vietnam. Once arriving in-country, then-Maj. Crandall took charge of the 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, the first major division operation of airmobile troops. He was well-respected by his soldiers, who gave him the nickname "Old Snake" — derived from his call sign, which was Ancient Serpent 6.

Crandall commanded 16 helicopter crews of the 1st Cavalry Division's Company A, 229th AHB that lifted troops on a search-and-destroy mission from Plei Me to Landing Zone X-Ray in what would become the most vicious fight of the Vietnam War to that date. Then-Lt. Col. Harold G. Moore, commander of the 1st Cav. Div.'s 1st Bn., 7th Cav. Regiment depended on then-Maj. Crandall's helicopters to insert his Soldiers of the 1st Bn. into the LZ.

On Nov. 14, 1965, Crandall's flight of 16 helicopters took troops on a search-and-destroy mission from an area called Plei Me to Landing Zone X-Ray, a remote spot in the Ia Drang Valley. On his fifth trip into the valley, the enemy had targeted the site. As Crandall and eight other unarmed helicopters landed to drop off troops, they came under such intense enemy fire that the ground commander ordered the other helicopters to abort the mission.

"I had very experienced pilots," said Crandall, who served as a flight mission commander and was an Army engineer. Three of the four company commanders in the 229th [Assault Helicopter Battalion] were engineers. We were bush pilots, who had flown in areas of the world that hadn't yet been mapped."

Bruce Crandall leading a formation of UH-1 helicopters from Alpha Company, 229th Aviation Regiment just prior to takeoff in Vietnam. 1966. Courtesy of Department of Defense.

On the fifth and final troop lift, which involved eight helicopters, the LZ was under horrific enemy fire by small arms, automatic weapons, mortars and rockets. As Crandall's helicopter landed and Soldiers exited, three Soldiers were wounded and three killed. Remaining helicopters waiting to land were ordered to abort and return to base.

When Crandall returned to the base, he learned that all medevac assistance had been cut off to the men of the 1/7 Cav. "due to the policy of the time," Crandall said. "The medevac pilots were all great pilots, but they weren't allowed to land on a landing zone until it was 'green' for a period of five minutes," meaning it wasn't being relentlessly attacked. Crandall made the decision — without anyone requesting that he do so — to fly the medevac missions. When he asked for volunteers, his former colleague, now retired Maj. Ed Freeman — who had been his friend for 10 years before they deployed together to Vietnam — immediately stepped forward.

Crandall realized that the men who were now surrounded at Landing Zone X-Ray desperately needed more ammunition than they had. So he took it upon himself to help — he adjusted his base of operations to Artillery Firebase Falcon, which was closer to the besieged site. Then he gathered volunteers to help him deliver ammunition to the trapped soldiers and evacuate the wounded. It wasn't his mission, but he couldn't stand by while the men on the ground were suffering.

Crandall's helicopter led the two, and he supervised the loading of seriously wounded Soldiers over the course of 14 landings under intense enemy fire. He and Freeman saved the lives of some 70 wounded Soldiers. "One of the principal reasons my company survived one of the largest and fiercest battles of the Vietnam War was the critical support provided by the aviators of Co. A, 229th Avn. Bn.," said retired Col. John D. Herren, who commanded the 1st Bn.'s Co. B during the battle.

Despite the heavy enemy fire, Crandall and another helicopter piloted by Maj. Ed Freeman, flew back to Landing Zone X-Ray, delivered much-needed ammunition and began loading their choppers with seriously wounded soldiers. Crandall did that flight 21 more times throughout the rest of the day and into the evening, only stopping once. He knew that he had done all he could for the battalion on the ground.

Crandall's decision also offered a necessary morale boost at a pivotal time. The pilots around him saw what he was doing and were inspired to land their own aircraft to help. Conversely, the Soldiers on the ground realized they weren't alone in the fight — they had more supplies coming and a team to evacuate their wounded. Crandall and Freeman were credited with evacuating about 70 wounded Soldiers that day. Both men earned Distinguished Service Crosses for their actions.

"It demonstrated to me and other Soldiers that our casualties were going to be taken care of and that they would not have to wait for a break in the fighting to be evacuated," Herren added. "The sheer volume of casualties was heavy. My own company suffered 46 casualties out of a company strength of 122 during the first two days of the fighting." Additionally, one of Herren's platoons was cut off for 24 hours and suffered 20 casualties. Every one of the 12 who were wounded survived because Crandall and Freeman evacuated them.

On The Ground

"The first afternoon of the three-day battle was a running firefight — a run for survival — with helicopters coming in under fire trying to get the wounded out. There was a hell of a fight the next morning and night, and I realized we were in an historic battle," Moore said. The first man on the ground with his troops, Moore jumped out of the chopper and looked up at the mountain and knew the enemy was there, he said. "It was ominously quiet."

He learned later that three battalions of fresh North Vietnamese Army troops had come down the Ho Chi Minh Trail and were waiting. "When the fight began, it was furious. The NVA troops came out intent on killing us all," Moore said. About 50 percent of his men were killed or seriously wounded. The men were some 20 miles in the middle of enemy territory, surrounded by a force seven times larger than their own.

The three-day battle, Nov. 14 to 16, left 79 infantrymen and one Air Force pilot dead and another 130 men wounded, some of them horribly, Galloway said. It happened in a space no bigger than a football field. It was followed a day later, 14 miles away, by the battle at LZ Albany, during which 154 American troops were killed in an ambush. The two battles were part of the 34-day Pleiku Campaign, which lasted from Oct. 23 to Nov. 26, 1965. Counting the skirmishes before and after the two major battles, 305 Americans died - more than in the entire first Gulf War, Galloway said.

According to the Medal of Honor citation: "Major Crandall's bravery and daring courage to land under the most extreme hostile fire instilled ...in the ground forces, the realization that friendly wounded would be promptly evacuated. This greatly enhanced morale and the will to fight at a critical time." The citation further reads: "He completed fourteen landings on medical and re-supply missions under intense enemy fire and retired from the battlefield only after all possible service had been rendered to the infantry troops."

Of 31 helicopter loads of ammunition and supplies brought into the LZ after it was closed, Crandall's helicopter flight brought in 28. And of the approximately 78 wounded in action who were evacuated, Crandall's flight took out 70. Crandall's courage is depicted in the movie "We Were Soldiers," adapted from the book "We Were Soldiers Once...And Young," by Moore and Joe Galloway, a United Press International war correspondent who experienced the battle at LZ X-Ray with Moore's men.

"I still think about Vietnam a lot," said Crandall in an 2007 interview by Heike Hasenauer for Soldiers Magazine. "I have wonderful memories of the people I served with." Despite the horrors of war that he experienced — and the many times his life was on the line — "I don't really have bad memories,"

“ These helicopter crews were our lifeline, as they brought battalion units into the LZ. They evacuated our wounded and brought in water and ammunition, despite intense enemy fire. I was an eyewitness to one of Crandall's flights. I was pinned down by intense enemy machine-gun and rifle fire that killed my radio operator and severely wounded the Co. D. commander, Capt. Ray Lefebvre. Crandall's helicopter landed and evacuated Lefebvre and others. The act of bravery was extraordinary and inspirational. ”

Retired Col. John D. Herren,
Then-commander, Company B, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division

The Ceremony


In 2006, President George W. Bush announced that he would award the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest honor for military service, to retired Lt. Col. Bruce Crandall at the White House for his actions on Nov. 14, 1965 in Vietnam's Ia Drang Valley. Lt. Col. Bruce P. Crandall received the Medal of Honor during a White House ceremony February 26, 2007.



President George W. Bush places the Medal of Honor around the neck of Army pilot Lt. Col. Bruce P. Crandall, who saved the lives of dozens of soldiers during a mission in the Ia Drang Valley of Vietnam in 1965.

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President George W. Bush places the Medal of Honor around the neck of Army pilot Lt. Col. Bruce P. Crandall, who saved the lives of dozens of soldiers during a mission in the Ia Drang Valley of Vietnam in 1965.

Crandall with the Medal of Honor shakes hands with President George Bush as his wife, Arlene looks on in the East Room of the White House, Monday, Feb. 26, 2007.

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Crandall with the Medal of Honor shakes hands with President George Bush as his wife, Arlene looks on in the East Room of the White House, Monday, Feb. 26, 2007.

Crandall with the Medal of Honor shakes hands with President George Bush, February 2007. Image from National Archives

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Crandall with the Medal of Honor shakes hands with President George Bush, February 2007. Image from National Archives


U.S. Army Major Bruce P. Crandall sits with his wife, Arlene, before the Medal of Honor flag in the East Room of the White House, Monday, Feb. 26, 2007, prior to Crandall being awarded the Medal of Honor for his extraordinary heroism as a 1st Cavalry helicopter flight commander in the Republic of Vietnam in November 1965. White House photo by Eric Draper

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U.S. Army Major Bruce P. Crandall sits with his wife, Arlene, before the Medal of Honor flag in the East Room of the White House, Monday, Feb. 26, 2007, shotly before Crandall being awarded the Medal of Honor for his extraordinary heroism as helicopter flight commander in the Vietnam War. White House photo by Eric Draper

“ He flew back into X-Ray again and again. Fourteen times he flew into what they called the Valley of Death. He made those flights knowing that he faced what was later described as an "almost unbelievably extreme risk to his life." Over the course of the day, Major Crandall had to fly three different choppers. Two were damaged so badly they could not stay in the air. Yet he kept flying until every wounded man had been evacuated and every need of the battalion had been met. ”

President George W. Bush

White House Ceremony, February 26, 2007


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