It took a while for Bradford Freeman to become famous.
Like many World War II veterans, he returned home after service and got on with life — a wife, two daughters and 32 years as a mail carrier, then a comfortable retirement on the land he bought in Caledonia in the 1950s.
The youngest of three brothers to serve in World War II, Bradford made an easy transition from G.I. to private citizen.
“My folks didn’t seem much interested in what we did in the war,” said Bradford, 93. “So we didn’t talk about it too much.”
For almost 50 years, Freeman’s war stories were pretty much confined to the medals and ribbons he had earned, along with a couple of manila folders stuffed with documents and accounts of his three years of fighting in the European theater.
But fame hunted him down.
On Friday, Freeman will travel to Nashville, Tennessee, where he will be awarded the French Legion of Honor. The National Order of the Legion of Honor, the highest honor in the French military, was founded by Napoleon in 1802.
Freeman, along with seven other U.S. veterans who fought in France, will receive the honor from Louis de Corail, the consul general of France for the southeast United States.
“I’m going,” Freeman said Friday as he sat in his living room. “I probably won’t understand a thing they say, though. I don’t speak any French.”
By now, Freeman is comfortable in his celebrity.
“Seems like I’m always going somewhere,” he said. “I don’t mind, though. Every place I go I seem to run into somebody I knew in the service all those years ago. That’s the main reason I go.”
Band of Brothers
Like the hundreds of thousands of young men who fought in World War II, Freeman has his stories.
What distinguishes him from many is that he fought in what is now recognized as the most famous combat unit in the European Theater — “Easy Company” of the 506th Parachute Infantry Division of the 101st Airborne Division.
From D-Day to Operation Market Garden to Bastogne and the Battle of the Bulge, Bradford, a private, played a role in many of the most enduring battles in the war.
The story of the 101st Airborne was made famous in a series of major motion pictures soon after the war, including “The Longest Day” and “A Bridge Too Far,” but it wasn’t until 1992 that the focus on Easy Company and its amazing journey became widely known.
Stephen Ambrose’s book “Band of Brothers” (1994) told the story of Easy Company and led to a 2001 HBO miniseries of the same name.
Before long, Freeman’s role as a member of the now-famous Easy Company began to draw attention.
“It started the day of my wife’s funeral,” Freeman said. “I was still at the cemetery when I got the first phone call.”
That was in 2008. The caller was a representative from Valor Studios, which also publishes Valor magazine. The company is dedicated to recording the history and sacrifices of veterans.
Through that association, Freeman has traveled to England, where he was honored at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace and is a regular attendee at Easy Company reunions.
War stories
Freeman’s memories of his World War II experience remain vivid more than 70 years after the 19-year-old farm boy from Artesia went off to war.
“Yes, sir. Everything that happened is right up here,” he said, tapping in index finger on his temple.
“I may forget the name of a place here and there or the name of somebody, but as far as what happened, I still remember.”
There is a lot to remember — almost three years of fighting in some of the most desperate and dangerous battles of the war.
From parachuting behind enemy lines on D-Day to participate in what was understood to be either a daring rescue or a suicide mission in the Netherlands during Operation Market Garden to the fierce defense of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, Easy Company always seemed to find itself in a grim struggle. In fact, the company had a 150-percent casualty rate. Those included Freeman, who was hit by shrapnel in January 1945 as the Battle of the Bulge was winding down. After four months, he rejoined his outfit and was at Hitler’s famed retreat, known as The Eagle’s Nest, when Germany surrendered in May.
Freeman said he doesn’t really recall being particularly afraid.
“We were told from the start that we were going places where we could be killed,” he said. “After a while, you just accepted that. It was true, too. I saw a lot our people get killed. Some really bothered me. Some still do.”
Wingman
Although Freeman is in remarkable physical and mental shape at age 93, his travels would be difficult without some help.
That is where Columbus attorney Steve Wallace joins the story.
“I was looking for some land in Caledonia to build a house about 20 years,” Wallace said. “Someone suggested I talk to Mr. B because he had delivered the mail out there for all those years. If anybody would know about land there, it would be him.”
Upon introducing himself, Wallace made the connection between this retired postman and a character in the book he had just read.
“When he told me, ‘Yeah, that’s me,’ I was really fascinated,” Wallace said. “We’ve been close ever since, and when he started getting calls to go places, I was happy to help out.”
Wallace, 65, has turned out not only to be a traveling companion, but his de facto publicity agent.
Although Freeman’s story is well documented in the book, he was not a character in the mini-series, something that still grates on Wallace.
“I had a few less-than-pleasant words to say to them about that,” Wallace said. “Mr. B wasn’t a minor character, as far as I’m concerned. He was right in the middle of it.”
For his part, Freeman doesn’t seem to be all that concerned.
“No, sir,” he said. “I didn’t expect any of this to start with.”
Freeman still relishes those old memories.
The fame, he can take or leave.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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