Bruce Crandall is a native of Olympia, Washington. He was a good student and great athlete, becoming an All-American baseball player. After graduating, he attended the University of Washington and hoped to get drafted by the New York Yankees. Instead, he was drafted into the Army in 1953 during the Korean War. He went to aviation school and was commissioned as an officer a year later.

His first decade in the Army was spent primarily flying fixed-wing aircraft for topographical mapping operations. He was assigned to the Presidio in San Francisco and flew L-19 Bird Dogs and L-20 Beavers in Alaska. His first overseas assignment was at Wheelus Air Force Base in Tripoli, Libya, where he spent two years mapping the deserts of North Africa and as an instructor pilot. He next went to Howard Air Force Base and flew mapping operations in Panama and Costa Rica.

At the same time he was mapping remote regions, he was gaining tactical air-assault experience as a platoon commander in helicopters with the 11th Air Assault Division. In 1963, he went to Fort Benning, Georgia, where he had a leadership assignment with a new cavalry unit, becoming the liaison officer for the 18th Airborne Corps in the Dominican Republic Expeditionary Force.

In 1965, he was deployed to An Khe, Vietnam, where he commanded the first major airmobile troop division, the 1st Cavalry Division’s 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion. His unit supported eight combat infantry battalions.

Crandall flew under the call sign “Ancient Serpent 6,” but his troops gave him the nickname “Old Snake.”

On 14 November 1965, he led the first flight of 16 unarmed helicopters that brought airmobile troops into Landing Zone X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley, from which they would conduct search-and-destroy missions. Of that operation, he said: “I had very experienced pilots. Three of the four company commanders in the 229th were engineers. We were bush pilots who had flown in areas of the world that hadn’t yet been mapped.”

On his fifth flight into the valley that day, as he and eight other air units landed with troops, they were subjected to intense enemy fire.

Crandall flew back to his base, but realizing our troops were surrounded at LZ X-Ray, he and another helicopter pilot, MAJ Ed Freeman, took the initiative to set up their operations closer at Artillery Firebase Falcon. From there, they began delivering ammunition to the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment troops at X-Ray and evacuating the wounded.

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.”

Crandall and Freeman repeated their resupply and evac flights many times that day and into the night, refusing to stop until they were certain they had done all they could for the troops at X-Ray. By day’s end, of the 31 helicopter drops of ammunition, 28 of those deliveries were by Crandall. Of the 78 wounded-in-action evacuations, Crandall was credited with 70. He and Freeman both earned the Army’s second-highest award for valor, the Distinguished Service Cross, for their actions.

Crandall would distinguish himself again two months later during “Operation Masher.” As noted in his Army biography, “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.”

Two years later, in 1968, four months into his second Vietnam tour, his helicopter was downed during another bold rescue attempt, which resulted in his five-month hospitalization for a broken back and other injuries. He used that recovery time to complete his undergraduate degree.

Crandall retired from the Army in 1977 and earned a graduate degree in public administration from Golden Gate University. He spent the next three years as a city manager in Dunsmuir, California. He and his wife, Arlene, then moved to Mesa, Arizona, where he was a manager in the public works department for 13 years.

In 1994, he was honored with induction into the Air Force’s “Gathering of Eagles.”

It was in 2000 that he first learned that the Distinguished Service Crosses he and Ed Freeman had earned were being upgraded to Medals of Honor. Typical of his humility, Crandall insisted his name be withdrawn because he wanted his wingman, Freeman, to be solely recognized for their actions.

In 2001, Freeman received the Medal of Honor for his actions at LZ X-Ray.

That year, Crandall was a consultant for Mel Gibson’s outstanding movie based on the book We Were Soldiers Once … and Young, and his heroic actions were featured in the film, as I noted in my profile of LTG Harold Moore, who was commanding officer during the Battle of Ia Drang.

Meanwhile, those advocating for the upgrade of Crandall’s Distinguished Service Cross would not rest.

COL John Herren (USA Ret.), who commanded 1st Battalion’s Company B during the Battle of Ia Drang, noted the following in his nomination letter supporting Crandall’s Medal of Honor: “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. … I will always be in awe of LTC 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 US battalion surrounded by elements of three Vietnamese regiments. By risking his own life in leading these hazardous flights, LTC Bruce Crandall provided exceptional leadership to the rest of his company which continued throughout the three-day ordeal.”

And on 26 February 2007, President George W. Bush presented Bruce Crandall the Medal of Honor.

As his citation notes in part:

While medical evacuation was not his mission, he immediately sought volunteers and with complete disregard for his own personal safety, led the two aircraft to Landing Zone X-Ray. Despite the fact that the landing zone was still under relentless enemy fire, Major Crandall landed and proceeded to supervise the loading of seriously wounded soldiers aboard the aircraft. Major Crandall’s voluntary decision to land under the most extreme fire instilled in the other pilots the will and spirit to continue to land their own aircraft, and in the ground forces the realization that they would be resupplied and that friendly wounded would be promptly evacuated. This greatly enhanced morale and the will to fight at a critical time. After his first medical evacuation, Major Crandall continued to fly into and out of the landing zone throughout the day and into the evening.

His citation concludes: “Major Crandall’s daring acts of bravery and courage in the face of an overwhelming and determined enemy are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army.”

LTC Bruce Crandall: An ordinary man faced with extraordinary circumstances, he summoned the greatest measure of courage to place his life in imminent peril to save others. His example of valor — a humble American Patriot defending Liberty for all above and beyond the call of duty — is eternal. Live your life worthy of his sacrifice.

“Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

(Read more Profiles of Valor here.)

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776

Follow Mark Alexander on X/Twitter.

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