And a hero gets honored...

Lt. Col. Bruce Crandall's heroics in Vietnam were immortalized in a movie and a critically acclaimed book.

More than 40 years after Crandall repeatedly risked his life to rescue American soldiers fighting one of the toughest battles of the Vietnam War, the U.S. military officially will recognize his heroism Monday, when he is awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for military valor.

On November 15, 1965, a battalion of soldiers was ordered to attack North Vietnamese troops in the Ia Drang Valley in the central highlands of South Vietnam. It would be the first major battle between the U.S. and North Vietnamese armies and one of the first uses of helicopters to insert troops into battle quickly.

Crandall flew the lead helicopter into the attack at Landing Zone X-Ray. The 450 American soldiers soon were surrounded by a much larger force of experienced North Vietnamese troops. During one landing, three men on Crandall's helicopter were killed and three others were wounded.

"As we came in, across the trees, the enemy was there and in the landing zone. I had my crew chief shot through the throat," Crandall said recently. "I could see the people shooting at me from, just off the left of my rotor blades."

But he couldn't shoot back because his helicopter didn't have the M60 machine guns that later would become standard equipment on the UH-1 "Huey" that Crandall flew.

In spite of the danger, Crandall flew into X-Ray more than 18 times to bring in ammunition and bring out the wounded.

"It was the longest day I ever experienced in any aircraft," Crandall said.

He had to switch helicopters several times because of damage from enemy fire.

Crandall and his wingman, Ed "Too Tall" Freeman, saved 70 wounded soldiers that day.

The battle and the pilots' deeds were described in the book "We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young" by Gen. Harold Moore, commander of the battalion on the ground, and Joseph Galloway, the only war correspondent there for the entire battle.

It later was made into the 2002 movie "We Were Soldiers," starring Mel Gibson as Moore and Greg Kinnear as Crandall.

The movie is very good, but read the book. Seriously, read that book.