With the passing of PFC Brad Freeman, Easy Co, 506 PIR, 101st Airborne, news media around the world has told his story. I could certainly repeat those accolades and add even more. Mr. B’s — as his friends called him — accounts, which he often told on his front porch, provide a fascinating look at history. His recollections of his experiences constitute a first-person account of the major European battles of World War II. Mr. B lived history, and it was to relive history to sit on his front porch (which is called by his friends “The Porch of Wisdom”) and hear him reflect on the events he was a part of.

A genial, unassuming, kind man, Freeman was not the picture of one whose wartime exploits became part of a bestselling book by Stephen Ambrose and the award-winning television mini-series “Band of Brothers.” Unless you ask to see his photo album you would never know of his visits with Tom Hanks or Prince Charles. The events he experienced became movies, “The Longest Day”; “A Bridge Too Far” and even a Disney feature, “The Miracle of the White Stallions.”

Mr. B was the epitome of the Greatest Generation, a world-class hero who preferred to talk about what his brothers of Easy Company did rather than himself. He had tea with Prince Charles and only wanted to talk about what a nice friendly person Prince Charles was.

He was a living history book of the World War II European Theater during and after the Normandy assault. He recalled the addresses by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and General Dwight Eisenhower to the troops on June 5, the day before the D-Day landing. And that’s just the beginning of his experiences as an airborne soldier. I spent many hours on the Porch of Wisdom and at programs listening to Mr. B recount those experiences.

He was always glad to answer questions, and I recall him taking questions after a program at the Aliceville Museum. He was asked if the American paratroopers really carried metal clickers, or “crickets,” to use as signaling devices when they landed behind German lines the night before D-Day as shown in the movie “The Longest Day.” Mr. Freeman said that was true, and they really did use them. He also commented he still had one the Army had given him. He had earlier shown his clicker to me, and I noticed that they had been made by the “Acme Co.” in England.

He was then asked about a scene in the movie “A Bridge Too Far” where a British armored column rushing to cross bridges and rescue British paratroopers fighting to hold the Arnham Bridge in Holland during Operation Market Garden suddenly stopped for afternoon tea. Freeman said it not only happened, but he was there and even asked a British officer why they were stopping. The British officer looked at him and responded, “A spot of tea ol’ bloke.”

He also recalled how during Market Garden he and Sgt. Malarkey and several others were sent down the river to watch for advancing German troops. They were in a swamp beside the river when eight or nine Germans with a dog appeared. They got the drop on the Germans by yelling “achtung!” The Germans were caught by surprise and surrendered.

As they were marching the Germans to Easy Company headquarters, they had to cross an open area where they could come under German fire. Sgt. Malarkey looked at the situation and said, “We might get killed doing this.” So, Freeman and Malarkey walked in the middle of their prisoners, thinking the Germans would not take a chance on shooting their comrades. The ploy worked and the clearing was crossed without incident.

On a return to the area of his position during the Battle of the Bulge 74 years later, Freeman went straight to the mortar pit in which he had spent 29 days during the fighting. I asked how he so clearly remembered the location of his mortar pit. He replied: “I could remember the woods and trees and how I could look out at (the towns of) Foy and Noville. Some things you remember. Two boys got killed in the same foxhole right across the road from me. There are some things you would like to forget but can’t.”

There was one thing Mr. B fondly remembered doing and continued to do. He recalled that in Eindhoven and wherever the men of Easy Company went, they gave candy to children whenever they saw them. Mr. B always kept a bowl of candy at his home so that any time children came by he would have it to give to them.

My favorite story of Mr. B’s I first heard him tell two years ago this week. On a hot July afternoon in 2020, Danny Coggins and I went out to Caledonia to take a Mr. B a gift from James Farmer. Farmer is a British actor who portrayed Mr. B in “Band of Brothers.” Farmer had sent Mr. B his cast member jacket and several photos from the series’ production.

Before Danny and I left the front porch, Danny asked Mr. B about the best meal he had eaten during the war. Without hesitating and with a twinkle in his eye Mr. B replied, “Split pea soup.” Apparently Easy Company had been at their position near Foy for about four days under blizzard conditions without a meal — much less a hot one — when they were notified there would be a hot meal brought up to them. It was split pea soup. Because they were exposed to German fire, being only about 100 yards from German lines, the soldiers could go two at a time and fill containers with hot soup. Just after the last soldier got his soup, a grenade or shell hit the soup pot and blew it up. Mr. Freeman and others always wondered if some Germans had been able to sneak in, get some soup and then drop a grenade in the pot when they left.

A couple of weeks later I made a pot of split pea soup using a 1942 recipe, and Danny and I had lunch with Mr. B. He said split pea soup was still a mighty good meal.

For Easy Company’s best meal of World War II here is the recipe from the 1942 Good Housekeeping Cookbook:
Split Pea Soup
1 Tbsp butter
1 sliced, peeled medium onion
1 ham bone, or small ham shank end
1 ½ cups washed, quick-cooking dried split peas
½ teasp. Celery salt
1 Tbsp pepper
6 cups cold water
2 cups hot milk
In a kettle, melt butter (or fat cut from ham bone). Add onions, sauté until tender. Add ham bone, and next 5 ingredients. Cover; simmer until peas mash readily when pressed between fingertips — about 1 hr. Remove ham bone; cut off meat. Return meat to soup with hot milk. Heat. (If desired thinner, add more hot milk or water.
Serve in heated soup bowls. Garnish with croutons, minced parsley, or minced chives. Makes 6 to 8 servings. (9 cups)

It is real life American heroes like Brad Freeman that we owe so much to. He was and is the face of the Greatest Generation. While much is said about him as a military hero he is just as much a hero as an example of how to live a Christian life. Rest in peace, my friend.

Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].

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