Bruce Crandall, Medal of Honor Pilot Who Flew 22 Rescue Missions at Ia Drang, Dies at 93

Published Jun 5, 2026, 3:00 AM EDT

The Army aviator made 22 flights into Landing Zone X-Ray at Ia Drang in 1965, evacuating the wounded and resupplying the troops under fire.

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Published Jun 5, 2026, 3:00 AM EDT

Retired Army Col. Bruce P. Crandall, who flew an unarmed helicopter through heavy fire into the Ia Drang Valley repeatedly to bring out the wounded, died at his Tempe, Ariz., home on May 31. He was 93. The Congressional Medal of Honor Society announced his death. Crandall received the nation’s highest award for valor for what he did on Nov. 14, 1965, when American and North Vietnamese regular forces met in their first major battle. By the end of that day, then-Maj. Crandall had flown into Landing Zone X-Ray 22 times, going back long after the ground commander had closed the field to other aircraft and the medical evacuation crews had stopped flying. His helicopters carried out roughly 70 wounded troopers and brought in the ammunition the embattled battalion needed to hold its ground.