Overview
- Retired Col. Bruce P. Crandall died on Sunday, May 31, 2026, at his home in Tempe, Arizona, and was 93, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society said.
- Crandall won the Medal of Honor for repeatedly flying UH‑1 Hueys into Landing Zone X‑Ray during the Nov. 14, 1965, Battle of Ia Drang, making 22 supply and evacuation flights that helped carry out about 70 wounded soldiers.
- He flew two Vietnam tours and more than 900 combat missions, was badly injured when his helicopter crashed in 1968, suffered a later stroke that ended his flying career, and retired from the Army in 1977.
- Crandall declined earlier Medal of Honor consideration so fellow pilot Maj. Ed Freeman could be honored first and ultimately received the medal in a 2007 White House ceremony.
- His actions are remembered in the book We Were Soldiers Once … and Young, the film We Were Soldiers, Army honors like the Army Aviation Hall of Fame, and by the shrinking group of living Medal of Honor recipients now numbered at 63.