John Lee Levitow of Glastonbury, Connecticut, a sergeant in the United States Air Force with the 3rd Special Operations Squadron, received the Congressional Medal of Honor from President Richard M. Nixon on May 14, 1970. During a night mission providing fire support for a beleaguered U.S. Army force at Long Binh Army Post in the Republic of Vietnam, his AC47 gunship, Spooky 71, was hit by a hostile mortar round that tore a two-foot hole in the wing and filled the cargo compartment with shrapnel. Although bleeding from 47 shrapnel wounds and crawling to help two wounded companions, he saw an armed magnesium flare rolling across the floor of the violently pitching aircraft. Realizing the immediate danger to the aircraft and crew, he ignored his own wounds, threw himself onto the smoking 27-pound flare, dragged it to the rear of the aircraft, and hurled it out the open cargo door. The flare separated and ignited clear of the aircraft, and his action was credited with saving the aircraft and its entire crew from certain destruction.

Photo: Michael Herrick

Photo: Michael Herrick