John L. Levitow; Medal of Honor Winner

On the night he would become a hero, John L. Levitow was flying his 181st combat sortie, circling the besieged U.S. base at Long Binh, South Vietnam.

At 23, with the rank of airman 1st class, Levitow’s job was to set the controls on magnesium flares that would light the skies for allied troops on the ground and help his own gunners spot enemy forces. It was Feb. 24, 1969.

A year later, for his actions that night, he would become the only enlisted man in the annals of the U.S. Air Force to receive a Medal of Honor. Eventually, he would hold a second distinction as the only enlisted airman to have a plane named for him.

Levitow, who died of cancer Nov. 8 at his home in Rocky Hill, Conn., once said he was sure that many heroes go unrecognized. He was, he said, “just lucky.”

His 10 heroic minutes, however, were not forgotten.

As load master on an AC-47 gunship that night, Levitow would set the flares and hand them to a buddy, who would pull the pins and heave them from the door to detonate in the night sky.

Suddenly, the blast from a mortar shell rocked the aircraft, showering the cargo compartment with shrapnel. All five crew members in that part of the aircraft were thrown to the floor, bleeding.

Levitow, weakened by dozens of shrapnel wounds in his legs, side and back, dragged a wounded airman to safety from the open cargo door. Then he saw the live flare, pin withdrawn, smoking. Detonation in the heavily armed aircraft, as the Medal of Honor citation later noted, would have killed everyone aboard.

Partially paralyzed, Levitow tried to pick up the flare but failed. He grabbed at it again and couldn’t take hold. He tried a third time without success. Finally, in a desperate move, he threw himself on the flare, dragged it to the open door and pushed it out just as it ignited. He then lost consciousness.

Despite the aircraft’s 3,500 shrapnel holes, the pilot landed safely at Bien Hoa Air Base.

Levitow, seriously wounded, was flown to a hospital in Japan. He recovered fully and returned to fly 20 more combat missions over Vietnam. After finishing his tour of duty at Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino, he was discharged from the service in August 1969 as a sergeant.

At a White House ceremony on May 14, 1970, President Richard M. Nixon gave him the Medal of Honor.

Levitow then began what was to become a career as an advocate for veterans benefits. Skilled at getting grants for veterans programs, Levitow worked both in Washington and in his home state of Connecticut.

“John was amazing,” Jim Tackett, a longtime veterans activist, told the Hartford Courant. “He had all these contacts in Washington. He’d make two phone calls and he’d know exactly how many veterans were being discharged around the globe and were returning to Connecticut.”

He returned to Southern California in January 1998, for ceremonies in Long Beach where the Air Force dedicated a Boeing C-17 Globemaster II to him. The C-17, known as The Spirit of Sgt. John L. Levitow, was the first plane to be named for an enlisted airman.

“It’s kind of creepy looking up and seeing your name,” he said during the ceremony, where he at times was overcome with emotion.

Others at the ceremony put his contributions into broad perspective.

“We can easily call Sgt. John Levitow a hero, but he has continuously requested that he doesn’t want to be known as a hero,” said Air Force Gen. Walter Kross of the Air Mobility Command, who officiated.

“His life has been one of tireless volunteerism--a role model, a mentor. . . . His life amounted to much more than those 10 heroic minutes.”

At age 55, after losing his year-and-a-half battle with cancer, the Hartford-born Levitow was buried Nov. 17 at Arlington National Cemetery.

He is survived by his mother, a sister, a son and a daughter.

To the end, Levitow was philosophical about his accomplishments in Vietnam.

“Luck is all it is. It’s very easy to do something and not be recognized. I’m sure there are many people who have served, have done things that have been simply amazing and never been recognized.”