John Lee Levitow

As loadmaster on an AC-47 gunship on a mission near Long Binh Army Post, on the night of February 24, 1969 John's aircraft was hit by enemy ground fire which penetrated the plane's skin wounding half the crew and causing the aircraft to go out of control. As the AC-47 was buffeted about, it released and activated an aerial flare within the airplane. Though badly and painfully wounded, he dragged himself forward, fell on the smoking flare and then hurled it from the aircraft just before it ignited. His quick and decisive action at the risk of his own life saved the airplane and the lives of his comrades. He flew The AC-47 "Spooky" Gunship.

Sergeant Levitow was a loadmaster on an AC-47 gunship deploying flares near Tan Son Nhut Air Base and suffered 40 shrapnel wounds when a North Vietnamese mortar severely damaged the aircraft. An armed flair was torn loose inside the aircraft, but in spite of his wounds and the aircraft’s 30-degree bank, he threw himself on the flair, and hugging it to his body, managed to drag it back to the rear of the plane and push it through the cargo door an instant before the flair ignited, saving the aircraft and 7 wounded crewmembers. He received the Medal of Honor from President Richard Nixon on May 14^th, 1970. He died of cancer in 2000.  The John Levitow Award is the highest honor presented to a graduate of Air Force Enlisted Professional Military Education (PME).