John Levitow

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John L. Levitow
November 1, 1945 - November 8, 2000
Allegiance	USAF
Rank	Sergeant
Battles/wars	Vietnam War
Awards	Medal of Honor

John L. Levitow (November 1, 1945-November 8, 2000) was the one of two Air Force enlisted men to receive the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War.

On February 24, 1969, Airman First Class Levitow and the crew of his AC-47 gunship, Spooky 71, were flying over the besieged American force at Long Binh, dropping magnesium flares to illuminate the positions of Vietnamese troops. The plane was hit repeatedly with enemy fire. One such mortar blast wounded the gunner, who dropped an armed flare inside the plane. Levitow, the loadmaster, saw the immediate danger and repeatedly dove for the flare, though the plane was in a thirty-degree bank and though Levitow himself had been hit by more than forty pieces of shrapnel in his back and legs. Reaching the flare, he managed to eject it from the aircraft seconds before it ignited. The plane eventually landed; by that time, its fuselage contained more than three thousand shrapnel holes.

For this action, Levitow, who was discharged from the Air Force as a sergeant in 1969, after having flown over 200 combat missions, was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Richard Nixon on May 14, 1970 (Armed Forces Day) at the White House.

He was further honored in 1998 when the Air Force named a new C-17 Globemaster III after him. Levitow died of cancer in 2000 at the age of 55. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Shortly after his death, on December 8, 2000 the Air Force Cross awarded posthumously to Airman First Class William H. Pitsenbarger was upgraded to a Medal of Honor, adding a second Air Force enlisted man to the rolls of the Medal of Honor for Vietnam.

Levitow is further honored by having the the "John L. Levitow Award" named after him, which is the highest award given to the top graduate of every Air Force enlisted Professional Military Education class.