This Medal of Honor recipient jumped on a live flare to save his crew
By Jon Guttman
Feb 9, 2025, 10:00 AM
John Levitow, shown here in 1996, was the first enlisted airman to receive the Medal of Honor, earning the award for his actions during the Vietnam War. (National Archives)
The Vietnam War was nothing if not loaded with ironies at every conceivable level. The lowest-ranking Medal of Honor recipient in the U.S. Air Force was a case in point: John Lee Levitow’s ultimate moment of truth was less attributable to enemy forces than it was to his own ammunition — in particular, a loose, live flare capable of subjecting him and his crew mates to a fiery death.
Levitow was born on Nov. 1, 1945, in Hartford, Connecticut. His ambitions progressed from civil engineering to the U.S. Navy and finally, on June 6, 1966, enlistment in the U.S. Air Force.
After training at McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey, and serving in a number of stateside units, Levitow was assigned in July 1968 to the 3rd Special Operations Squadron at Nha Trang, South Vietnam, as the loadmaster aboard a Douglas AC-47.
Based on the near-immortal C-47 twin-engine transport of World War II, the AC-47 was converted to a gunship.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2025/02/09/this-medal-of-honor-recipients-deadliest-nemesis-was-his-own-munition/
