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John T. Correll was editor in chief of Air Force Magazine for 18 years and is now a contributing editor. It was situated between Bien Hoa, the location of a large American airbase, and Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam. He delivered the keynote address. Johanalvheey 1 ting trc. maxhightForP2 = 14168; The battle area was quickly illuminated by large spotlights supplemented with dozens of flares fired by our artillery. [4]:99100, PAVN/VC retreating to the south from Da Nang were intercepted by elements of the 1st Marine Regiment and ARVN 1st Battalion, 51st Regiment 11km south of Da Nang losing 139 dead in 3 days of fighting. COMBAT AFTER ACTION REPORT, VIETNAM 1969. Those satellites will join the already-planned 28 satellites in the Tranche 1 Tracking Layer of SDAs Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. I then looked back to see a flare that had slid up against the cans of 19,000 rounds of ammunition, Platt said. . This is a brief clip of the ammo dump explosion at Long Binh, Vietnam, taken the morning of the Tet offensive, 1968. Photo courtesy of Corpman Bill Luppeti HM3 [Rach Soi 1967-1970] Airman Levitow was setting [the ejection and ignition dials] and handing me the flares, Owen said. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. They tell me I ended up jumping on it, finally getting control and dragging myself and the flare back to the rear cargo door which was open and just managed to push it outside the door as it ejected and ignited simultaneously., Later, the citation to accompany the Medal of Honor put it this way: Unable to grasp the rolling flare with his hands, he threw himself bodily upon the burning flare. [4]:99, To the west of Da Nang, shortly after midnight on the 23rd Company M, 3/7 Marines ambushed a PAVN force killing 10 and later that night a larger force was spotted and artillery fire was called in. Levitow and one of the gunners, Sgt. Thirty-four years after it happened, the story of John L. Levitow has lost none of its power to excite and inspire. [4]:99, Before dawn on 23 February, the first day of Tt, the PAVN/VC fired 25 122mm rockets at Da Nang's deep water port hitting an ARVN ammunition dump and a fuel tank farm at Da Nang Air Base and cause minor damage to an A-6A and 6 helicopters at the Air Base. The remaining elements of the company were held in ready reserve. independent documentary Letters from Long Binh. Many of the tracers bounced off the ground like rubber balls. I was a ticket office supervisor with several Vietnamese and Chinese-Vietnamese women reservations/ticket agents. "On the second firing pass, the mortars firing on Long Binh were silenced." The attack lifted momentarily, and the gunship began dropping flares to provide illumination . A VC mortar attack on the airfield at Binh Thuy on the banks of the Mekong resulted in the destruction of a Bird Dog FAC aircraft. It includes footage shot between 17 Feb and 24 Feb 1969. If it ignited, it would quickly fill the aircraft with toxic smoke, incapacitating the entire crew. YouTube, Three B Company ambush squads were positioned along the eastern end of the TAOR on the "Finger Of Land," and a reinforced squad of twelve MP's, including two Scout Dog handlers from the 212th MP Company, were positioned on Hill-15 along the Buong River. [4]:98, At dawn PAVN sappers attacked the 1st Marine Division headquarters on Hill 327 and the 2/7 Marines command post to the northwest. By mid-1967, United States Army, Vietnam (USARV), 1st Logistical Command and many other Army units dispersed in Saigon were moved to Long Binh Post to resolve centralization, security, and troop billeting issues. In early 1969, the 277th was re-assigned from Long Binh to Tay Ninh West Base Camp, where it became the superior command of the 228th. The attacks on Bin Ha, Bien Hoa Air Base and Long Binh Post, occurred during the early hours of 31 January 1968 and continued until 2 February 1968.The attacks by Vietcong (VC) and People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) forces were one of several major attacks around Saigon in the first days of the Tet offensive.The attacks were repulsed with the VC/PAVN suffering heavy losses, having inflicted . As Levitow dragged one of the other airmen toward the center of the cabin, he saw the flare between No. [1], The VC made several attempts to advance on the base, but were halted. Color: Color. June The second of two new outpost's was built on the western end of the Finger Of Land. On 19 February, a defector surrendered to Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) forces and revealed a large VC force would attack key installations in the Saigon area to include Long Binh Post.Unfortunately, the reporting was delayed and did not reach Long Binh until the morning of 22 February 1969, the day the defector . HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. After years of Army training one cannot help but itch for a shot at the enemy, especially when all the advantages are on ones own side. Most estimates put the Viet Cong deaths at over 100. Terms & Conditions | ARVN psychological operations units broadcast repeated loud-speaker appeals and warnings, and all of the remaining villagers and several wounded PAVN/VC evacuated out of Thai Riep. (Vietnam War period). The attack was expected to come on the ground, as opposed to those . Spookys operators had successfully resisted pressure to change the call sign. To Love Ru Tp 22 - Vit Sub. Once the sun came up, a troop of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment found 139 dead enemy soldiers, Stars & Stripes reported. [4]:97 Later that day rockets hit the An Hoa Combat Base destroying 15,000 rounds of artillery ammunition and igniting 40,000 gallons of aviation fuel and 50 rockets were fired at Naval Support Activity Da Nang with more than half going into the sea and the remainder causing minor damage. History is not a fixed set of facts. Lieutenant General Julian J. Ewell shakes hands with both of the brigadier generals. The idea was quite unsettling. Note: Your browser does not have JavaScript enabled. The attacks on Bin Ha, Bien Hoa Air Base and Long Binh Post, occurred during the early hours of 31 January 1968 and continued until 2 February 1968. Convoy of M-113 ARCs and M-551 assault vehicles move out of camp and drive along road. The brigade was activated on 1 June 1966 at Fort Benning, Georgia, as the 199th Infantry Brigade (Light), with emphasis on counterinsurgency operations and mobility. Intelligence had indicators of the pending attacks. Video TikTok t Thnh Long Jr (@thlongjr): "Bn tng xem qua v phim attack on Titan bao gi cha? #anime #attackontitan". Spooky 71 flew with a crew of eight. Facebook. Partway through the mission he had come forward and was talking to the flight crew when the action unfolded that night. I realize that what I say will be represented not only as a Vietnam veteran but as a Medal of Honor recipient, and the media will have a field day. The troops sent to Saigon originally lived in army units dispersed throughout the city. I was experiencing what soldiers for more than half a century referred to as the empty battlefield. Modern battlefield weapons had become so lethal that to expose oneself, even for an instant, to their fire was tantamount to suicide. Soldiers lined inside the building waiting for their number. [4]:97, After midnight on 23 February Company K, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines and Company D, 1st Military Police Battalion detected VC approaching the Song Cau Do river bridges and attacked them killing 47 and capturing 11. After Levitow left the Air Force, he worked in veterans affairs for more than 22 years. The pilot fired the guns, using a sight at the left side of the cockpit. Visitors can also watch a videotape of Carpenter and John Levitow Jr. talking about the Medal of Honor mission. My class had graduated the month before from our 35-week "Fixed Ciphony Repair" course at Ft. Monmouth, NJ. The Geography and Map Division holds a map from the war that was printed and created by the 66 th Engineer Company (known as the "Topo Corps"). As usual, I initially took refuge under my desk, then ordered everyone to rush downstairs on the assumption that any direct hits would likely riddle the upper floor. He did not yet have a five-level as a loadmaster, and without a five-level, he could not be promoted, and if not promoted, he could not re-enlist. On top of that came the domino theory of 1954, invented by then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Remember: Using others' images on the web without their permission may be bad manners, or worse, copyright infringement. The two huge U.S. bases dripped firepowerdozens of batteries of field artillery, large calibers and small, rows and rows of helicopter gunships and jet fighters loaded to the gills with the most lethal ordnance the world has ever seen, dozens of M113 armored personnel carriers with powerful .50-caliber machine guns manned by surly military police, and, of course, hundreds of trigger-happy clerks and truck drivers, not necessarily eager, but most definitely ready, for action. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. With no friendly troops visible between me and the battle, into my M16 went the magazine of tracers in preparation for a confrontation with anyone who might break through that wall of gunfire, something at which the Viet Cong were quite adept. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. United States Army soldiers exchanging MPC currency at their headquarters in Long Binh Vietnam. The 228th per DA consolidated orders of 1970 was "confirmed" as being awarded an MUC for time period 15 February 1969 - 15 August 1969, as was the 277th and other units/sections under its command { HHC . The Viet Cong had constructed some sort of headquarters compound, or staging area, or supply depot or maybe even an officers club. 24:11. In the attack on Bien Hoa Air Base the PAVN lost 264 killed and 87 captured while ARVN losses were 10 killed and US. He went back on active duty in 1983 and retired in 1995. They briefly seize control of Binh Gia, a village only 40 miles from Saigon. It weighed 27 pounds. at the 24th Evacuation Hospital in Long Binh, South Vietnam, both patient and unit members, to find each other and join in the. . With the progression of the battle came a feeling of incredulity. Carpenter waved off taxi instructions from the tower and the crew got out fast. View of surrounding areas. The Long Binh Army post, adjacent to Spookys home base at Bien Hoa, was under mortar attack. For the next six hours, Spooky 71 would fly a combat air patrol circuit over the Saigon/Tan Son Nhut area, ready to respond wherever its fire support was needed. The gunship carried about 150,000 rounds of ammunition on each flight, Levitow said. Dennis E Haines, Recipient of the Images Of Bravery Award, Patient at the 24th Evacuation Hospital, December 1968. Numerous bases were attacked, these attacks were all beaten back but did inflict casualties and reinforced the fact that PAVN/VC forces were able to mount attacks at will. It was Feb. 24, 1969, and the second day of the Tet counteroffensive. Aerial view of Long Binh Post in Vietnam. I had the aircraft in a 30-degree bank and how Levitow ever managed to get to the flare and throw it out, Ill never know, Carpenter said. Other members of the squad have yet to be identified. I heard that five American soldiers were killed and some 30 wounded. We were being attacked by at least a full enemy battalion in a fight raging with remarkable intensity. A 70-strong VC force attacked the 2/1 Marines command post 6km south of Marble Mountain losing 17 dead. --- and so it went for lots of the fighting in Vietnam. I am compiling a history of our Regiment's service in the war. Im not going to bring shame on either the medal or myself, so I do watch it very carefully.. Textual Records: Correspondence and daily journal, 1972-73. I felt as if someone had taken a two-by-four and squarely hit me against the whole right-hand side of my body, Levitow said later. Photos (51) by Lou Mengoli, 1967. [2][3], Since early February 1969, the 1st Marine Division had noted an upsurge in PAVN/VC activity around Da Nang. Grabbing my helmet and flak jacket (and finding that, after sitting on the shelf for several months, neither would fit properly), I departed with my Jeep driver for the Logistics Commands large yellow headquarters building. It was another hot February day in 1969 at the sprawling Long Binh logistics base about 20 miles northeast of Saigon. It was his 180th combat mission, but he had never flown with this crew before. 28 March Ambush and Recon Team #75, and #76 were on a joint night operation on Hill-15 in the southeastern sector of the TAOR. Most attacks centered on military targets near Saigon and Da Nang and were quickly beaten off. This article was written by John E. Gross and originally published in the February 2008 issue of Vietnam Magazine. The Viet Cong were no longer in the tunnels around Long Binh, most probably having taken the subway back to the main tunnel complex at Cu Chi. United States Army soldiers participate in military payment certificates (MPC) exchange at their headquarters in Long Binh Vietnam. An ammunition dump at Long Binh, Vietnam. Advanced Search | The miniguns fired four rounds of invisible ball bullets followed by one tracer round, but the bullets came so fast they looked like a continuous red stream. Banned from the Long Binh O'Club: The Club was a . . I must add, though, that from a different perspective the battle I witnessed in Vietnam was exactly the same as those I had seen in movies: One was just as unreal as the other. Scenes of Viet Cong bodies around the perimeter of the base.Please Note! Trans primary motivations seem quite similar to our own: eating and getting home. Shortly before midnight the entire perimeter lit up with machine gun fire. As of 1969 Lieutenant General Do Cao Tri's III CTZ . ), and that the VC suffered heavy casualties that day, with about only 6 VC left after the shooting stopped, and these were taken prisoner. Seriously wounded were, SSG Slaven the squad leader, SP/4 Robert Cressman, PFC Larry W. Holton, and CPL Lee Van Muon, their Popular Forces Interpreter. John L. Levitow. Military aviation and technology are ever-changing, from the prevalence of drones to a shift to jets for special mission surveillance, once the province of propeller aircraft. The battle area had been cleared for at least 500 to 1,000 yards from the perimeterall foliage and any source of cover had been bulldozed flat. I heard that five American soldiers were killed and some 30 wounded. It led the way for the more powerful AC-119 and AC-130 gunships that came later. Levitow had joined the Air Force in June 1966, some 20 days ahead of being drafted into the Army. His grieving son had no option but to file away those unanswered questions forever. Some of my first recollections as a youngster from the cornfields of Iowa were the television and radio presentations of an ominous phenomena known as the yellow peril, although on our black-and-white TV sets this threat appeared more as black swaths oozing first from Russia across China, then over North Korea and finally covering the countries of Southeast Asia on their way across the ocean to the United States. Mr. Cook served with the 1st Infantry Division, 2-16th Infantry, as a 1st Lieutenant in the Long Binh area of Vietnam. It's not widely known that during the course of the Vietnam Conflict, about 2 million (2,000,000) VC and NVA were killed -- which was about 15 percent of North Vietnam's 13 million population. . Top graduates of Air Force Airman Leadership Schools receive the Levitow Honor Graduate Award. c, Holland h tr v kh cho Ukraine. Back home in Connecticut, he learned that his Medal of Honor had been approved. They fought to the last because (1) they were told that they would be tortured mercilessly by US soldiers should they be captured, and (2) being Buddhists, they did not want to die on foreign soil, but hoped to escape so they could go home to North Vietnam to die. DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press. Most estimates put the Viet Cong deaths at over 100. Location: Long Binh Vietnam. OVER 30 POUNDS IN WEIGHT MUST BE LOWERED BY ROPE. With no clear idea of what to do in combat, I would have to improvise. He was a man that was proud to stand tall. The enemy was too close for artillery, so gunships were . Media in category "Long Binh Post" The following 36 files are in this category, out of 36 total. ATTACK ON LONG BINH POST. Vit Trinh thng hiu tht l trn Vit Trinh, sinh ngy 27 mon 11 nm 1972, l con gi din vin nng lng in nh, tn dn chng trnh, o din vi gim kho ngi vit Nam. 6924th Security Squadron Base Name. I am the historian for the 11th Armored Cavalry Veterans of Vietnam and Cambodia (11th ACVVC). As far as political considerations go, he hardly seemed interested in building a communist utopia at all. Clip Type: Unedited. Additional South Vietnamese Regional Force elements moved in and the ARVN troops continued to contain the PAVN/VC forces until 11:00 when assault forces, in the form of the ARVN 36th Ranger Battalion, reinforced the contact. On 19 February, a defector surrendered to Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) forces and revealed a large VC force would attack key installations in the Saigon area to include Long Binh Post. This site uses cookies to improve your experience and to help show content that is more relevant to your interests. CRITICALPAST.COM: For reasons unknown, it had not been emptied when the AC-47 went to Vietnam. License Agreement | 5 Lt xem. By Richard E. Killblane - Transportation Branch Historian September 15, 2008. So proficient had I become at this task that I had acquired the nickname Lieutenant Bullets. Officially, however, I was an ammunition stock control officer in the Army Ordnance Corps. A soldier counts his notes at the typist's desk. NEW on HistoryNet: Attack on Long Binh, a 1969 Viet Cong attack on a US logistics base in Vietnam #VietnamWar http://trib.al/poYUWdo (true?/false? center, as they run down Route 1 near Trang Bang after an aerial napalm attack on suspected Viet Cong hiding places on June 8, 1972. A South . If your URL is correct, you'll see an image preview here. About 85 per cent of the force was estimated to be PAVN soldiers. 2023 CriticalPast LLC. The soldiers with old (MPC) currency notes takes the receipt and proceeds towards the next officer. I think it was a very discriminatory flight.. 44th Medical Brigade Headquarters Long Binh 1969.jpeg 2,079 1,716; 209 KB. The Air Force sent a C-54 to Hartford to pick up him, his wife, and his parents and take them to Washington. Members of the 1st Squadron 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, surround their M551, Air Droppable Assault Vehicle as they wait for the word to move out, 23 February 1969 Overview; The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong launch artillery attacks on over 100 population centers and military . Hc_Thn. 11 November SP/4s Jared Kelley and John R. Klemm, tend to their gear during a recon mission in the Tactical Area Of Responsibility. Ike originally intended these dominos to represent Chinas neighbors such as North and South Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia, but it was not long before some believed that places like Cuba, Angola, Chile, Peru, Michigan and South Carolina would also be on the list. . On the morning of 26 February following Napalm and Snake Eye air strikes, Company L, reinforced by Company M assaulted the PAVN position making slow progress against determined PAVN resistance. We had no bunkers. A blistering, 148-page document by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) found that Afghan, SDA Taps Raytheon for Seven More Missile-Tracking Satellites, Photos: F-22s Deploy to Tinian for First Time as Part of ACE Exercise, In Message to Force, Austin Touts Once-in-a-Generation Investments, Heres What USAFs Science Board Is Studying Now, Were Weird: New Commander Details Life Inside Task Force 99, Top Pentagon Official: Chinas Air Actions Are Dangerous and Destabilizing, Entire F-35 Fleet to Get Fix for Engine Vibration Issue, Service Will Remain at Heart of King Aerospace No Matter How Aviation and Technology Change, US Set Up Afghans for Failure, With a Force Too Complex to Maintain, IG Says. They could'nt tell how big the post was, for the post's perimeter lighting had not yet been installed. The decision to make the fix to. Southeast Asia is a very strange part of the world, where for centuries its leaders have had little or noregard for the lives of their own people. Over the years, there were numerous other recognitions. Hide. There was another motivation for Tran as he attacked the American base. The U.S. created an Afghan air force that was too technologically advanced for its native country to sustain, then pulled the rug out from under it, according to a U.S. government inspector general report. After years of Army training one cannot help but itch for a shot at the enemy, especially when all the advantages are on ones own side. Poor guys; they didn't stand a chance. Contents. It concentrated on US military installations, especially in the III Corps area around Saigon. In 1998, Air Mobility Command named a C-17 Globemaster, The Spirit of Sgt. A change of command at 2nd Field Force Artillery Headquarters at Long Binh, Vietnam. Shortly, another mortar battery began firing. Location of service: Long Binh Post THOSE WHO SERVED To mark the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the first U.S. ground troops in Vietnam, the Quad-City Times is profiling two dozen war veterans. If you like this movie trailer, go to https://militaryvideo.com/ to purchase the entire 60 minute video. Long Binh Post was a sprawling, 3,500 building . The loadmaster on Spooky 71 was A1C John L. Levitow, 23, from Glastonbury, Conn. Troops lined up on a field. By 15:00 the 36th Ranger Battalion moved into the village attacking the PAVN/VC force. Excerpt from 1st Aviation Brigade Newsletter: The VC attack at Long Binh was directed at the 12th Combat Aviation Group and II Field Force Vietnam. The 64-year-old Army veteran died suddenly of a heart attack. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Shot up and near stalling, Spooky approached Bien Hoa in the dark. (Vietnam War period). The miniguns fired four rounds of invisible ball bullets followed by one tracer round, but the bullets came so fast they looked like a continuous red stream. From there, I had a good view of the perimeter and the rapidlyunfolding battle. I had a real tough time grabbing hold of it with two hands because of the pain in my leg and everything. I was a 2nd Lieutenant, on my second night in Vietnam when the attack on Long Bing Post began at 2 AM. Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. Dense blue smoke was pouring out of the burning flare fuze.. So here I was, wounds and all, finally managed to stand up and Im lifting 140-pound ammo cans and stuffing them between the guns [so they would not] go flying all around and really hurt somebody, Levitow said. Binh chng c cng l binh chng chin u c bit tinh nhu ca Qun i nhn dn Vit Nam, do B Tng tham mu Qun i nhn dn Vit Nam trc tip qun l v ch o. 1 minigun and a jumble of spilled ammunition. The 199th later became known as the "Redcatchers" for its mission objectiveto seek out and destroy Communist cadres in Vietnam. All was relatively quiet until approximately 11:30 p.m., when suddenly a string of 82 mm mortar rounds marched directly across our end of the headquarters complex. Viet Cong attack on Tan Son Nhut Air Base (1966) From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia. The enemy fire was situated across Highway 1A, directing a heavy concentration of fire into the 12th Group and II Field Force compounds. I visited my friends down the hall in the almost deserted headquarters building, but mostly kept up my vigil of the activity outside the perimeter, which, as darkness descended, now included an occasional flare. Full-scale sweeping operations to secure the perimeter began just after noon that day. Levitow set the timersallowing 10 seconds after the safety pin was pulled before a minor explosion deployed the parachute and another 10 seconds before the flare ignitedthen handed the flare to Owen, who attached a lanyard, which created a little extra distance before the pin was pulled after Owen tossed the flare from the aircraft. Landing short would have been a disaster. I stay away from publicity and things like that. These ingredientswhen mixed with the C-ration Beef, Spiced with Sauce or the Beans w/ Frankfurter Chunks in Tomato Saucewould have provided the Viet Cong a feast for the ages. N Vietnamese forces overrun and capture Phuoc Binh City, Phuoc Long Prov capital, after wklong siege, striking significant psychological blow to S Vietnamese Govt; loss of town, with population . The villagers told the ARVN forces how they were driven out of their homes and confined to an area near a creek running alongside the village. Back in the States, the aircraft had been fitted with a tank inside the fuselage to hold isopropyl alcohol. Contact Us | Welcome to the Long Binh google satellite map! So they were given guns and were told to attack Long Binh Post (population 30,000 armed U.S. soldiers). Long Binh Jail was a prison for American soldiers on the outskirts of Saigon with notoriously harsh conditions. Records relating to the Christmas mail program, 1969-72. It was nothing like what I saw in my imagination or what is shown in movie theaters or on television. I try to control what I say, although for the most part, Im very quiet. I hated it. More to his liking, he went home to Connecticut and became a medical administration officer in the VA hospital system and special assistant to the chief of Medical Administration Service in New England. SUMMARY: On December 17, 1968, a 39-vehicle convoy from the 48th Transportation Group was moving ammunition and food between Long Binh and Dau Tieng, South Vietnam when the lead vehicles were suddenly hit by mortar fire. Viet Cong attack on Tan Son Nhut Air Base (1966) Part of the Vietnam War: Date: 4-5 December 1966: Location: Tan Son Nhut Air Base, South Vietnam. By 01:00 the next morning, the bodies of 264 PAVN/VC soldiers lay in the village, and 87 had been captured or surrendered. Dailymotion, An ambush platoon reaction team that was held in ready reserve was assigned to conduct a sweep of the tree line where the post perimeter had received heavy enemy fire from during the early morning attack. 1971 serving with the 95th Military Police Battalion. My hope was that no more than one or two VC would reach my position. . Under Col. Robert Smoker, Task Force 99s new commander, the unit will continue to try to cut through red tape and field new systems quickly. Soldiers of the United States Army Signal Group have military payment certificates exchanged at their headquarters in Long Binh Vi, U.S. soldiers handling 155mm artilery shells in an ammunition dump at Long Binh, Vietnam. [1], In the early morning hours of 26 February, a force of approximately 400 men from the VC 275th Regiment, 5th Division, had infiltrated into the tiny village of Thai Hiep on the outskirts of Bien Hoa. from 1969 to 1970. Carpenter set it down in a full shuddering stall. The last pocket along the An Tan ridgeline proved more difficult and Company L, 3/7 Marines suffered numerous casualties forcing it to withdraw. "Text of Camp Lejeune Committee's Report to Commanding General." The ARVN units swiftly moved into blocking positions, and by daybreak, the PAVN/VC were surrounded. He flew two more AC-47 combat missions and showed up at the flight line for a third when the squadron commander told him he was grounded. He had been nominated for the Medal of Honorat Carpenters urging, Gen. George S. Brown, the 7th Air Force commander, had marked the recommendation up from an Air Force Crossand he was no longer allowed to fly in combat. As a soldier unfastens a skid of 8 shells, from the crane, it falls over sideways. You can imagine how frightful that was to the mind of a 6-year-old. Featured Collections | Photo of the famous Saigon Taxi. Levitows hometown, Glastonbury, dedicated a memorial to him on the town green May 31, 2004. To the Air Forces embarrassment, a hero was not eligible to re-enlist. . Among the family members present were his son and grandson, John L. Levitow III. ironworkers local 401 annuity fund,