American War Hero · Vietnam War · Notice Nearby
John L. Levitow
November 1, 1945 – November 8, 2000
Born Hartford, Connecticut
Died Connecticut
Airman First Class, U.S. Air Force; loadmaster, AC-47 Spooky; Medal of Honor action over Long Binh, South Vietnam, February 24, 1969
John Lee Levitow was an Air Force loadmaster on an AC-47 gunship when a mortar round struck the aircraft near Long Binh on the night of February 24, 1969. Wounded and dazed, he saw an armed flare rolling among spilled ammunition, dragged himself to it, and threw the flare out the open cargo door before it could ignite the plane — the action written into his Medal of Honor citation, still the only MoH awarded to an Air Force enlisted airman in the Vietnam War.
Levitow survived the war, stayed connected to Air Force training that now bears his name, and died of cancer in Connecticut in November 2000. He is buried at Arlington. This register lists the Long Binh AC-47 action as documented; he is not marked missing. The Air Force portrait on Wikimedia Commons is a U.S. government work in the public domain.
- Publication
- NN-HERO-1965-013
- Content hash
- ba52ac0f 42c01d0c 17277943 3053532d 734a58a1 26ed257f 67357339 3cbe2bf4
- Base anchor
- 0xb5339b da6b851b b2ea3e41 8dbc4dd6 6d34acd1 fb9fb698 1d007927 3afa5f21 90
Base stores the content hash, publication number, memorial id, and timestamp — not the full obituary text. The complete memorial remains on Notice Nearby. This is not a legal affidavit.