He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his acts of heroism while serving on board a Douglas AC-47 Spooky gunship of the 3d Special Operations Squadron USAF on February 24, 1969.

It was Airman Levitow's job to set the ejection and ignition timer controls on Mark 24 magnesium flares and pass them to the gunner for deployment.

[4] Spooky 71 was flying night missions near the Tan Son Nhut Air base area when Long Binh came under attack.

[5] As the crew of Spooky 71 manned their aircraft patrolling the area, the pilot, Major Kenneth Carpenter, had seen muzzle flashes outside Long Binh Army Base.

The pilot threw the AC-47 and its eight-man crew into a banked turn to engage the Viet Cong in the Tan Son Nhut Air Base area.

Levitow set the timers and handed a flare to the gunner, who held it with his finger through the pull ring attached to the safety pin.

A North Vietnamese Army's 82 mm mortar shell hit the right wing and exploded inside the structure, raking the fuselage with flying shrapnel.

Hugging it to his body, he dragged himself back to the rear of the cabin and pushed it through the open cargo door an instant before it ignited, saving the aircraft and its crew.

Entered service at: New Haven, Conn. Born: 1 November 1945, Hartford, Conn. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.

Levitow (then A1C), U.S. Air Force, distinguished himself by exceptional heroism while assigned as a loadmaster aboard an AC-47 aircraft flying a night mission in support of Long Binh Army post.

Levitow, though stunned by the concussion of the blast and suffering from over 40 fragment wounds in the back and legs, staggered to his feet and turned to assist the man nearest to him who had been knocked down and was bleeding heavily.