Spelling Error is Disappointing but Does Not Lessen the Valor of a Young Serviceman

One of my favorite places to run is on a quiet trail that hugs the shoreline of the Pearl Harbor channel. It's a beautiful setting, and halfway down the trail in a quiet glade alongside the water is a solemn memorial dedicated to Air Force - and Army Air Force - Medal of Honor recipients.

I’ve been running along this trail for years, but I had never stopped to look closely at the memorial until recently. I was feeling a little tired during the run, which seems to happen much more often now than it did 50 years ago. (I suspect the trail is being secretly lengthened in the night.) I decided to take a break and have a closer look at the eye-catching memorial while I recovered my breath.

There are 61 names on the memorial, and I immediately saw Jimmy Doolittle, Eddie Rickenbacker and Charles Lindbergh. I was surprised at the last name, as I didn’t realize Lindbergh had been awarded the Medal of Honor.

And then I noticed something that made me forget about Lindbergh for a moment.

The plaque not only listed names, it also listed the hometowns of the awardees; and, alongside the name A1C John L. Levitow, the hometown of Hartford, “Connetticutt” appeared to be misspelled. (See the photo below.)

Connecticut is a tough word to spell, however, and this memorial is so meaningful that I assumed the mistake must be mine. Memorials of this importance don't have misspellings. I don’t carry a phone with me, so I had to return home to check the proper spelling of Connecticut, and it confirmed my suspicion: The plaque was wrong.

Readers probably have no better guess than I do as to how this error could have occurred. All I could think was that the fellow who engraved the plaque was paid an extra $5 for every “T” he made. In all seriousness, however, the question is not how it happened, but why it has never been corrected. Granted, it’s a small mistake, but the lack of any action to remedy it seems as though it would be a source of embarrassment to the Air Force. And I've always liked the Air Force!

I haven't been able to determine when the memorial was made, although I did learn that it was rededicated in February 2016 when two more names were added to the initial 59. Maj. Gen. Kevin Schneider, who was then the PACAF chief of staff, presided over the ceremony, but I'm assuming he did not notice the misspelling or the plaque would have been corrected before the week was out.

I suspect, however, that if members of the Levitow Family were to visit Hawaii and were escorted to the memorial, they would be disappointed to learn that despite the passage of all-too-many years, the error has not been corrected. I'm not sure how their Air Force escort would explain that to them! I believe Levitow holds the lowest-rank of the 61 names, and I have little doubt that if his name were Doolittle, Rickenbacker or Lindbergh, people would have been falling all over themselves to fix the spelling.

Here is what Levitow did to earn the award:

Heroic Action of A1C John Levitow Saves

Eight Gunship Crew Members

Airman First Class John Levitow was born in 1945 in “the other Connecticut” (the one with only two t’s.)

In February 1969, A1C Levitow, a member of a special ops unit, was a loadmaster on an AC-47 gunship that was providing nighttime support to besieged American soldiers at Long Binh, Vietnam. As the gunship circled over the battle, the 23-year-old Levitow prepared a magnesium flare that would burn with such an intensity that it would give the Americans 2-3 minutes of “daylight.” But just as he activated the flare and handed it to his gunner, the aircraft suffered a direct hit from a mortar round.

The blast riddled the plane with shrapnel, left a two-foot hole in the plane’s wing, and slammed all the crew to the floor. No one escaped injury. Levitow himself had more than 40 shrapnel wounds as well as a concussion that he recalled, "felt like being hit with a two-by-four." As he regained his senses, he saw the smoking flare rolling on the floor of the plane along with loose ammunition and other flares. He knew that within seconds, it would ignite, and the plane and its crew would disappear in a fiery explosion.

Unable to stand, Levitow crawled to the smoking flare and threw himself over it. Keeping it tucked to his body, he painfully dragged himself to the open cargo door. There was no time to spare. Miraculously, Levitow hurled the flare through the door just as it ignited, but because it was now clear of the aircraft, it caused no damage, and the pilot somehow eased the crippled plane to a safe landing. Thanks to Levitow’s swift action, all eight crew members survived.

One year later, President Nixon awarded Airman First Class John Levitow the Medal of Honor. Levitow, who was Jewish, became the first enlisted member of the Air Force - and the youngest member - to receive the medal. Today, you can find a bridge, a street, various memorials and even a C-17 Globemaster named for this heroic young man from Connecticut.

Note: As of July 12, 2025, the spelling had not been corrected.

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Thank you for reading the story of A1C Levitow, and I hope you found it interesting. If you liked this article and would like to read more, just click on “Blog” near the top of this post. You’ll find about 20 articles on a variety of subjects. “The Pilot and the Captain” is a true story of World War II compassion and is, by far, the article most read on this blog. "My Octopus Hitchhiker" is a light account of a one-inch octopus that crawled out of my pocket at Makua Beach. “My Father’s Friend” is a true story of an unlikely friendship. “The Girl Who Sleeps Under the Viaduct” is a true story of, well . . . a young girl who sleeps under the viaduct. More articles are on the way . . . as soon as I write them! Again, thank you!