Undisclosed Location. (May 31, 2024): In this photo by Sgt. Vincent Levelev, Charlie Company of the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division prepares to take off for a practice “Dust Off” medical evacuation. "DUSTOFF" is the callsign specific to U.S. Army Air Ambulance units made famous during the Vietnam War. During the conflict, helicopter air ambulance pilots along with medics and crew risked their lives to evacuate more than 900,000 U.S., Vietnamese, and even enemy Viet Cong between 1962 and 1973.

Medical air evacuation using helicopters was first attempted during the Korean War and was a new and untested concept when the 57^th Medical Detachment arrived in Vietnam in 1962. Beginning with only five helicopters and nine pilots, its leader, Major Charles L. Kelly, set the example by flying a punishing schedule of missions in all weather and hazard conditions. He pioneered new techniques for night evacuations, and he inspired his fellow pilots by swooping his unarmed helicopter into hotly contested landing zones to pluck the wounded from certain death.

Widely acknowledged as the “Father of Dustoff,” Kelly was born in Georgia in 1925 and joined the U.S. Army at 15 by lying about his age. Incredibly, Vietnam was his third war and by 1964, he was generally regarded as the only American soldier authorized to wear both the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Combat Medical Badge. He went on to win the Silver Star for gallantry.

Thanks to the bravery of pilots like Kelly, a Soldier injured in Vietnam would be in a hospital receiving medical care within 35 minutes of being wounded. Consequently, the Vietnam War had the highest survival rates among wounded soldiers from any conflict in history up to that time.