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Alex Ortolano

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Alex Ortolano talks about his interesting early life growing up in New Orleans as the son of a grocer. Despite his parents both being against the idea of flying in an aircraft, he decided that upon his enlistment into the Army that he was going to apply for flight school. (4:06)

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Alex Ortolano flew as part of a helicopter medical evacuation team known as Dust Off, which he gives a little introduction to. Of all the medical evacuation units, Dust Off came in contact with the most casualties during its missions. (7:30)

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In the distant past, medical evacuation wasn't always there to aid the wounded after a battle had gone down. Lt. Ortolano elaborates on the history of medical evacuation units and how they got to be as they are today. (2:37)

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Lt. Ortolano recalls many memorable Dust Off pilots during and before his time, some of which include Patrick Brady and Charles Kelly. He believes it's worth taking the time to talk about these individuals because of the sacrifices they made for the unit and for the people they saved. (9:54)

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Lt. Ortolano remembers a man by the name of Michael Novosel, who was able to accomplish a lot in his time with Dust Off despite the odds of even getting into flight school going against him. (5:52)

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Alex Ortolano flew a lot of missions for Dust Off, and here he documents a few of those times and what it was like. Above all else, he knew the biggest motivation for him was saving the lives of the wounded and of his partners in the sky. (8:26)

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Lt. Ortolano continues talking about his experience flying Dust Off missions, some of which were rather unpleasant due to dealing with dying soldiers and dead bodies. When operating missions like these, it was very important that Dust Off members conducted these medical evacuations with the proper procedures and methods. (6:08)

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As much as it was life changing, flying Dust Off was never easy for Lt. Ortolano. He remembers that he had to work some very stress inducing situations, even though he was only flying the ship to and from and not actually treating the patients. Was it all really worth it? (3:56)

Alfred DePietro

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He knew more than the civilian flight instructor and he let him know it. Alfred DePietro was shipped out the next day and he says he deserved it, thanks to his big mouth. It was off to Guam as a crew member for a flamboyant B-29 pilot who had a wild streak and a vicious pet monkey. (4:19)

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They were returning from a bombing mission to Okinawa and all of a sudden, there were flames everywhere in the B-29. Alfred DePietro and all the young gunners in the rear lined up at the door, ready to bail out. The pilot told him that, once they jumped, he was going to ditch the plane. (3:46)