I 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5299 
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the United States Army Dust 
Off crews of the Vietnam War, collectively, in recognition of their extraor-
dinary heroism and life-saving actions in Vietnam. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 19, 2016 
Mr. REICHERT (for himself and Mr. KILMER) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addi-
tion to the Committee on House Administration, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the United States 
Army Dust Off crews of the Vietnam War, collectively, 
in recognition of their extraordinary heroism and life- 
saving actions in Vietnam. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Dust Off Crews of 
the Vietnam War Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds that— 
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(1) a United States Army Dust Off crewman is 
a helicopter crew member who served honorably in 
the Vietnam War aboard a helicopter air ambulance 
under the radio call sign ‘‘Dust Off’’; 
(2) Dust Off crews performed aeromedical evac-
uation for United States, Vietnamese, and allied 
forces inside South Vietnam from May 1962 through 
March 1973; 
(3) nearing the end of World War II, the 
United States Army began using helicopters for 
medical evacuation and years later, during the Ko-
rean War, these helicopter air ambulances were re-
sponsible for transporting 17,700 United States cas-
ualties; 
(4) during the Vietnam War, with the use of 
helicopter air ambulances, United States Army Dust 
Off crews pioneered the concept of dedicated and 
rapid medical evacuation and rescued almost 
900,000 United States, South Vietnamese, and other 
allied sick and wounded, as well as wounded enemy 
forces; 
(5) helicopters proved to be a revolutionary tool 
to assist those injured on the battlefield; 
(6) highly skilled and intrepid, Dust Off crews 
were able to operate the helicopters and land them 
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on almost any terrain in nearly any weather to pick 
up wounded, after which the Dust Off crews could 
provide care to these patients while transporting 
them to ready medical facilities; 
(7) the vital work of the Dust Off crews re-
quired consistent combat exposure and often proved 
to be the difference between life and death for 
wounded personnel; 
(8) the revolutionary concept of a dedicated 
combat life-saving system was cultivated and refined 
by United States Army Dust Off crews during 11 
years of intense conflict in and above the jungles of 
South Vietnam; 
(9) innovative and resourceful Dust Off crews 
in Vietnam were responsible for taking the new con-
cept of helicopter medical evacuation, born just a 
few years earlier, and revolutionizing it to meet and 
surpass the previously unattainable goal of delivering 
a battlefield casualty to an operating table within 
the vaunted ‘‘golden hour’’; 
(10) some Dust Off units in Vietnam operated 
so efficiently that they were able to deliver a patient 
to a waiting medical facility on an average of 33 
minutes from the receipt of the mission, which saved 
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the lives of countless personnel in Vietnam, and this 
legacy continues for modern-day Dust Off crews; 
(11) the inherent danger of being a member of 
a Dust Off crew in Vietnam meant that there was 
a 1 in 3 chance of being wounded or killed; 
(12) many battles during the Vietnam War 
raged at night, and members of the Dust Off crews 
often found themselves searching for a landing zone 
in complete darkness, in bad weather, over moun-
tainous terrain, and all while being the target of in-
tense enemy fire as they attempted to rescue the 
wounded, which caused Dust Off crews to suffer a 
rate of aircraft loss that was more than 3 times that 
of all other types of combat helicopter missions in 
Vietnam; 
(13) the 54th Medical Detachment typified the 
constant heroism displayed by Dust Off crews in 
Vietnam, over the span of a 10-month tour, with 
only 3 flyable helicopters and 40 soldiers in the unit, 
evacuating 21,435 patients in 8,644 missions while 
being airborne for 4,832 hours; 
(14) collectively, the members of the 54th Med-
ical Detachment earned 78 awards for valor, includ-
ing 1 Medal of Honor, 1 Distinguished Service 
Cross, 14 Silver Star Medals, 26 Distinguished Fly-
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