|
DUSTOFF ORGANIZATION Hall of Fame
2005 Nominations: Col Joseph P Madrano & Col William R Knowles
We have submitted the information on Col. Joe Madrano and Col. William Knowles to the Dustoff Association for the Award of "Hall of Fame", these two with others that are being nominated will be placed on the BALLOT that Dustoff Members will receive this fall [Sept-Oct] those individuals receiving 2/3 of the votes will be Awarded the Honor of being placed on the "Hall of Fame' during the Dustoff Association Convention 4-5-6 Feb 2005. I pray that all former and current members of the 498th will cast the ballot favoring this OUTSTANDING Officer. I highly recommend that individuals that are not presently members of the Dustoff Association become members so that you will receive a ballot for this VOTE. Information to become a member is as follows: Officers and Civilians, $10.00 Initial Fee, $15.00 Annual, Total $25.00 ,Enlisted $7.50 Annual, E-5 & below No Initial fee, E-6 & above $10.00 Initial, Life Membership, Officers & Civilians $100.00 One- time fee, E-9 and below $50.00 one-time fee. SIMPLE: Mail check with Rank,full name and address to: DUSTOFF Association, P.O. Box 8091, Wainwright Station, San Antonio, Tx. 78208..... I can think of NO PERSON that deserves this HONOR more than Col. Joe, Praying for your support on this! Mac McBride
Hall Of Fame Nomination - Colonel Joseph P. Madrano, MSC
Col. Joseph P. Madrano, one of our senior Dustoff pilots and commanders, has earned an honor place in the DUSTOFF HALL OF FAME by his distinguished career as an Infantry Soldier (WWII), Army Air Corps pilot (WWII), helicopter instructor, Dustoff pilot, Dustoff Unit Commander, combat commander and Medical Service Corps leader. A native American from Oklahoma, Col. Joe was one of the early inductees to the U.S. Army Infantry in 1940. After serving two years, he was accepted for flight training and graduated as a 2d Lt. in 1943. Transitioned into Medium Bombers, he was immediately transferred to the Mediterranean Theater as a B-26 pilot. Col Joe survived 46 combat missions and left the service in l945 but remained in the US Army reserves until 1950 when he was transferred to the Army Medical Service Corps and inducted to active duty.
He credits his early training in the Infantry and his roles as Assistant Battalion Surgeon of the 45th Infantry division and Medical Plans and Operations officer of the 16th Corps as the foundation for his leadership skills in future assignments. Col. (then Capt.) Madrano completed helicopter flight training and was retained as a Flight Instructor (and later Flight Commander) utilizing his significant combat flight experience. Captain Madrano had one goal: to graduate the best and most combat ready pilots in the U.S. Army. His standards were so high that he soon gained the title of “Black Hand;” a name that he carried, along with his standards of excellence, throughout his career. He still cherishes the knowledge that the expertise and skills he imparted to others saved many lives in combat.
Leaving the Aviation School, he commanded the 82nd and 54th Air Ambulance Detachments, served on a Medical Group Staff, and attended Command and General Staff College. Subsequently, his extensive aviation experience was called upon at Medical Combat Developments as part of the team that developed the Air Ambulance Company Table of Organization and Equipment; a unit that he later had the opportunity to test in combat. During this period, Col. Joe spent significant time at Ft. Benning, Ga., representing Medical Combat Developments in theory, tactics and doctrine for the Medical Battalion and Air Ambulance Platoon of the 11th Air Assault Division (later the 1st Cavalry Division, Air Assault).
LTC. Madrano was recalled to Ft. Sam Houston, Texas, and given command of the 498th Medical Company (Air Ambulance) to prepare and deploy that unit to Vietnam. Col. Joe took command of this unit with few officers and enlisted which was designated to receive new UHID helicopters fresh off the assembly line. He immediately applied the “Black Hand” theory of command and training: “do everything to the highest standards and do it yesterday.” He was assigned Majors, Captains and a few Lieutenants to fill the pilot slots and was receiving mechanics and medical personnel up to the time of departure. Training was around the clock, with emphasis on combat missions and night evacuations. Col. Joe considers this the greatest challenge of his career, especially when he arrived in Vietnam with 25 Helicopters, 26 pilots and no local command and control unit. He was told by Brigade to deploy his unit as he best envisioned area coverage to provide aeromedical support to all allied forces (US, Korean and RVN) in the Northern Half of the Republic of Vietnam. Told that he would have three weeks to deploy and train, the 498th started evacuation three days later and never stopped until the war ended and the unit returned to the US. Additional pilots were assigned from in-country resources, Infantry, Transportation Corps and the first of many Warrant Officer pilots.
Col. Joe was a field commander, spending much of his time in the cockpit, evacuating casualties, visiting deployed platoons and attached air ambulance detachments. His mode of operation was to drop in, put himself on 1st call and fly missions. He said it was the best way to evaluate the units and pilots. The TO&E that he helped develop rapidly grew into an Air Ambulance Battalion sized unit. He still considers this deployment and development as the crowning achievement of his career.
The Army, in its infinite wisdom, then utilized his extensive experience and knowledge by reassigning Col. Madrano to Medical Combat Developments to update the Air Ambulance Company TO&E and write doctrine for deployment and use in combat zones.
After attending The Industrial College of the Armed Forces, Col. Madrano was assigned as Medical Plans and Operations and Operations Officer with Continental Army Command, Headquarters for all CONUS Units. Significant during this tour was the management of the Military Assistance to Safety and Traffic program, using aeromedical evacuation resources in peacetime to evacuate critical civilian patients. This highly successful program was designed to return to the taxpayer some of the services they paid for, provide realistic training to air ambulance crews, and to save the Surgeon Generals aviation resources from transfer to Army Aviation and subsequent return to the “pre- Korea concept of ammo and supplies forward and casualties back.”
In addition to his many and varied assignments, Col. Madrano has commanded a Medical Group in the European Theater.
Col. Madrano’s awards and decorations are a vivid chronicle of his career and include:
French Croix de Guerre with Palm
Korean Order of Military Merit in Hun
Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Silver Star
US Legion of Merit
Air Medal w 16 OLC
Purple Heart
Meritorious Service Medal
Army Commendation Medal
And the one of which Col. Joe is most proud, awarded for being a good enlisted soldier:
Army Good Conduct Medal
Hall Of Fame Nomination - Colonel William R. Knowles, MSC
Colonel William R. Knowles is proudly submitted for the DUSTOFF Hall of Fame. This distinguished Army Medical Department Aviator was known for his Pioneering and Innovative contributions to AMEDDS Aviation and to Army Aviation and Aviation Safety.
Starting his aviation career as a Marine aviation cadet during World War II, Bill graduated as a Lieutenant and found himself on the next plane to the South Pacific. There he flew 52 combat missions in close air support of troops fighting in the jungles as they recovered island after island from the Japanese.
Returning to the States, he was a gunnery instructor until the end of the war. Bill transferred to a reserve Marine fighter squadron in Seattle, Washington where he continued his love of flying while attending graduate school. Upon graduation, he was offered and accepted a Regular Army commission in the Medical Service Corps. This commission gave him the chance to fly as he helped the Army Surgeon General develop Aeromedical services to evacuate wounded from the battlefield.
Graduating from the first MSC helicopter flight class, he joined the 53rd Medical Detachment (Air Amb) in Germany. There he continued his Aeromedical education under another pioneer, Lou Hamner. (Bill credits Hamner as the best CO and teacher he ever served under.) Many of the helicopter flight and safety concepts formed at that time would carry into combat evacuation and development for future Aeromedical helicopters.
His next assignment was as Army Aviation Liaison to the Aviation Crash Injury Research Program at Cornell University, which later became the Flight Safety Foundation. He later attended the Aviation Safety Course at the University of Southern California. This would lead to assignments with the Army Surgeon Generals office as Aeromedical Evacuation Consultant to the Chief, Medical Service Corps and to the Surgeon General. During this period, he was instrumental in the expansion of the Aeromedical Evacuation Program, recruiting many “cream of the crop” young MSC officers into aviation and initiating many training programs to make them the “best of the best” of Army Aviation.
Colonel Knowles was Project Officer to Bell Helicopters for the development of an Aeromedical evacuation platform that became the HU-1, Huey helicopter as envisioned by MG (then Col) Spurgeon Neel. The helicopter was so successful that the Army adopted the design for its primary battlefield helicopter. Quoting Col. Knowles on this project, “ I fought long and hard for the six litter configuration based on my experience with units in Germany and CONUS. Later, evacuating wounded from the rice paddies of Vietnam, I realized that the best we could do was three or four litters plus walking wounded. This became a primary factor in development of the UTTAS (Blackhawk) helicopter.”
After the HU-I was put to bed, Col Knowles was assigned to the Army Tactical Mobility Board, later the Howze Board, to develop the concepts for battlefield air mobility which led to the creation of an Army Aviation Branch and the development of the Air Assault Division. For his dedicated work and broad aviation and safety experience, he was awarded a letter of appreciation from Army Chief of Staff General Earle Wheeler in 1963.
A natural follow-on assignment was to the US Army Board for Aviation Accident Research (USABAAR), where Colonel (then LTC) Knowles was immediately sent to Vietnam to investigate accidents and set up a program to prevent accidents. Even though he was not assigned to an air ambulance or a tactical aviation unit his concept of developing a safety program was to fly the missions with the young pilots and gain the insight firsthand as to the causes behind many pilot error accidents.
Returning to Ft. Rucker, he would be reassigned to Vietnam to command the 498th Medical Company (Air Amb). As a “Flying Commander” he added 330 combat hours, 262 combat missions and evacuated 361 patients during the eight months before he was moved to the Medical Brigade as Chief of Plans and Operations. Colonel Knowles was selected by the SGO for assignment at Medical Combat Developments to apply his “lessons learned” to future development. From Combat Developments to the Army War College, then to command of a Medical Brigade, Colonel Knowles continued his distinguished DUSTOFF career.
Unable to suppress his pioneering spirit, Bill was assigned to the Secretary of Defense with duty at the Department of Transportation to develop the highly successful Military Assistance to Safety and Traffic (MAST) program. This program was designed to assist civilian populations with military Aeromedical resources while giving a return on taxpayers’ dollars. It also saved the Surgeon General’s Aeromedical evacuation assets from budget cuts and in fact, expanded these assets and gained air ambulance resources in Alaska (cold weather training), Panama (jungle training) Hawaii (division support) and Japan (inter hospital support and training). Bill’s work with the Howze Board and his many friends in the Defense Department and Army Aviation saved the program from strong opposition within Army Aviation from leaders who wanted the Aeromedical aviation budget dollars for their own resources.
Colonel Knowles was an aviation pioneer as well as an innovative, strong commander dedicated to the training and safety of his flight crews. He was a savvy staff officer who knew how to get the programs through layers of bureaucracy and always a DUSTOFF aviator.
Colonel Knowles’ decorations and achievements are notable:
FAA Commercial Pilots License-1943
Airplane license, single and multiple, Instrument, rotorcraft-helicopter; flight instructor, airplanes. 1966.
Dual and Instrument Rated, US Army
Master Army Aviator
Combat Medical Badge
Legions of Merit (2)
Air Medals w/V and 6 Oak Leaf Clusters
Meritorious Service Medal
Army Commendation Medal
Meritorious Unit Medal (498th Air Amb)
Vietnam Service Medals
The following have been placed in the Hall of Fame:
2001 Spurgeon Neel
2001 Patrick Brady
2001 Charles Kelly
2001 Louis Rocco
2001 Micheal Novosel
2002 John Temperilli
2002 Wayne Simmons
2002 Steve Hook
2003 Jerome Faust
2003 Paul Bloomquist
2003 Ernie Sylvester
2004 Charles Allen
2004 Douglas Moore
2004 Eldon Ideus
2004 Ray Salmon
2005 Jim Truscott
|
