2026 SESSION
ENROLLED
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 81
Commending the United States Army dustoff crews of the Vietnam War.
Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 16, 2026
WHEREAS, the United States Army dustoff crews of the Vietnam War, elite aeromedical teams who revolutionized battlefield medicine through their refinement of helicopter evacuations, received a Congressional Gold Medal in 2024; and
WHEREAS, Charles Livingston Kelly, MAJ, USA, Ret., Douglas E. Moore, COL, USA, Ret., Stephen Boyer Peth, LTC, USA, Ret., and Merle J. Snyder, COL, USA, Ret. flew over 7,500 DUSTOFF combat missions, evacuated over 10,000 patients, and bravely piloted airplanes that evacuated seriously wounded and POWs; and were all inducted into to the DUSTOFF Hall of Fame; and
WHEREAS, the history of battlefield medical evacuations (medevac) dates back to the Roman Empire, and modern medevac systems have their roots in the horse-drawn ambulances and triage units developed by the Great Army of Napoleon; and
WHEREAS, the United States effectively utilized motorized ambulances in World War I and World War II and pioneered the use of rotary-wing medevac aircraft during the Korean War, with distinctive bubble-canopied Bell helicopters transporting the wounded to Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals; and
WHEREAS, during the Vietnam War, the United States perfected helicopter evacuations through technological innovations, including the development of the venerable Bell UH-1 Iroquois, better known as the “Huey,” and the visionary contributions of exceptional leaders, such as United States Army Major Charles Livingston Kelly; and
WHEREAS, as commander of the 57th Medical Detachment (Helicopter Ambulance), Major Kelly instituted systems that replaced echeloned evacuation and triage procedures with near-immediate transport of wounded soldiers from the battlefield to appropriate medical care; these helicopter evacuation systems became a model for other such units in the United States Army and other branches of the United States Armed Forces; and