Official 45th Dustoff Air Taxi Circus Sticker - 45th Medical Company (Air Ambulance) Vietnam-Era Dustoff Unit Vinyl Sticker.
So others may live — the motto, the mission, and the dark humor of the crews who flew into the fire every single time.
The 45th Medical Company (Air Ambulance) arrived in Vietnam in July 1967, stationing at Long Binh and immediately committing to round-the-clock standby coverage across III and IV Corps tactical zones. The unit evacuated American, Korean, Australian, New Zealand, and South Vietnamese patients without distinction, flying unarmed UH-1 Hueys into active contact zones day and night. By the time the 45th was inactivated in Vietnam in March 1971, it had evacuated more than 115,831 patients across a three-year combat tour that included the Tet Counteroffensive, during which the unit reported twenty-two aircraft damaged and one destroyed. CW3 Michael Novosel, attached to the 82nd Medical Detachment under the 45th, earned the Medal of Honor on 2 October 1969 for extracting twenty-nine wounded soldiers under direct fire. The unit's lineage stretches back to World War II and Korea, and the 45th later became the first MEDEVAC company from Europe to deploy to Desert Shield and Storm. The informal nickname Air Taxi Circus captures the gallows humor Dustoff crews used to describe their relentless, no-refusal pickup tempo — a tradition of dark wit worn as a badge of pride by the men who answered every call regardless of weather, visibility, or enemy fire.
Perfect For: Army aviation veterans, Dustoff crew members and medics, Vietnam War historians and collectors, MEDEVAC community supporters, shadow box and display board builders, unit reunion keepsakes, military medicine enthusiasts, and anyone honoring the legacy of aeromedical evacuation crews who flew without gunship escort into the most dangerous landing zones in Southeast Asia. It also makes a meaningful gift for families of 45th Medical Company alumni, Army flight medic communities, and collectors building Vietnam-era unit sticker or patch displays.
Air Taxi Circus — the name they gave themselves, the mission they never refused.
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