Air Medal awarded 59 years later

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KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AFPN) --  After nearly six decades of waiting, a retired Air Force master sergeant and former Air Force Research Laboratory employee received his Air Medal at a June 2 ceremony here.

Trinidad Castinado received the Air Medal, second oak leaf cluster, from Col. Mark Stephen, acting director of the directed-energy directorate. The original paperwork for the award was lost, but Stephen started the search on a recommendation from Castinado's supervisor, Thomas Bretz, directorate facilities manager, who heard first-hand of the heroic actions.

"I am proud to help recognize this warfighters' heroic deeds because his actions set the background for our present Air Force," Stephen said. "He serves as a role model for our airmen today."

"Dad wanted to give up, but Colonel Stephen wouldn't let him," said Castinado’s daughter, Cynthia Lynch, who is a program management specialist in the laboratory's information technology office.

Castinado's heroic acts happened Nov. 17, 1944, shortly after he and his fellow B-24 Liberator crew took off on an early morning combat mission, climbing to 10,000 feet on their way to bomb what he called a vitally important target in Germany. While climbing, the radio operator discovered that his oxygen mask was not working.

Because of the importance of the mission, the aircraft pilot decided to continue and ordered the radio operator to bail out. Instead, then Corporal Castinado, the ball-turret gunner, offered his oxygen mask to the radio operator.

Without regard to his own safety, Castinado's actions proved he believed it was more important for the crew's safety and success for the mission to make sure the radio operator remain with the aircraft. The pilot agreed and permitted Castinado to parachute from the aircraft.

Bailing out at a high altitude without oxygen is dangerous, but Castinado did it nonetheless. Landing on rocky terrain, he fractured his leg and had lesions on his head. Friendly forces recovered him four hours later.

"The professional heroism and airmanship Castinado displayed reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Air Corps," reads the citation Gen. John Jumper, Air Force chief of staff, signed May 20.

Castinado said he still has pain and two silver screws holding the bone together from the injuries he sustained that fateful day. Reflecting on that day's events, he said once rescued from the rocky terrain, he was transported to a military hospital where doctors initially believed they would have to amputate because of the severe leg fracture and gangrene had set in.

When a medic began drawing a yellow line on his leg, Castinado asked what he was doing. The medic told hiim that his leg would have to be amputated.

"Look, I can still move my toes," Castinado pleaded. "You do that, and you'll be sorry."

The doctors agreed to wait four days. In the meantime, Castinado said he prayed a lot.

When doctors re-evaluated his condition, X-rays revealed that the bone was indeed mending, and the infection was gone. Although the broken bone was mending, doctors found it necessary to reset it so it would heal properly.

"Two big guys came into the room and held me down while the doctor grabbed my leg and yanked it down and then jammed it back into place," said Castinado. Although the pain was excruciating, his leg was saved.

"Our last combat mission was the day the Germans gave up," he said. Two weeks later, his crew flew back to the United States, and he was discharged from the Army Air Corps at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., in 1945.

Castinado re-entered the Air Force in 1951 and served until October 1973, retiring as a master sergeant at the Air Force Weapon's Laboratory (now a part of the directed energy directorate), where he worked as a laser technician.

With his active-duty time behind him, Castinado entered civil service, working as a facility branch manager for the directorate from 1984 to 2001. While working here, he told Bretz how the original paperwork for his heroic deed was lost. Bretz, in turn, started the action that Stephen completed.

Besides his three Air Medals, Castinado has been awarded the Purple Heart, three Presidential citations, the Korean Service medal, United Nations medal, the World War II Victory medal, and Army and Air Force Good Conduct medals. +(Courtesy of Air Force Materiel Command News Service)