SOCRS106- Col. Ben Knisely' "DUSTOFF 65"

Straight Outta Combat Radio-Honoring Combat Wisdom

Colonel Ben Knisely grew up in the small town of Osprey, Florida, just a few miles south of here. He graduated from Riverview High School. He entered military service following his graduation from the University of South Florida, in Tampa and 28 years later, retired from the US Army at the rank of Colonel.

A couple notable aspects of his career that I would like to share with you in this introduction is that during a tour of duty in Viet Nam, the then, First Lieutenant Ben Knisely, while piloting a UH-1 MEDEVAC helicopter was shot down by an enemy missile in the Ah Shaw Valley over enemy territory and severely wounded in the crash. He and his co-pilot were listed as MIA in April 1968 and were subsequently rescued by a very highly publicized heroic and daring mission executed by the Army’s famous 101st Airborne Division. The details of the harrowing escape and evasion actions by Lt. Knisely and his copilot, and the subsequent and successful rescue efforts by a small special Operations team was captured in a book by Peter Dorland, called DUSTOFF 65, published in 1974. The Infantry Lieutenant, who led the famous and heroic rescue effort directly into the face of the enemy, was recommended for the Congressional Medal of Honor.

After 9 months of hospitalization, Knisely not only petitioned to stay on active duty, but re-qualified to fly MEDEVAC helicopters, and did so for the remaining years of his Army career…..In his last tour of duty; he served on the special staff of General H. Norman Schwarzkopf during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

Ben hides his physical scars of combat well. Clothing covers the skin disfigurement of his burns, and you will Hardly notice the limp of his prosthetic left ankle and foot, but he admits that he suffers from PTSD, for the haunting dreams of his combat shoot-down event almost 50 years ago still come back now and then, and for that invisible wound, he will be the first to tell you that there is no cure.

Colonel Knisely now lives in Sarasota, Fl. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of a Wounded Warrior organization called Operation Second Chance. He is also on the Board of Directors of the Sarasota Military Academy, and is the Military and Veterans Liaison Officer for the Sarasota County Sheriffs Office. His list of military awards and decorations are far too numerous for me to read to you … He is a named member of the elite Order of Dedalions and in 2013 Ben was inducted into the US Army’s Medical Aviation Hall of Fame.