The 57th Medical Company was formed during World War II as the 57th Malaria Control Unit. This unit was later renamed in 1953 with its reactivation and assignment to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. In 1962, it was deployed to the Republic of Vietnam, where it provided medical aid for ground troops in the Vietnam War. The medical detachment was stationed at Tan Son Nhut Air Base. This medical detachment, along with other medical divisions, helped contribute to the Vietnam War’s status as the war with the lowest mortality rate for the US armed forces. Lichte, as a helicopter pilot, would have been part of the aeromedical evacuation program of the medical detachment. The unit provided consistent quality service to ground troops at the time and contributed to the low ground force mortality rate during this period of the war. During this war, this detachment also gained its motto “The Original Dustoff” after the callsign “Dustoff” used in aeromedical evacuations. A crew in this division would have consisted of two pilots, a medic, and a crew chief; one pilot would fly while the other pilot would serve as a crew commander. The medic would help maintain medical supplies aboard the helicopter while the crew chief would help maintain the helicopter and its crew. This medical division was the first to use the UH-1 helicopter in combat operations and evacuated more than 100,000 soldiers from the battlefield.
57th Medical Detachment Badge
UH-1 Iroquois Helicopter, similar to the ones the 57th Medical Detachment flew