USAFA Class Heritage Class of 1963

(from dignitymemorial.com obituary)

John Enrico Bellotte was born October 30, 1939, in Clarksburg, West Virginia.

John graduated from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs in 1963. He flew B-52s and completed four combat tours in Vietnam, with additional postings in Thailand, Korea, Germany, and multiple U.S. bases over the course of his career. He retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in July 1991, after 28 years of service.

Following his retirement, John managed the Ramstein Aero Club in Germany from July 1991 to June 1996, then worked at SAIC in Ramstein until 2004.

John married Nancy Gilgan on June 17, 1965; she died August 31, 2002. He later married Inge "Susi" Ursula Molitoris on June 28, 2004; she died May 5, 2019. He was the father of Rocco, Jim, Reuben, and Lesa, and stepfather to Peter and Corina. He was grandfather to Chase, Michael, Mikaela, Mackenzie, Alhana, Faith, Madalynn, Yannic, and Nicole, and is remembered by his siblings Elaine, Kay, and Carmen.

John was known for never meeting a stranger and for his insatiable curiosity for travel. He was active in his church, including volunteering and singing in the choir.

John Enrico Bellotte died August 10, 2024, at the age of 84.

35th Reunion (1998): Born 30 October 1939, in Clarksburg, WV, to Carmon & Lena Bellotte. Oldest and only son, I have three sisters. Graduated from Victory Hi School in 1957 and attended Potomac State University, Keyser, WV, °57—’58. Then went to West Virginia University, ’58—’59, major: Aeronautical Engineering. Applied to the AF Academy in 1958 and was selected as the first cadet to the AFA from my congressional district. Graduated by the grace of God and the seat of my pants in 1963. Amazing! Went to UPT at Vance AFB, OK and graduated in Sept ‘64. Assigned to B-52s at Bergstrom AFB, Austin, TX. There the most significant event in my life happened. On June 17, 1965, I was married to Nancy Gilgan, formerly from Woodland Park, CO. In ’66 we moved to March AFB, CA. There I spent six- and a three-month tour at Anderson AFB, Guam, and U Tapao RTAFB, Thailand, flying 78 combat missions in B-52s. In 68 I was assigned to the RB-66 at Takhli RTAFB, Thailand. Just before I reported there, my oldest son, Rocco was born in Riverside, CA. Flew 81 combat missions in the EB-66B/C/E. In 1969 we were sent to Shaw AFB, SC where I was an IP in EB-66s until I volunteered for the Navy exchange program. In 1970 we headed for NAS Whidbey Island, WA by circuitous routes. I drove to NAS Miramar for Navy instrument school in the TA-4F—fun. Nancy and Rocco flew to Oregon to visit her folks. Then we met and went to Whidbey. Again, some very significant events in our lives. my assignment was changed from the EXKA-3B (Navy’s EB-66) to the new EA-6B. Great flying assignment, flew A-6As for pilot proficiency and carrier quals and checked out in the EA-6B. Played Jonathan Lingston Seagull along the beautiful northern Washington coast and flew some great low levels through Oregon and Nevada. We went to Whidbey as a family of three and left in 1972 for Eglin AFB, FL as a family of five. Our second son, Rueben, was born in 1971, first Lamaze birth at Whidbey. In ’71 we also started adoption proceedings for our son, Jim, born in ’69, ours in ’72. We drove cross-country with the three boys and left them in Ohio with my folks. Then Nancy and I drove on to Eglin into a pending hurricane. Spent one afternoon having a drink in the Beach Club while a spin-off tornado skipped across the island by the club and hit Fort Walton. While assigned to the Tactical Air Warfare Center there, I tested and wrote the report on the ALE-40 chaff/flare dispenser, flew the ancient C- 131, and sailed the bay with Nanc and the boys. We also started adoption proceedings for our daughter, Lesa, 10 months old when we picked her up at the airport in 74. In ’74 we were also re-assigned to TAC/DRW at Langley AFB, VA, where I became the TAC Project Manager for the EF- 111A, thanks to my EA-6B experience and training. What a time; long hours, lots of TDY, flying the T-39, and a wife trying to manage a house and four kids. TAC got their airplane, and I narrowly avoided divorce through all the trials and tribulations. In the meantime, Lesa, from Vietnam, became a US citizen, and her adoption was finalized after much work on Nancy’s part because of lost paperwork and inept officials. In ’78 I got my first hernia operation on the way to a remote assignment to Camp Howze, Korea, as an Air Liaison Officer (ALO) to the 3rd Brigade. Thank the Lord it included flying the OV-10 at Osan. The whole tour was nearly two years with TDY to AGOS, the OV-10 FAC Training, and Fighter-Lead-In School on top of the year in Korea. Nancy and the kids stayed in Newport News, VA. She got a job, learned to roller skate competitively with the kids, and started work on her master’s. I spent one week a month regaining my sanity flying at Osan and the other three weeks with the Army on camping trips, surviving President Park’s assassination crisis. The one time I invited my Wing Commander to visit, one soldier was killed and two wounded when they got in a minefield on the wrong side of the DMZ during a changing of the guard. In 1980 I left Korea, went to TAC, wrote the Concept of Operations for the EF-111, and became Chief of the Compass Call office for TAC. Nanc finished her master’s and ran training programs for museums and women for GWU. Stayed until Compass Call met IOC, great job running a program on a fast track with high-level support. Then in 1983, I went to USAFE, first overseas tour with my family. Worked in the Directorate of Air Land Forces for DCSOPS USAREUR and USAFE/DO. Good assignment trouble shooting problems between the Army and the Air Force. Wrote the first Operations Concept for Electronic Warfare for NATO Air and Ground Forces. In the Meantime, Nanc opened the first Baskin-Robbins on the German economy in the Kaiserslauten area. She also started Mom’s Donuts in ’85, and within a year was selling ice cream and donuts to Americans and Germans as well as delivering donuts to six commissaries in the area. Then in ’86 the dollar, up to 3.40DM, crashed. AAFEES also picked the same time to open Baskin-Robbins on base selling ice cream cheaper than we could buy it until we had to close—then their price went up to what ours had been! We survived. I went from DALFA to EIFEL Programs, then to USAFE/DOQ to work the Wing Command and Control System and the AF Mission Support System. I retired in 1991. All four of our children graduated from Ramstein. I managed the Ramstein Aero Club for four years. We provided recreational and proficiency flying for pilots, and flight training for aspiring pilots until the fighters left and it was closed down in ’95. I worked as a contractor for the Catholic Chaplains for a year and went to work Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) in ’98. Nanc has managed a car insurance office, worked for a German computer company selling training to former east block countries, and is now manager of the Roller Rink for the 86 Services Squadron. Rocco supervised the CE contractor work center until August when he left to go to music school in Hollywood. Jim, a Cum Laude/Dist Mil Grad from Slippery Rock U., is a Captain in the Army, Ft. Hauchaca, AZ. Rueben is married. He and his wife, Patty, are both SRA at Eglin AFB, FL. Lesa ia mother of our first grandchild, Mekahla, and a SRA at Langley AFB, VA. “THOSE WERE THE DAYS, MY FRIEND, WE THOUGHT THEY’D NEVER END. WE’D SING AND DANCE FOREVER AND A DAY. WE’D LIVE THE LIVES WE CHOOSE, WE’D FIGHT AND NEVER LOSE, FOR WE WERE YOUNG AND SURE TO HAVE OUR WAY.” We still go on, young at heart, with faith and an undying quest.