"Joseph Samuel Pirruccello, Jr"
"Irish"
d 1968
Service
United States Air Force
Highest Rank
Captain
Years of Service
6
Combat
Yes
Biography as of Oct 29, 2013
Joe, son of a World War II combat pilot, came to the Academy from Wright-Patterson AFB OH. At the Academy he was on the Dean's Merit List twice. Known as Irish and as Minstrel Joe, he livened things up whenever he showed with his guitar.
After graduation, Joe went to pilot training at Craig AFB, AL, then continued on as a T-33 instructor pilot. In December 1966 he transitioned to T-38s and continued to instruct at Craig, then at Sheppard AFB, TX, beginning in April 1967. In 1968 he entered training at Hurlburt Field, FL, to fly the A-1 Skyraider. Joe began his combat tour on 26 October 1968 at NKP, Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand.
The few missions Joe got to fly with the 602nd Special Operations Squadron would have been over Laos. In central Laos where the Ho Chi Minh Trail was, Skyraiders would escort helicopters infiltrating Special Forces teams in an operation known as Prairie Fire or infiltrating Laotian troops in a highly classified program known as Pony Express.
In northern Laos in an area code-named Barrel Roll, a back-and-forth ground war pitted a CIA-backed guerilla army against the North Vietnamese invaders. The North Vietnamese advanced during the rainy season when less air support could be used against them. The Laotians were on the offensive during the dry season when Skyraiders and other aircraft could drive back enemy soldiers. The 602nd supported both parts of Laos - and maybe into North Vietnam - when someone was down and they were called upon to escort the Jolly Green Giant helicopters.
On 8 December a Skyraider from the 602nd was shot down in northern Laos. The pilot had been strafing enemy troops when his Skyraider was hit by small arms fire and started burning. The pilot bailed out, and a call for the Jolly Greens sounded.
Joe scrambled in one of the Skyraiders, probably under the call sign Sandy used by A-1s assigned to rescue escort. The downed pilot was in an area populated by many enemy troops. This citation to accompany a Silver Star described Joe's actions that day.
He repeatedly flew his slow and vulnerable propeller-driven aircraft at extremely low altitude in mountainous terrain with extremely limited airspace and in a heavily defended hostile environment. Despite the intense and accurate hostile fire, Captain Pirruccello made repeated attacks on highly concentrated hostile troop emplacements in order to protect the survivor. With complete disregard for his personal safety, he continuously placed his aircraft between the hostile automatic weapons fire and the helicopter attempting the pickup.
On one pass, Joe's aircraft was hit by small-arms fire and crashed without any apparent attempt by Joe to get out. He gave his life in the successful attempt to save the other pilot.
Joe's Silver Star was presented posthumously to his widow, Kathleen, with son, John (6), and daughter, Susan (4), attending. Joe's father had earned a Silver Star during World War II.