Carl Gatto: A Career in Helicopters

By Mallory Pistek, Honor Flight Chicago Veteran Interview Volunteer

Carl Gatto was born in Chicago in 1949. Living on the South Side, east of Midway Airport, Carl was a 1st generation citizen. His father came to the United States from Sicily and his mom grew up in Italy.  Carl has two half brothers on his mom’s side, as her 1st husband, a WWII vet, had passed away.  Even though there was a large age difference between his brothers and himself, he talks fondly about how much his brothers influenced him and his military decisions.  His oldest brother, 95, fought during the Korean War, and his middle brother, 90, was in the army during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Carl attended Catholic schools throughout his entire educational career.  He went to St. Rita for High School where he played fly-away basketball his freshman and sophomore year. Carl worked Junior and Senior year.  While his first ever ‘job’ was a paperboy, Carl got a job working with two of his friends, stuffing down feathers into small baggies to be later used to refill pillows at hospitals, for ONE PENNY a bag! Carl stated he wasn’t as fast as his friends and maybe was able to stuff 125 bags in an hour.

Carl attended Lewis College for aircraft maintenance.  His middle brother, being his mentor, was the aviation chair there and helped get him interested.  Carl decided to enlist because of his friends.  Carl stated that if you weren’t in trade school or college, everyone else just went to the military.

Basic training took place at Fort Benning, Georgia.  He remembers being in pretty good shape but it was an ‘experience’.  Carl remembers being in training over Christmas and because of that was allowed to go home six weeks into training, spend time with family, and then had to go back and finish for the last two weeks. He most remembers the World War II barracks and meeting people from all over the United States.

Carl never thought he would stay in the military as long as he actually did, but through the National Guard he got a job at Midway Airport where he became a Helicopter Maintenance Instructor. During his time in the military he also was a UH-1 Helicopter Crew Chief, Aircraft Inspector, Platoon Sergeant, Helicopter Maintenance Instructor, and 1SG. of UH-60 Assault Helicopter Company.

While in, Carl visited Germany, Panama, and Guyana, South America.  He most remembers his time in South America.  He remembers being in the canal zone of Panama after the fall of the dictator Noriega.  They were there for humanitarian aid in the region, flying construction workers and materials to remote areas to help build hospitals and schools.  Carl also talked about his time in Guyana where his 1st Sergeant was Senator Tammy Duckworth for 2-3 years.  He has a video of them flying in formation while there.  He also shared that on these joint missions between the Air Force, Army, and Marines, the higher ranking officers would serve the crew dinner on Sundays.

Thinking back on his time in the military, Carl spoke about the people he met and the places he was able to see thanks to the military.

Nowadays Carl fills his time with his family.  Carl and his wife met in Junior Club in High School thanks to some mutual friends.  He remembers her being weary of dating him.  They were married in 1970 and have three children (2 daughters and 1 son) and three grandchildren (2 grand-daughters and 1 grand-son).  Carl talked fondly about being able to attend his grandkids' sports and activities and how a lot of his time now-a-days was spent watching them.

Carl is very excited about his Honor Flight trip.  His oldest brother and two neighbors have gone on previous flights.  Carl has been to Washington D.C. before but the last time was in 1989.  He talked about friends who never came back from Vietnam and having three rubs (imprints) from the Vietnam Wall Memorial Wall from his previous trip that he still has today.  Carl also talked about two men he flew with that are now buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Carl retired as an 1st Sergeant E8. He served in the United States Military from April 1969 thru April 2004, or 35 years.

Thank you for your service, Carl. Enjoy your Honor Flight!