JOHN LITTLE

LITTLE JOHN A. LITTLE Silver Star Medal Recipient, dies at 81 Senior Army Aviator and Lieutenant Colonel John A. Little passed away on March 26, 2018 and will be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery on April 30, 2019. Then-Major Little earned his Silver Star during a six-hour battle in the South Vietnamese city of Bien Hoa involving over 40 helicopters of the 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion of the 1st Cavalry Division. In addition to the Silver Star in 1969, he was awarded three Distinguished Flying Crosses in as many months during his first Vietnam tour in 1966 when he flew UH-1M Huey Gunships with the 114th Assault Helicopter Company, and a total of 54 Air Medals (two with valor) and two Purple Hearts. His overseas tours and schools were over a decade and displaced his own personal life and family: two Korean postwar tours; 82nd Airborne Division "combat and stability operations" in the Dominican Republic during the height of the Cold War; and two combat tours to Vietnam. His unwavering regard for the Vietnamese people continued throughout his life, as he taught US Citizenship classes in the "Little Saigon" community near Los Angeles on Saturdays and English as a Second Language (ESL) as a full-time professor at UC Irvine and a community college. Both John and his older brother Don retired from the Army as Lieutenant Colonels; Don's wife Donna would frequently joke that God saved her brother Gary and the Army saved Johnny. His 29-year marriage to the former Mary Garibay ended in divorce, yet neither remarried; they remained friends through the tragic loss of their daughter Laura and said their heartwarming goodbyes at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital. John was happiest when spending time with his children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, family and friends, and students. Surviving children and grandchildren include: Michael (Diana); Jeffrey and son Matthew; Denise (Bill); and Theresa (Michael) and their children, Sabrina, Seth, and Sophia. Grandchildren also include: Erik; Daniel; Christine; and William (Dylan) and their daughter Hallie. To learn more about John, please visit his website at https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/john-little-obituary?pid=191630278of 54 Air Medals (two with valor) and two Purple Hearts. His overseas tours and schools were over a decade and displaced his own personal life and family: two Korean postwar tours; 82nd Airborne Division "combat and stability operations" in the Dominican Republic during the height of the Cold War; and two combat tours to Vietnam. His unwavering regard for the Vietnamese people continued throughout his life, as he taught US Citizenship classes in the "Little Saigon" community near Los Angeles on Saturdays and English as a Second Language (ESL) as a full-time professor at UC Irvine and a community college. Both John and his older brother Don retired from the Army as Lieutenant Colonels; Don's wife Donna would frequently joke that God saved her brother Gary and the Army saved Johnny. His 29-year marriage to the former Mary Garibay ended in divorce, yet neither remarried; they remained friends through the tragic loss of their daughter Laura and said their heartwarming goodbyes at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital. John was happiest when spending time with his children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, family and friends, and students. Surviving children and grandchildren include: Michael (Diana); Jeffrey and son Matthew; Denise (Bill); and Theresa (Michael) and their children, Sabrina, Seth, and Sophia. Grandchildren also include: Erik; Daniel; Christine; and William (Dylan) and their daughter Hallie. To learn more about John, please visit his website at https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/john-little-obituary?pid=191630278