On January 2, 1928, a 200-man patrol of the Second Marine Brigade set out to attack Nicaraguan guerrilla Augusto Sandino’s main camp. A smaller patrol would meet them near Quilali. There was an ambush, and men in both Marine patrols were seriously wounded.

It was decided that the wounded men would be ferried one by one from Quilali. A thirteen-year veteran pilot, 1st Lt. Chrsitian Schilt, was chosen to make the flights. On paper, the plan for the first air evacuation was simple—and typically Marine. Observation planes would drop supplies to the men on the ground, who would hack out an airstrip under fire. Then, Schilt would fly in and out as many times as necessary to airlift the seriously wounded men. His Vought Corsair was light, powerful, and easily maneuverable, but it had never been used for a mission like this before, nor had any other plane.

Quilali was surrounded on three sides by thick jungle. On the fourth side, a sharp cliff dropped off for several hundred feet. Even for a veteran pilot like Schilt, landing on such terrain would be hazardous—or impossible.

Three days and two planes later, Schilt had made a total of ten flights and had evacuated 18 seriously wounded Marines. The airlift completed, the patrol proceeded to smash its way out of the jungle. For his actions, Christian F. Schilt was awarded the Navy Medal of Honor—the only such citation issued in 1928.