Penobscot pilot flies Obama's helicopter

Marine Corps Major Flies Helicopters That Transport President Obama

By Gale Courey ToensingHis military biography says he was born in Bad Kreuznach, Germany, and raised as an Army brat, traveling the world. Now Maj. Paul Bisulca Jr., whose family moved frequently because of his Army career-officer father, is a member of an elite group of U.S. Marine helicopter pilots who fly the president of the United States wherever he needs to go.

Bisulca, a citizen of the Penobscot Indian Nation, was welcomed by the United South and Eastern Tribes (USET) as a modern warrior-hero on February 13 in Washington, D.C. and recognized for his accomplishments in an honoring ceremony among a group of veterans. The unassuming major, a member of Marine Corps Helicopter Squadron One, downplayed the event. “There was a recognition ceremony for accomplishments by Native Americans, and I was one of them, I guess,” Bisulca said. “I’m one of those Marine One pilots, you know, who land on the south lawn [of the White House] and fly him around, so that was what they were recognizing. That’s it in a nutshell.”Comment:  For more on Indians and helicopters, see Lakota Celebrate Lakota Helicopter and Lakota Oppose Copters at Wounded Knee.