For Buffalo businessman and Vietnam War veteran Michael Militello, a reunion in Amherst is the chance to acknowledge a debt he has carried for decades. Drafted into the Army in early 1968 at age 21, he was wounded in a Viet Cong ambush that August. On Monday morning, 58 years later, he is set to meet the Army nurse he credits with helping save his legs from amputation.
According to WGRZ, Militello plans to reunite with Linda Knightstep, the Army nurse who served in Vietnam and whom he credits with saving his legs. Buffalo Toronto Public Media, which first chronicled Militello's search for the nurse who treated him, identified her by a different name, Linda Pickert, quoting Militello recalling, “When I woke up, there was a nurse standing over me, and her name was Linda Pickert.” The discrepancy between the two names is unexplained in available reporting.
Militello has said the nurse introduced herself while he was hospitalized at an Army field hospital and treated his three leg wounds by irrigating them to reduce swelling, according to WGRZ. He recalled that he was removed from the amputee list the following day. He was later transferred from Vietnam to hospitals in Japan, Alaska and Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and did not get to thank the nurse before his evacuation. He searched for her over the years without success, the station reported.
Rehabilitation in Vietnam-era Army care
The U.S. Army Medical Department Center of History & Heritage says rehabilitation was an important part of wounded soldiers’ recovery. Physical therapists entered the combat zone in 1967 to assist with exercises, joint movement and early ambulation. The history describes those rehabilitation efforts but does not specify what factors determined whether a particular wounded limb could be saved.
The Search Reaches a New Generation
The search gained new attention after Militello was inducted into the New York State Senate Veterans Hall of Fame. Buffalo Toronto Public Media reported that he was honored July 1 at Veterans Memorial Park in Tonawanda. At the ceremony, he shared the story of the nurse and said he remembered her as being from Tonawanda, New York.
WGRZ reported that a woman who heard a newscast about Militello’s story asked her boyfriend, a genealogist, to find the nurse. He located Knightstep the next day and sent Militello a 2025 video of her laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Knightstep had made the trip with an Honor Flight from Austin, Texas, the station reported.
A First Conversation After Decades
With help from Honor Flight Buffalo and Honor Flight Austin, Militello sent Knightstep a letter with his contact information, according to WGRZ. She called within an hour of receiving it, and they spoke for about half an hour. Knightstep is expected to arrive in Buffalo the weekend before the ceremony.
The two will be guests of honor at a Monday morning reunion ceremony in the Rieckart House lobby in Amherst, WGRZ reported. Militello plans to introduce Knightstep to three generations of his extended family, saying her care helped make those generations possible. He has also said combat-wounded veterans would welcome the chance to thank their nurses in person.
A Story Recorded and Remembered
Militello’s account of the war has been documented in earlier Buffalo-area reporting. Buffalo Toronto Public Media reported that WBFO obtained previously unreleased audio from a 2015 interview conducted by VA Western New York Healthcare System’s Terry McGuire. Militello described being shot through both legs during an ambush and recalled his first visit to the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.
Militello has also written a book about his experiences with the help of Stephen Banko III; it was expected to be released in November 2026, according to Buffalo Toronto Public Media. In a separate interview with Yahoo News, reported by WIVB in its coverage of his Hall of Fame induction, Militello said public support for veterans has grown immensely since the time when returning veterans were sometimes greeted with disrespect. News 4 Buffalo noted that the Hall of Fame was in its 17th year.
