Medal of Honor recipient Novosel dies at 83

The Patriot News ^ | Monday, April 03, 2006 | REGGIE SHEFFIELD

[gate2wire]

Medal of Honor recipient Michael J. Novosel, who flew a B-29 in World War II before switching to Huey helicopters in Vietnam, has died. He was 83.

Novosel died yesterday at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., after a long fight with cancer.

The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States. Novosel was one of three living winners from Pennsylvania. With his death, there are 113 living in the nation.

[gate2wire]

Rank and organization: Chief Warrant Officer, U.S. Army, 82d Medical Detachment, 45th Medical Company, 68th Medical Group. Place and date: Kien Tuong Province, Republic of Vietnam, 2 October 1969. Entered service at: Kenner, La. Born: 3 September 1922, Etna, Pa. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. CWO Novosel, 82d Medical Detachment, distinguished himself while serving as commander of a medical evacuation helicopter. He unhesitatingly maneuvered his helicopter into a heavily fortified and defended enemy training area where a group of wounded Vietnamese soldiers were pinned down by a large enemy force. Flying without gunship or other cover and exposed to intense machinegun fire, CWO Novosel was able to locate and rescue a wounded soldier. Since all communications with the beleaguered troops had been lost, he repeatedly circled the battle area, flying at low level under continuous heavy fire, to attract the attention of the scattered friendly troops. This display of courage visibly raised their morale, as they recognized this as a signal to assemble for evacuation. On 6 occasions he and his crew were forced out of the battle area by the intense enemy fire, only to circle and return from another direction to land and extract additional troops. Near the end of the mission, a wounded soldier was spotted close to an enemy bunker. Fully realizing that he would attract a hail of enemy fire, CWO Novosel nevertheless attempted the extraction by hovering the helicopter backward. As the man was pulled on aboard, enemy automatic weapons opened fire at close range, damaged the aircraft and wounded CWO Novosel. He momentarily lost control of the aircraft, but quickly recovered and departed under the withering enemy fire. In all, 15 extremely hazardous extractions were performed in order to remove wounded personnel. As a direct result of his selfless conduct, the lives of 29 soldiers were saved. The extraordinary heroism displayed by CWO Novosel was an inspiration to his comrades in arms and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

[cyclotic]

WOW!

Sorry, words cannot express my admiration for selfless acts of bravery like that.

Just WOW

[gate2wire]

Rest in peace, CWO Novosel.

[gate2wire]

Amazing what our men and women are capable of .

[trooprally]

My utmost admiration for CWO Novosel my he rest in peace.
Thanks for the reminder of other brave hero's.
[Mrs T]

[patriot_wes]

Wow...heroes are as heroes does!

RIP Sir.

[TexasRedeye]

Thanks for the post. My sincere condolences to his survivors.

I had the pleasure of working closely with Mike in the early '80s at Ft. Rucker, Ala. His Medal of Honor exploits (as well as all other aviation recipients) are forever enshrined in the U.S. Army Museum entrance area there.

The museum is wonderful and should definitely be visited by everyone who is in the area and has an afternoon to kill.

[elfman2]

A remarkable life, one's greatest achievement.

[gate2wire]

"In his 1999 book "Dustoff," the elder Novosel recounted a question he asked his son in February 1970 after rescuing him and his crew. They had been shot down while retrieving wounded soldiers. "You told me that your mother said for you to be careful while you're here. What's the matter, don't you listen to her anymore?" he recalled asking. Less than a week later, Novosel was forced to eat his words when his son came to rescue him after his helicopter was damaged in a landing."

Sounds like his son is pretty special also.

[dennisw]

Holy cow! This American didn't fool around

[Smokin' Joe]

IIrc, His son flew dustoff missions as well, they rescued each other within a week after their respective birds went down.

I read his book, a multitude are in his debt.

Wonder what God will have him doing?--he has logged a lot of hours as a saving angel already.

[gate2wire]

Will go to the library today to look for this book.

[Jaxter]

I'm not going to say that they don't make guys like that any more, but I will say they don't make near enough of them.

[dennisw]

Medal of Honor

 

 

NOVOSEL, MICHAEL J.

 

Rank and organization: Chief Warrant Officer, U.S. Army, 82d Medical Detachment, 45th Medical Company, 68th Medical Group

 

Place and date: Kien Tuong Province, Republic of Vietnam, 2 October 1969

 

Entered service at: Kenner, Louisiana

 

Born: 3 September 1922, Etna, Pennsylvania

 

Citation:

 

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. CWO Novosel, 82d Medical Detachment, distinguished himself while serving as commander of a medical evacuation helicopter. He unhesitatingly maneuvered his helicopter into a heavily fortified and defended enemy training area where a group of wounded Vietnamese soldiers were pinned down by a large enemy force. Flying without gunship or other cover and exposed to intense machine gun fire, CWO Novosel was able to locate and rescue a wounded soldier. Since all communications with the beleaguered troops had been lost, he repeatedly circled the battle area, flying at low level under continuous heavy fire, to attract the attention of the scattered friendly troops. This display of courage visibly raised their morale, as they recognized this as a signal to assemble for evacuation. On 6 occasions he and his crew were forced out of the battle area by the intense enemy fire, only to circle and return from another direction to land and extract additional troops. Near the end of the mission, a wounded soldier was spotted close to an enemy bunker. Fully realizing that he would attract a hail of enemy fire, CWO Novosel nevertheless attempted the extraction by hovering the helicopter backward. As the man was pulled on aboard, enemy automatic weapons opened fire at close range, damaged the aircraft and wounded CWO Novosel. He momentarily lost control of the aircraft, but quickly recovered and departed under the withering enemy fire. In all, 15 extremely hazardous extractions were performed in order to remove wounded personnel. As a direct result of his selfless conduct, the lives of 29 soldiers were saved. The extraordinary heroism displayed by CWO Novosel was an inspiration to his comrades in arms and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

 

 

 

 

[StarCMC]

Another hero home to rest. Thank you CWO Novosel for my freedom! R.I.P.

[lunarbicep]

Rest In Peace and God bless you, CWO Novosel

[Smartaleck]

One of the educational channels, Discovery?, did profiles on MOH winners this past weekend. They interviewed him and the words written here and on his citation don't do justice to the man's bravery!

[scout34]

I met him at Ft. Drum once when he came to talk to the officers of the aviation brigade. Drank some beers with him later. This guy was the true blue been there done that, no BS, no PC, no prisoners real thing.

Rest In Peace, Chief

[gate2wire]

Wish I had seen that. Will keep an eye out for a replay.

[mad_as_he$$]

Desmond Doss also died last week.