On October 2, 1969, Chief Warrant Officer Michael Novosel, a Vietnam War Dustoff pilot, made repeated trips without air cover or fire support to save 29 wounded soldiers under constant enemy fire in Kien Tuong Province, earning him the Medal of Honor.
Novosel served in WWII and the Korean War and decided to rejoin the armed forces for a third straight major U.S. conflict to pilot a medevac chopper in Vietnam. By the time he had come home at the end of the Vietnam War, he had flown thousands of missions and extracted over 5,500 men.
Novosel’s son, Mike Jr., was old enough to serve by this time and flew alongside his father during the Vietnam War with the pair saving each other from doom on two separate occasions.
“In one seemingly simple flight, Mike Jr. was shot down and Mike Sr. was returning from a mission when he heard that his son had gone down. A simple detour later and Mike Jr. was rescued without incident. Mike Jr.âs wounds were minimal as he was up and flying in a few days.
A very relieved Mike Sr. continued his flight after securing his sonâs safety. Less than a week later, however, Mike Sr. was shot down himself. His tail rotor was torn off and Mike Sr. went down in a rice paddy. As coincidence would have it, Mike Jr. was out and ready to take the call and quickly came to his fatherâs aid and pulled him out.
Mike Novosel Sr. would eventually be flown to the departure base by his son who took over his fatherâs call sign. Before that, however, Novosel Sr. would perform such a heroic and selfless rescue that it would earn him the Medal of Honor.” His citation reads as follows:
“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. CWO Novosel, 82nd 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 [South] 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 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 reflected great credit on him, his unit, and the U.S. Army.”
Let us know what you think about Mike’s story in the comments and share this post with someone who should hear about it!âï¸
#MHSR | Rochestermilitary.com
