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Finally, some good news.

Painting of CWO4 Michael J. Novosel, Sr.

A panel established by Congress has identified new names for nine Army installations, all in former Confederate states and honoring Confederate officers.

On April 10, 2023, with a ceremony and presentation of a new monument, Fort Rucker in Alabama was renamed for Michael J. Novosel Sr., a Vietnam Medal of Honor awardee.

Fort Rucker is where Army helicopter pilots are trained.

It’s absolutely perfect that “Dustoff-88,” the greatest Dustoff Pilot of the Vietnam War, would be so honored.

(For those unfamiliar with the term, “Dustoff” was the radio code term for the medical evacuation helicopters - the guys who flew into middle of the the battle and plucked the wounded off the battlefield. It was the most dangerous duty, with the highest casualties, of the war.)

I had the privilege of knowing both Mike Sr. and Mike Jr., the only father-son helicopter pilots to serve in combat together in Vietnam.

My friend Dorian Walker and I spent three years trying to make the movie about the Novosels.

From Wikipedia:

Novosel was born the son of Croatian immigrants. He joined the Air Corps at age 19, just ten months prior to Pearl Harbor, and he was a captain by 1945 flying B-29 bombers in the war against Japan. He joined the Air Force Reserve after the war and then served in the Korean War, coming out a Lt. Colonel.

In 1963, Novosel was working as a commercial airline pilot when he decided to return to active military duty. By then, he was 41 and the Air Force did not have space for any more officers in the upper ranks. He made the decision to give up his rank of lieutenant colonel in the Air Force to join the Army and fly helicopters as a chief warrant officer (CW4) with the elite Special Forces Aviation Section. He served his first tour in Vietnam flying medevac helicopters with the 283rd Medical Detachment. His second tour in Vietnam was with the 82nd Medical Detachment. During that war, Novosel flew 2,543 missions and extracted 5,589 wounded personnel, among them his own son Michael J. Novosel Jr. The following week, Michael Jr. returned the favor by extracting his father after he was shot down.

Here is the account of the Medal of Honor mission:

On the morning of October 2, 1969, Novosel set out to evacuate a group of South Vietnamese soldiers who were surrounded by several thousand North Vietnamese light infantry near the Cambodian border. Radio communication was lost and the soldiers had expended their ammunition. Without air cover or fire support, Novosel flew at low altitude under continuous enemy fire. He skimmed the ground with his helicopter while his medic and crew chief pulled the wounded men on board. Despite gunfire damage to his Huey helicopter, he went back into the valley 15 times to complete hazardous extractions, was wounded in a barrage of enemy fire, and momentarily lost control of his helicopter, but when it was over, he had rescued 29 men.

Novosel retired as the senior warrant officer with the Warrant Officer Candidate Program in 1985. He had been a military aviator for 42 years and was the last World War II military aviator in the U.S. to remain on active flying duty. He accumulated 12,400 military flying hours, including 2,038 in combat.

Medal of Honor citation

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, October 2, 1969.

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.

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