Post by Admin on Apr 3, 2006 6:35:26 GMT -6
Medal of Honor recipient Michael Novosel dead at 83
4/2/2006, 9:16 p.m. ET
The Associated Press
ENTERPRISE, Ala. (AP) — Retired Army Chief Warrant Officer Michael J. Novosel, a recipient of the congressional Medal of Honor for heroism in Vietnam, died Sunday at Walter Reed Army Medical Center from illness. He was 83.
His death in Washington, D.C. was announced by Army officials at Fort Rucker, near his home.
Novosel, who became a military aviation cadet at age 19, lived in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., but had been a longtime resident of Enterprise, Ala.
Novosel was awarded the Medal of Honor for an Oct. 2, 1969 helicopter rescue of wounded South Vietnamese soldiers pinned down by a large enemy force. Novosel was wounded as he rescued 29 men, according to a statement Sunday from the Army Aviation Warfighting Center.
"His loss is felt not only by his family and the Army Aviation community, but by all those who knew and loved him," said Brig. Gen. E. J. Sinclair, the center's commander.
A medivac pilot, Novosel served two tours in South Vietnam, flying 2,543 missions in the Bell UH-1 Huey while airlifting nearly 5,600 medical evacuees.
After Vietnam, he served three years at Fort Bragg, N.C., as chief pilot for the Army's Golden Knights parachute team.
At Fort Rucker, he was an author and lecturer at the Warrant Officer Career College, retiring in 1985.
Also a World War II veteran, Novosel was born and raised in Etna, Pa.
4/2/2006, 9:16 p.m. ET
The Associated Press
ENTERPRISE, Ala. (AP) — Retired Army Chief Warrant Officer Michael J. Novosel, a recipient of the congressional Medal of Honor for heroism in Vietnam, died Sunday at Walter Reed Army Medical Center from illness. He was 83.
His death in Washington, D.C. was announced by Army officials at Fort Rucker, near his home.
Novosel, who became a military aviation cadet at age 19, lived in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., but had been a longtime resident of Enterprise, Ala.
Novosel was awarded the Medal of Honor for an Oct. 2, 1969 helicopter rescue of wounded South Vietnamese soldiers pinned down by a large enemy force. Novosel was wounded as he rescued 29 men, according to a statement Sunday from the Army Aviation Warfighting Center.
"His loss is felt not only by his family and the Army Aviation community, but by all those who knew and loved him," said Brig. Gen. E. J. Sinclair, the center's commander.
A medivac pilot, Novosel served two tours in South Vietnam, flying 2,543 missions in the Bell UH-1 Huey while airlifting nearly 5,600 medical evacuees.
After Vietnam, he served three years at Fort Bragg, N.C., as chief pilot for the Army's Golden Knights parachute team.
At Fort Rucker, he was an author and lecturer at the Warrant Officer Career College, retiring in 1985.
Also a World War II veteran, Novosel was born and raised in Etna, Pa.
