Just took a picture of this with my phone while walking down the hall.... The inscription reads....
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.
And his obituary is here. I love my new job.
They could have shortened the whole thing to this: CWO Michael Novosel; The man pissed excellence.
ReplyDeleteDr. J
Kinda surprised that his helo could lift off with his balls onboard.
ReplyDeleteAnd that, ladies and gentlemen is why they kept the West Point types out of the helicopters. The guys on the ground needed support, not paperwork and chain of command.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, my favorie Airdales are the A-10 flyers that get down and snuggily with the grunts.
Cjrun, making generalizations about academy grads is just as...if not more...asinine than ringknocking.
ReplyDeleteAll commissioning sources/warrants have their winners and their losers.
--MS1
George S. Patton, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis were all West Point Grads and Great Americans...
ReplyDeleteand then there's Jimmuh Carter and John McCain...
Frank
and, well, MS1. :)
ReplyDeleteI absolutely LOVE the fact that Drackman was born in a hospital named for a UGA grad. That makes my day.
ReplyDeleteDr. Dawg
"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."
ReplyDeleteExtraordinary indeed! Seldom we could find people like him, eh. :)
Frank, how much longer are you grounded?
ReplyDelete-SCRN