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There we were, in Charlie's Den...

By The Armorer on April 7, 2006 | | Comments (5)
CW4 Mike Novosel

Politicians wax eloquent of the dead. Clergy offer condolence and hope. The talking head reads what is put in front him. Friends and family reminisce in fond remembrance and the pain of loss.

In the end, for the warrior, it's what his brothers-in-arms say that echoes across the chasm crossed by the Rainbow Bridge, down the road to the rollicking laughter that spills out from Fiddler's Green...

Today I hear the laughter.

Comes now a comrade of Mike Novosel, Warrior Angel.

I remember Mike Novosel so well. I was at the 3rd Surg when he was flying in wounded to us with the 82nd Dustoff. He was old enough to be a father to most of us there... in fact his son, Mike Jr., was also flying with the 82nd at the same time.

Come an evening if we weren't working we would sit around the table at Charlie's Den, the O-club at the 3rd Surg and tell "there I was" tales. Some evenings Mike Sr. and the CO of the 82nd would also be over there and they would stand against the wall at the end of the club and watch the younguns. We used to tease Mike Jr. mercilessly and tell him his Dad made us feel like we were at the senior prom and he was the chaperone.

But Mike Sr. never treated us like kids. He treated us like comrades in arms, with a ready smile, a soft word, and a kind manner.

I guess I'll see him at Fiddler's Green again one of these days.

-Carol T. Kirk, MAJ Ret-
RVN 5/1969-12/1970

Yes, it's the laughter *I* hear.

Fare thee well, Mike. Keep 'em cold and keep 'em coming! And give Whiskey a pet and tell him I miss him, eh?

Chivvy up to the Bar of Argghhh! Carol. The 'ritamatic is humming, the beer is always cold, and the well is deep.

What with our own coterie of Viet Vet Helivators, this is as good a place for a wake as any. This *is* an Irish Castle, after all, and whatever his heritage, Mike is Irish today.

*Irish Tenor*

"It's whisky in the mornin', whisky in the night
Another Irish Soldier-lad has fought his final fight
We'll toast him till we're drunk Boys, and dowse the candle light
Tell them Mike Sr. is coming home tonight."

*/Irish Tenor*

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5 Comments

By Maura on April 7, 2006 6:28 PM
If you knew Mr. Novosel, you knew why his is called "The Greatest Generation". He was the epitome of that era's culture and upbringing. Those expectations were for a man to be a gentleman in public and to do your duty to your family and to your country with honor and loyalty. He was a man's man and he stood tall in the eyes of all who knew him.
 
By John of Argghhh! on April 7, 2006 6:38 PM
So, Maura - tell us some of the tales that show him for what he was! That's the purpose of the post! This is a friendly place, and we'll squash any bugs who dare cause trouble.
 
By Justthisguy on April 7, 2006 10:38 PM
Yeah, what JoA said! The email addy is not mine, but I think its owner will let me know if anyone writes.
 
By Carol Kirk on April 8, 2006 9:01 AM
I'll tell one more story about Mike Novosel. A few years ago my husband and I visited with Mike at his home in Florida. Mike and I were reminiscing about things that we had shared, and Mike brought up one of the wounded that he still remembered after all these years. He'd picked up this young American soldier somewhere down there in the Delta. The guy had a through-and-through gunshot wound of the chest that had entered through one shoulder, traversed the chest, and exited from the other shoulder. He had put the pedal to the metal on his bird getting that young man to our hospital. And for all these years he had wondered whether that soldier had survived. Amazingly enough, I remembered the soldier too. We had worked for hours trying to save his life and even after he left my surgery, I wasn't sure that he'd make it. But he announced as soon as the anesthesia wore off that he was going home alive. And three days later he walked into my operating room to thank all of us and let us know he was going out on the evac bird that morning on the way back to the States. Thirty years later and thousands of miles away from Nam, Mike still cared about that unknown young man that he had picked up in some unnamed rice paddy on what was otherwise just an ordinary day at the office for a Dustoff pilot. -Carol Kirk-
 
By V29 on April 8, 2006 8:47 PM
When told the fire was too intense; to leave the LZ. Mr. Novosel replied, "When I have your wounded, Sir." I met him once at Rucker during the first 13th CAB reunion. What a quiet and unassuming hero, he was. Slow hand salute rendered!!!!!!
 
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