A Salute to A Hero and A Friend

If you felt America sigh today, it was because, sadly, she had to give up one of her best. With grief for the nation's loss, and celebration for the great life he lived, we honor hero and friend retired Chief Warrant Officer Mike Novosel, Sr., who passed from our world to the next April 2, 2006 at the age of 84.

Mike Novosel, whose buddies engaged in elaborate schemes to "stretch" him enough to meet minimum height requirements for flying, was a giant in Army aviation, serving our country in World War II as a B-29 Super-fortress pilot, in Vietnam as a Huey "DUSTOFF" pilot, and as an instructor pilot and safety officer at home. So great is his contribution to Army aviation that observant visitors to Fort Rucker will note that they drive down a street called Novosel.

During his two tours piloting DUSTOFF missions in Vietnam, Mike Novosel logged 2,038 combat hours, extracting 5,589 wounded. Among the many dramatic stories of his life is that he and his son and namesake served together in the same unit and are the only father-son team in history to evacuate each other from combat.

On 2 October 1969, CWO Novosel earned the nation's highest honor when he "unhesitantingly maneuvered his helicopter into a heavily fortified and defended enemy training area where a group of wounded Vietnamese soldiers was pinned down by a large enemy force. Flying without gunship or other cover and exposed to intense machine gun fire" Novosel, who was wounded in the action, extracted 29 men that day. At 48, he was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Richard Nixon.

One might expect that a hero of Novosel's stature had earned the right to be aloof, but everyone who met him, whether it was a kid at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial or a wounded soldier freshly returned from Iraq or a filmmaker who wanted to take a Huey across America, would soon learn that this man who wore a medal-adorned blue ribbon around his neck was not only a true American hero but also the nicest guy in the world. He spent his last years fully engaged in the fight to award combat flight recognition to the DUSTOFF medics and crew chiefs he so fully respected.

Mike Novosel life was a monument to the twentieth century, but he wore it with a twinkle in his eye and a joke on his lips. We are very honored to have met him. He was a gem.

On October 2, 2002, exactly 33 years to the day after the heroic Vietnam War mission which earned him the Medal of Honor, CWO Mike Novosel took the left seat of Huey 091 on the maiden leg of her flight across America. On this symbolic flight from the home of Army Aviation in Fort Rucker, Alabama to a first landing to honor the war dead at Wall South in Pensacola, Florida, Mike Novosel represented all the life savers who flew Hueys and all the lives men like him had saved. Dressed in the flight suit he'd worn on his first duty day as an Army aviator, Novosel helped set the tone for "In The Shadow of The Blade's" symbolic mission of healing and reconciliation. And he was there when 091 made her final landing on The Mall in Washington, D.C.

Today, America sighed, but heaven must be singing, for it has been joined by an indomitable, twinkly-eyed, good-to-the-core spirit who will make a very, very fine angel.

Visit the Arrowhead site starting Monday to view video tributes to Mike.

Join Us at LBJ Library

The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum invites you to a public screening of the documentary film "An Ocean Away," Tuesday, April 11, 7:00 p.m. LBJ Auditorium, 2313 Red River Street. Free and open to the public. Program includes keynote address by Lieutenant General (U.S. Army Retired) Randolph House, and comments by Loretta Matocha Eiben and documentary director Patrick Fries. Master of Ceremonies: Mickey Batsell, Texas A&M Class of '67.

An Ocean Away Public Screening in April

Developing.....At the invitation of the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum, "An Ocean Away" will screen at the library auditorium on Tuesday, April 11, just a week after the 38th anniversary of that day on Hill 166 when LT Donald Matocha lost his life and the Marines of his recon patrol found theirs forever changed. This event will be free and open to the public. More details to come.

The Mission Is Complete

Tonight. 8 eastern 7 central. The Military Channel.

"Just Don't Miss It"

An Ocean Away...Thursday...8 p.m ET...The Military Channel.

San Antonio Express-News Review:

" One of the most unique and moving postwar stories I've ever encountered airs on national TV Thursday. Watch it, tape it, TiVo it. Just don't miss it.


Granted, "An Ocean Away" — premiering at 7 p.m. Thursday on the Military Channel (Time Warner Cable digital Channel 217) — first caught my attention because of its ties to San Antonio and South Texas.


Once I watched the preview tape, however, the specifics were lost in the universal humanity of the tale. There's heart, horror and more than a little irony in this hour...." Read the rest.

A Helicopter Story

In her interview yesterday on Veterans Radio, Donald Matocha's sister Linda Masur said something really important. "There are a lot of heroes in this story," she said, from the Team Dallas Girl Marines who've helped the Matocha family find resolution, to the JPAC teams who recovered their brother, to Nguyen Van Loc, who buried him on Hill 166. But she also pointed out that Ron Gatewood and his helicopter crew were tremendous heroes, because without them, the entire platoon would surely have been lost. And without the survivors, the answers would have been much harder to find.

The helicopter rescue of Team Dallas Girl on 5 April 1968 is recounted in chilling detail in "An Ocean Away," by AC Ron Gatewood and the Marines whose lives he saved that day. But Ron is quick to tell anyone who will listen that he was only one of the men on that ship that took more enemy fire than it should have as they hovered over a very hot zone, hoisting one wounded Marine after another up into the hold. Which got me thinking...

There are three more guys out there who lived through that mission. Three guys who have a platoon of Marines and a grateful family ready to buy them a beer. Can we find them? Seems to me we sure should try. So let's put it out there and let the Shadow Magic do its thing. SEEKING: Crew of HMM-262 5 April 1968 AC Ron Gatewood Extracted Team Dallas Girl Recon patrol via hoist under heavy fire.

Veterans Radio Sunday

Log on and tune in Sunday January 29 at 6:00 ET to Veterans Radio to hear Dale Throneberry's interview with "An Ocean Away" director Patrick Fries and film principals Linda Matocha Masur and Marine Andre Boersma as they discuss the journey that brought USMC LT Donald Matocha home from Vietnam. (Photo: Andre Boersma, by Michael Hanneman for Arrowhead Films.)

Cam On Nhieu Lam..."An Ocean Away" credits

"An Ocean Away" brings the story of many heroes to national television February 9 at 8:00 ET on The Military Channel, thanks to:

Film Principals:

Sisters of Donald Matocha:
LINDA MATOCHA MASUR
LORETTA MATOCHA EIBEN

Combat veterans of the United States Marine Corps:
ANDRE BOERSMA, Team Dallas Girl Radio Operator
NICKIE SMITH, Team Dallas Girl Assistant Patrol Leader
LESLIE GOEBEL, Team Dallas Girl Rear Security
MICHAEL KORNEZOS, Team Dallas Girl Rifleman
CHARLES SUCHOCKI, Team Dallas Girl Rifleman
COL. (RET) RON GATEWOOD, H-46 Helicopter Aircraft Commander

Combat veteran of the United States Navy:
STAN SELLERS, Team Dallas Girl Corpsman

Combat veteran of the North Vietnamese Army:
NGUYEN VAN LOC

For Arrowhead Film & Video

Produced & Directed By
PATRICK FRIES

Co-Produced By
MITA HERNANDEZ

Edited & Written By
PATRICK FRIES
HERBERT BENNETT

Assistant Editors
PAUL DUMAS
JESSICA MARTINEZ

Cinematography
PATRICK FRIES
RICHARD GAYLORD
MICHAEL HANNEMAN
JOHN LARSEN

Location Sound
MICHAEL HILL

Production Office Administrator
JULIE WEBER

Graphic Design
PAUL DUMAS
BRIAN BURROWS

Production Assistants
JESSICA MARTINEZ
SARAH BEAL
KRISTA UMSCHEID

Sound Mixer
BRADFORD ENGLEKING

Colorist
COLOR CAFE
MIKE CURTIS
OMAR GODINEZ

Still Photography
SARAH BEAL
MICHAEL HANNEMAN
JOHN LARSEN

Legal
KJEHL RASMUSSEN

Publicity and promotion
CHERYL FRIES

Website
CHRISTY HONEA

Music Composed BY
GEORGE OLDZIEY

Additional Music
"WILL I SEE YOU IN HEAVEN"
WRITTEN BY MARC PERLMAN
WARNER CHAPPELL MUSIC

“WILL I SEE YOU IN HEAVEN”
PERFORMED BY THE JAYHAWKS
COURTESY OF
UNIVERSAL MUSIC PUBLISHING GROUP

Acquired Footage & Stills Courtesy Of
MATOCHA FAMILY
TEAM DALLAS GIRL, USMC
COL. RONALD GATEWOOD, USMC (RET)
BOB O’BRYAN
CAROLYN A. BENDER
COL. WILLIAM D. KENT, USMC (RET)
TIMOTHY M. BASTYR
RAYMOND A. FELLE
CAPT. ROBERT L. ACKLEN, JR (DEC)
DWIGHT WILLIAMS
STEVEN BRAVARD

International Air Travel
KOREAN AIR
K.J. PARK & DON ARMSTRONG

Production Coordinator, DCI
CAMILLE R. HALLIWELL

Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs
DINH HOANG LINH
NGUYEN HOANG DUONG

Four Seasons Travel, Austin, Texas
GARY DRYER
VALERIE FREMIN

Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii
JOINT POW/MIA ACCOUNTING COMMAND
JOHNIE WEBB
DICKIE HITES
MAJOR RUMI NEILSON-GREEN
MAJOR JAY RUTTER


Texas Tech University
THE VIETNAM CENTER & ARCHIVE
DR. NGUYEN THI THANH PHUONG
DR. STEVE MAXNER

Continental Airlines
FIRST OFFICER JIM MORRICAL

Special Thanks To:
DANNY MASUR
MICHAEL CAPPA
BRUCE AND CHIN MCCARTNEY
COL. WARD B. NICKISCH, USA (RET)
GARY FLANAGAN
DALE LEWIS
DONNA ELLIOTT
DANNY O’KEEFE
JOSEPH BEAL
COL. ERNEST SYLVESTER, USA (RET)
CHIEF BRUCE MILLS, AUSTIN POLICE DEPARTMENT
U.S. MARINE CORPS HONOR GUARD, AUSTIN, TEXAS
MAJOR STACEY EIBEN, USMC
POPASMOKE
JUDY WHITWORTH
DON DORSEY
JAMES HART
THOMAS MELVILLE
TOM ANDREWS
CHET CRUMP
THE PEOPLE OF THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM – HANOI, HUE, DONG HA, SAIGON
OUR IN THE SHADOW OF THE BLADE FAMILY

Remembering GARY MEYERS, USMC, TEAM DALLAS GIRL, KIA, RVN, 5-13-68

And most of all,
THE FAMILY OF USMC LT. DONALD MATOCHA, KIA, RVN, 4-5-68

For Military Channel

Director of Production
SUE NORTON

Production Manager
SELMA EDELMAN

Production Assistant
KATIE BORMAN

Executive Producer
BILL HOWARD

Publicity
BARBARA CVRKEL

PRODUCED BY ARROWHEAD FILMS
FOR MILITARY CHANNEL
DISCOVERY COMMUNICATIONS, INC. ©MMVI

They Were Soldiers Once...

And they are again! Recognize these ITSOTBers in the latest AO?

AOA in the news...

....Sellers was 20 at the time of the mission and was among the list of injured. He watched as Matocha was shot and is one of several Marines interviewed in “An Ocean Away.” He was not able to join the sisters on their trip to Vietnam because of health problems he has had ever since the war.

“I'm very glad for the family to see that they finally get closure,” Sellers said. “They had suffered quite a bit with him being killed and his remains being left over there. For the longest time they weren't really sure what happened because nobody was really answering any questions they had.”

Sellers said he and the other marines were leery of doing the documentary at first....

Read more of the San Marcos Daily Record article here.

Save the date.

A journey of healing to "An Ocean Away...." Premiere air date: Thursday, Feb 9, 8:00 p.m. ET, The Military Channel. Click to watch the trailer. (Photos courtesy Mickey Batsell, Sarah Beal, John Larsen.)

01-05-05

Hooked 'em!

How did we know this...

would happen? So, we're watching the news over the holidays and we see that the Secretary of Defense is visiting Mosul, and we say to each other--I bet Larry Castagneto is there--and, whadyaknow....(that's Larry on the right).