Ceremony at Shaler Area schools honors two Medal of Honor winners

Ceremony at Shaler Area schools honors two Medal of Honor winners
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
By Milan Simonich, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Not every legend is a household name.
Michael J. Novosel and Billy Prom, two giants in U.S. military history, are less well known than the Steelers' backup tackles.
Mr. Novosel, born in 1922, was 26 years older than Mr. Prom. Despite their age difference, both men volunteered for combat duty and served in Vietnam at the same time.
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Michael J. Novosel

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William R. Prom

One came home after saving the lives of 29 wounded soldiers in a daring helicopter rescue. The other died in a hail of bullets as he sacrificed himself to protect fellow Marines.
President Nixon awarded both men the Medal of Honor, America's highest award for combat valor, for different battles in 1969.
Still, Mr. Novosel and Mr. Prom remain largely unknown to the public, even in the northern Pittsburgh suburbs where each was raised.
Mr. Novosel grew up in Etna, a few miles from Mr. Prom, who was from Reserve. They never met, but they are linked forever by their bravery in Vietnam and by the Medal of Honor.
Today, Etna and Reserve are part of the Shaler Area School District, which will dedicate a Medal of Honor Plaza at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow as a lasting tribute to Mr. Novosel and Mr. Prom. The plaza is outside Shaler Intermediate School, 1810 Mount Royal Blvd.
Dave McQuade, principal of the intermediate school and organizer of the event, said he expects about 300 military veterans to attend the dedication.
Among them will be Mr. Novosel's son, Michael Jr., of Fort Walton Beach, Fla. He followed his father to Vietnam, where both served as Army helicopter pilots who specialized in rescue missions.
During the Vietnam era, many fathers worried at home while their sons hoped for a low draft number or reluctantly went off to an unpopular war.
The Novosels defied the stereotype. They served together in war and accomplished something unique among father-son aviators: Each saved the other after he was shot down.
These rescues occurred seven days apart, in February 1970. During this period of intense fighting, Army helicopter pilots were running on 10 to 15 missions a day. A mission typically involved one to 10 patients.
"It went from days of more wounded to days of not so many wounded," the younger Mr. Novosel said.
His father became one of those who needed his help. Gunners hit the senior Mr. Novosel's helicopter but did not entirely disable it. It crashed after the copilot attempted an evasive maneuver. Young Mike, then 20, arrived to haul everybody to safety.
A week later, his father did the same for him, after the younger Mr. Novosel's helicopter was knocked from the sky by gunfire.
Looking back, Michael Jr. said one factor motivated him to join the war effort.
"I wanted to go to Vietnam because I missed my dad," he said. The senior Michael Novosel had enlisted first. Diagnosed with glaucoma in the early 1960s, he knew he would lose his job as a commercial pilot with the old Southern Airways.
Mr. Novosel, then in his 40s, believed he could still fly, despite the disease. He asked the Army to let him prove it.
"He was only 5-foot-3, but he was the kind of guy you would want beside you. He had such determination," said Steve Truban, a longtime friend of Mr. Novosel.
In Army lexicon, Mr. Novosel was a "dustoff" pilot. He flew his helicopter into war zones, hovered low enough to kick up some dust, then carried away wounded soldiers.
His most famous mission occurred on Oct. 2, 1969, in Kien Tuong Province. Then 47 years old, Mr. Novosel rescued 29 South Vietnamese soldiers who had been hemmed in by a large force of attacking Vietcong.
"Flying without gunship or other cover and exposed to intense machine-gun fire, Chief Warrant Officer Novosel was able to locate and rescue a wounded soldier," his Medal of Honor citation reads.
"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."
Enemy gunners drove Mr. Novosel and his helicopter crew from the battlefield six times. But he kept coming back until he rounded up the last wounded man.
Just as he did, a sniper shot Mr. Novosel. Bullets tore into his right leg, above and below the knee. Shrapnel cut his right hand. Despite the pain and chaos, he flew everybody to safety.
"He was a man who always wanted to help somebody. I think that's what drove him," Mr. Truban said.
Mr. Novosel died last year at 83 of complications from liver cancer. His spirit never wavered, even when he knew his body was failing him.
In his final days, he pulled himself out of bed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington to visit young soldiers who had been wounded in Iraq.
Billy Prom's journey
By the time Mr. Prom graduated from the old Millvale High School in 1967, he knew exactly where he was going in life.
College enrollments boomed in that era, as young men tried for student deferments that would keep them out of Vietnam. Mr. Prom, quiet and polite, went against the grain when it came to the war.
He wanted to be a Marine, even though he knew enlisting would put him in Vietnam, the place almost everybody else wanted to avoid.
Mr. Prom became a machine-gun squad leader with the rank of lance corporal. The men who served with him near An Hoa, Vietnam, on Feb. 9, 1969, say they will never forget him.
Vietcong infantrymen with grenades and automatic weapons twice ambushed the Marines. Realizing unit mates had been hit, Mr. Prom charged ahead.
"Disregarding his own safety, he advanced to a position from which he could more effectively deliver covering fire while first aid was administered to the wounded men," says his Medal of Honor citation.
Soon after, Mr. Prom defied danger again, rising to protect Lt. Joe Thompson, who had been shot in the head and chest.
Mr. Thompson made it home to his family in Cadillac, Mich. Mr. Prom was not as fortunate.
Shot and badly wounded after he saved Lt. Thompson, Mr. Prom kept on fighting, even when he could no longer fire his weapon.
"... He continued to advance to within a few yards of the enemy positions. There, standing in full view of the enemy, he accurately directed the fire of his support elements," his Medal of Honor citation says.
Just 20 years old, he died as fellow Marines overran the Vietcong.
John Trott was a Marine captain and commander of Mr. Prom's unit, India Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Division. Awed by what Mr. Prom had done, he took a pencil and paper and scribbled down details of the firefight.
"What really went through my mind is that I wanted the Marine Corps to know about Billy's heroic actions," Mr. Trott, of Lafayette, Ind., said in an interview.
His handwritten note went up the chain of command and resulted in Mr. Prom posthumously receiving the Medal of Honor.
Mr. Trott said he will be in Shaler for tomorrow's ceremony. So will Rex McBee, of Lexington, Tenn., who was the other machine-gun squad leader in India Company.
By chance, it was Mr. Prom instead of Mr. McBee who led the Marines on patrol the day of the deadly firefight.
"I still think about it. I can never get it out of my mind," Mr. McBee said.
Clara Burns, Mr. Prom's sister, knows the Marines will always remember her brother. She said she is happy that others may learn about him because of the new plaza that will celebrate two quiet legends.
Milan Simonich can be reached at msimonich@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1956.
First published on November 6, 2007 at 12:18 am