Episode 105: The Ultimate Wingman

When he was a major, Air Force Colonel Bernard Francis "Bernie" Fisher volunteered for a tour in Vietnam when that conflict was just beginning to expand beyond US troops advising South Vietnamese fighters. 

In March 1966, the day after actions that would see him awarded the Silver Star, Fisher saw a fellow pilot shot down by enemy fire. Lieutenant Colonel "Jump" Myers survived the crash but was still in terrible danger. Thousands of enemy soldiers were quickly closing in on him and an evacuation helicopter would not be able to reach him in time. Unwilling to leave a comrade behind, Fisher landed his plane, pulled Myers up into the cockpit, and managed to take off again after his own plane took serious damage from small arms fire while on the ground.

The fallowing January, Fisher and his family traveled to the White House where the pilot was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

The Air Force became an independent service in 1947, but used the Army's design of the Medal of Honor until 1965. Bernie Fisher was the first Air Force pilot to receive the service's newly designed medal. He was also the first pilot in the Air Force's history to survive the action for which he was presented the nation's highest award for valor.

Fisher retired from the Air Force in 1974 as a colonel and settled in Kuna, Idaho, about 20 miles southwest of Boise. He remained active in the veteran community and often traveled to share the story about his Medal of Honor.

Colonel Bernard Francis Fisher passed away in 2014 at the age of 87. He was interred at the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery in Boise, ID in Section 12-1-142.

Episode 104: The Epitome of Army Aviation, Part II

 

Chief Warrant Officer 4 Michael J. Novosel, Sr. received the Medal of Honor for action in Vietnam, when he, under intense enemy fire, evacuated 29 stranded South Vietnamese soldiers, who were surrounded by thousands of enemy troops near the Cambodian boarder.

During his second tour as a medial evacuation pilot, Novosel had the unique opportunity to serve with his son, Mike, Jr. who earned his Army aviation wings 27 years to the day after his father. One of the more than 5500 troops Mike, Sr. evacuated from the battlefield was his own son, who was unwounded after his helicopter went down. A week later, Mike, Jr. repaid the favor and rescued his father after he also crashed.

When the senior Novosel left Vietnam for was everyone knew would be the last time, his call sign - Dustoff 88 - was officially transferred to Mike, Jr., who, like his father, would also serve a full career in the Army and retire a chief warrant officer 4.

On the day Novosel retired in 1984, he was the last WWII pilot still actively flying for the US military. That same day, a main street at the Army's helicopter training post, Fort Rucker, Alabama, was named after him.

Novosel passed away in 2006 at age 83.

He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, in Section 7A, Grave 178-C.  

Episode 103: The Epitome of Army Aviation, Part I

This week, we begin the story of Army Aviator Chief Warrant Officer 4 Mike Novosel, a guy who was too short to fly according to the military standards of the day, was forced out of the service against his will, and who eventually took a demotion, all because he wanted to pass his 20+ years of aviation experience on to the next generation of Army pilots. Instead, and much to his surprise, he was sent to Vietnam to serve in his third war.

Since he was in the Army Air Corps when the Air Force was created in 1947, he was automatically transferred to the new service, and served in it more than a decade, but try as I might, I couldn't find any photos of his online in an Air Force uniform. Most that are readily available are from his time in Vietnam. The above photo is the only one I could find of his WWII service in the Army Air Corps.

Episode 102: A Family Legacy in Korea

 

The Collins Family (Left to Right: Major General James L. Collins, Sr., General J. Lawton "Lighting Joe" Collins, Brigadier General James L. Collins, Jr., and Major General Michael Collins) are all honored on the front wall of the US Army's Second Infantry Division Museum at Camp Humphreys, South Korea.

James, Sr. (West Point Class of 1907) briefly commanded the Second Infantry Division before the outbreak of World War II.

MG James L. Collins, Sr. in buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 34, Grave 121-A

J. Lawton (West Point Class of 1917), James, Sr's brother, was the Army Chief of Staff during the Korean War. The Second Infantry Division featured prominently in that war and remains on the Korean Peninsula today, nearly 75 since that war broke out.

GEN J. Lawton Collins in buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 30, Grave 422

James, Jr. (West Point Class of 1939) rose to the rank of brigadier general before retiring. He was called back to active duty by the Army to become the service's Chief of Military History. He published several books in that capacity, including War in Peacetime: The History and Lessons of Korea in 1969.

BG James L. Collins, Jr. is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 34, Grave 970

Michael Collins (West Point Class of 1952) - James, Sr's son, J. Lawton's nephew, and James, Jr's brother - chose to join the Air Force after West Point and became a prominent NASA astronaut in the early days of the space race. He carried one of the Second Infantry Division patches his father wore while commanding 2 ID into space with him on the Apollo XI mission to the moon.

Maj Gen Michael Collins is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 51, Grave 2891.

Army Sergeant Robert Hopkins was captured by the German Army during the Battle of the Bulge. An enlisted chaplain, he used a makeshift US flag, constructed with two stolen flour sacks and died blue and red, to preside over the funerals of some 700 US POWs until he escaped captivity near the end of the war. After the war, he became a Methodist minister in Virginia and donated the flag to the 2ID museum in 1979. When he died in 2004, the flag was used one final time, draped over Hopkin's casket during his funeral. After the service, the flag was folded and returned to Korea.

SGT Robert Hopkins is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 69, Grave 3420