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Here is story from AP of the arrival in Pensacola.
The Associated Press State & Local Wire
The materials in the AP file were compiled by The Associated Press.
October 2, 2002, Wednesday, BC cycle
SECTION: State and Regional
LENGTH: 534 words
HEADLINE: Vietnam helicopter begins national tour
BYLINE: By BILL KACZOR, Associated Press Writer
DATELINE: PENSACOLA, Fla.
BODY:
The "whomp, whomp, whomp" sound was unmistakable to Vietnam veterans
who
greeted a restored Huey helicopter Wednesday at its first stop on a
sentimental journey around the country.
The telltale rotor chop helped make the Huey, officially the Bell UH-1
Iroquois, a lasting icon of the Vietnam War.
"Without that Huey, without that particular bird, there would have been no
Vietnam War as we know it," said former Huey pilot Michael Novosel.
"If you
didn't see it, you heard it. It was always around." Like the Jeep in World
War II, the Huey hauled troops and supplies, served as a mobile gun platform
and evacuated the wounded - doing it all in the air instead of on the
ground.
The Huey's unique sound inspired the name for a documentary film being made
about the cross-country journey. "In the Shadow of the Blade" is being
produced by Arrowhead Film & Video of Austin, Texas.
Novosel, 80, with homes in Fort Walton Beach and Enterprise, Ala., said the
purpose is to connect with everyone who was touched by the Vietnam War.
After Pensacola, the Huey headed for Destin and was scheduled for stops in
Port Pierce on Thursday and at Merritt Island and Daytona Beach on Friday.
Then it will be on to Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, Kentucky, the Washington
area and New Mexico through early November.
The air odyssey began at Fort Rucker, Ala., where Army and Air Force
helicopter pilots are trained. The first leg ended at Pensacola's "Wall
South," a half-size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington,
D.C.
One difference with the national memorial is that a Huey helicopter is
permanently displayed atop the Pensacola wall. This city also is home to
Pensacola Naval Air Station, where Navy and Marine Corps pilots get
preliminary training before learning to fly helicopters at nearby Whiting
Field.
Novosel was aboard the mottled green "Shadow of the Blade" Huey for
the
first leg of its trip.
The World War II veteran retired from the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel,
and then joined the Army to fly more than 2,000 combat missions in Hueys
before retiring again as a chief warrant officer.
Novosel received the Medal of Honor for landing his Huey three times to
rescue 29 soldiers surrounded by enemy troops 33 years ago. The helicopter
was riddled with bullet holes.
"We had to junk it when the mission was over," Novosel recalled.
Another veteran who made the first leg of the flight was retired Navy Master
Chief Petty Officer C.J. Roberson, 71, of Foley, Ala., decked out in a dress
blue uniform with gold stripes
Roberson, a crew chief and door gunner, last flew aboard a Huey in 1968. He
spent 13-months in Vietnam, helping provide air cover for river patrol
boats.
"It was nice to make a landing here with nobody shooting at you,"
Roberson
said.
Neal Caspersen, 52, of Pensacola was among Huey veterans who greeted the
fliers. The former Army crew chief flew on "dust off" missions in
which
Hueys saved thousands of lives by plucking wounded troops from battlefields.
"I used to have to soak the bottom of the helicopter with hydrogen peroxide
to get all the blood loose," he said. "I was wearing somebody else's
blood
every single day."
October 3, 2002
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