Michael Novosel Jr., who served with his decorated father in the same Vietnam medical helicopter unit and in recent years helped start a foundation for veterans, died Dec. 10 in Florida.

He was 60 and had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a month earlier.

As U.S. Army pilots, he and his late father, Michael Novosel Sr. of Etna, rescued some 8,800 wounded warriors in Vietnam.

Mr. Novosel Sr., who died in 2006 at age 83, received the Medal of Honor for saving 29 South Vietnamese soldiers in one day in October 1969 as a "dustoff pilot." Dustoff pilots flew into combat zones, hovering low enough to kick up dust, then hauled away wounded soldiers.

The day before he died, Michael Jr. received his father's Medal of Honor flag at a ceremony at his home in Shalimar, near Fort Walton Beach.

It was another in a line of honors he had accepted over the years on his father's behalf, including a bust of Michael Sr. unveiled in September at Soldiers & Sailors Military Memorial Hall and Museum in Oakland.

Michael Jr. was like his father in almost every way.

"He was almost the picture of his dad," said Steve Truban. 78, of Etna, a Korean War veteran who grew up with Michael Sr.

Father and son were both short and stocky -- Michael Sr. was just a bit over 5 feet, 3 inches tall, and Michael Jr. stood four inches taller. Smart and determined, they both excelled as pilots.

They were also unique in the annals of war in that each saved the other after he was shot down in one week in February 1970.

Michael Sr.'s chopper crashed after gunners shot it up. Young Michael, 20 at the time, flew his own helicopter to the rescue to haul everyone to safety.

A week later, his father did the same for him after Michael Jr.'s helicopter was shot down.

At the unveiling of a bronze bust of his father in Alabama in October, Michael Jr. said the story of the rescues was often a source of humor in the family.

"My dad used to joke about when he extracted me; he hovered above me, and I just climbed aboard the helicopter," he told the Montgomery Advertiser. "But, when I rescued him, he had to wade across a rice paddy and come up to me. That was true, but it was because of that rice paddy that I couldn't get any closer to him."

Born in Florida, Michael Jr. grew up on military bases and revered his dad, who served in World War II and Korea before becoming an airline pilot. When glaucoma ended his airline job, Michael Sr. re-enlisted in the Army in his mid-40s to serve in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot. His son followed in 1968.

"He said he wanted to go with his dad," said Mr. Truban. "His dad was like the Lord to him."

Michael Jr. got in trouble with the law for running moonshine, said George Metz, 62, of Moon, a helicopter door-gunner in Vietnam who runs The Novosel Foundation to provide money for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.

A judge allowed Michael Jr. to enlist to avoid jail.

"Mike was never ashamed of it," said Mr. Metz. "He was sort of a rebel."

He was also a fine aviator. He and his father served for 10 months together, and after Michael Sr.'s tour ended, Michael Jr. inherited his father's call sign, "Dustoff 88."

In a year tour, he flew 1,736 missions, earned 37 air medals and rescued more than 2,500 airmen, soldiers and sailors from jungles and rice paddies.

Michael Jr. returned to the United States as a chief warrant officer and married in 1971. He served at a series of military bases in the South and in Korea, eventually returning to become an instructor at Fort Rucker, Ala., in 1981, where the main avenue is named Novosel Street.

After retiring from the military in 1991 as installation safety officer at Fort Bragg, N.C., he embarked on a second career as a commercial pilot.

He flew spotting missions for tuna fishing fleets in Australia, took on various crop-dusting and timber-hauling jobs and flew support for offshore oil exploration and drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

Mr. Metz said Michael Jr. and his father, as military aviation experts, also had a hand in the development of the Black Hawk helicopter.

Michael Jr. retired in 2005. Two years later, he and Mr. Metz created his foundation, a nonprofit that helps veterans with their expenses when they return from Iraq or Afghanistan.

Mr. Metz said he hopes to create a scholarship program to continue Mr. Novosel's legacy of service.

Michael Jr. never lived in Pittsburgh, but he visited often. At a D-Day event in June honoring Michael Sr. at American Legion Post 106 in Sharpsburg, where Michael Sr. had been a member, Michael Jr. made a dedication speech for a new deck and parking lot. He explained that growing up in the Army, he lived everywhere, but that his mother and father were both from Etna and his grandmother worked at a church in town.

When the Army asked him where his "home of record was," he said, "I told them Pittsburgh."

In addition to his wife, Margaret, Michael Novosel Jr. is survived by his stepdaughter, Wendy Latchum of Shalimar; sisters Patricia Clevinger of Enterprise, Ala., and Jeanee Vinyard of Phoenix; and brother John of Auburn, Ala.

Mr. Novosel will be buried today with full military honors at Barrancas National Cemetery in Pensacola.

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