Dear William (and Daniel, Catherine, Michael & Baby Girl Y) (and your parents), (and any future descendants and their parents),

Today, some words about my first cousin Michael Dzikowski,

Michael was born on May 11, 1948.

During the Vietnam War (early 1960s to 1973), because he believed that he would be drafted, Michael decided to volunteer, and became a helicopter pilot.

==========

Histroy of the 134th Aviation Company (Assault Helicopter), Compiled by former members of the 134th AHC

On December 29, 1968, aircraft from the 134th took part in a large Combat Assault, moving ROKs into the mountains northwest of Phu Cat AFB. During the lift, aircraft 66-16295 set down on a land mine which flipped it over and destroyed the aircraft. WO Michael Schuster was AC and WO Bernard O’Donnell was on his first combat lift. Some passengers incurred light to moderate injuries. The pilots and crewchief (SP4 Sterling Peterson) escaped with no injuries but the gunner, PFC Larry Burke, was seriously injured. He was hit by shrapnel in both cheeks and lost part of his jaw and several teeth. The next slick into the LZ picked up the crew and took them to the hospital. At the time, the gunner’s face was covered in blood and WO Schuster thought he was dying. He held PFC Burke’s head in his lap all the way to the hospital and kept telling him he would be ok but that it might be a good idea to pray. This incident resulted in the unit adopting the policy of coming to a hover rather then landing in unsecured LZ’s.

That same day, December 29th, a Devil gunship (66-15150 with Lt. Donald McNeely, WO Mike Dzikowski [at that time, Mike was 20 years old], SP4 Mike Ogrysko and PFC Ernie Long)) was shot down west of Tuy Hoa at night with a single round. The round hit the engine and oil cooler, missing PFC Long’s family jewels by 5 inches. The pilots made a perfect landing with no damage. The aircraft was secured by ROK troops and the 268th Battalion Pathfinders and later recovered that same night.

==========

The Night I Learned to Hover –(Almost) — By: Danny L. Pettit [SOURCE]

As I remember, and some things from my days as the crew chief on 062 in 1968 and 1969 I don’t remember, but I’ll never forget the night that WO1 Mike Dzikowski, aka Mr. Ski, decided he was going to teach me to hover a helicopter. I think he had probably been to the Officers Club for quite a while and returned feeling a little like doing something really nice for someone.

I was on primary standby at the standby hooch when Mr. Ski came in and informed me that he was going to teach me to hover. Being one of the most senior crew chiefs in the gun platoon at the time I had been getting quite a bit of stick time, thanks to Mr. Bemis’ love for sitting in the crew chiefs seat and hunting sharks while we flew along the coast. Therefore I suppose that made me a good candidate for further instruction so he proceeded to build a fire in the engine.

Once he got everything on the instrument panel to his liking he picked her up six or eight feet in a nice steady hover and began telling me that he was going to teach me just as he had been taught in flight school. First he had me put my feet on the rudder pedals and slowly move the nose a few feet to the left and then a few feet to the right until I was pretty comfortable doing that (so far it’s a piece of cake), then he has me get on the collective with him, and shows me how to take her up a few feet and bring her down again, all the while I’m still the primary rudder operator, if there is such a thing. I guess I did ok with that phase of my training and it was finally time to move on to the cyclic stick.

He then instructed me to very gently take the cyclic and move the ship a little to the left. So I very gently took the collective and rather quickly moved it three inches or so to the left, now for those of you who have never tried to hover before let me be the first to tell you that you never want to try that particular maneuver when you’re only a few feet off of the ground. For those of you who are accomplished pilots you know what a mess I was in. As they say, for every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction, and I did the first thing that came to mind and moved the stick to the right three or four inches. Now I’m really in trouble because I just keep moving the thing left and right trying to get it settled down but to me it feels like someone has a rope tied to the Jesus nut and is swinging me back and forth like a giant pendulum or something and by now I’m completely terrified and can’t for the life of me figure what in the world “Ski” is doing and why is he letting me kill us both? When I finally looked over at him it was evident, by the way he was laughing, that he wasn’t overly concerned about my flying inability.

After what seemed like an eternity he took control of the ship, and after bringing it back to a stable hover, we started again only this time he informed me to hold the cyclic as if it were a sore penis. He further tried to tell me that the cyclic was so sensitive that if while I was holding it like a sore penis that if I just thought that I wanted to move to the left that it would. Let me tell you that I took that one with a grain of salt, but what the heck after all he was the pro here. So after I had it in somewhat of a hover I decided to try it. By golly, just by thinking that I wanted to move left I did indeed move ever so slowly to the left, so I tried it to the right and it worked going that direction also.

Although I never had another opportunity to try to hover again I at least had my shot at it. So Mr. “Ski” if you ever read this you’ll know that you gave one crew chief an unforgettable memory when you taught me to hover, well almost.

William — In the United States military, a Warrant Officer (grade W-1 to W-5) is ranked as an officer above the senior-most enlisted ranks, as well as officer cadets and candidates, but below the officer grade of O-1. Warrant officers are highly skilled, single-track specialty officers. For appointment to Warrant Officer One (W-1), a warrant is approved by the secretary of the respective service. Chief Warrant Officers (W-2 to W-5) are commissioned by the President of the United States and take the same oath as regular commissioned officers (O-1 to O-10). Warrant officers can and do command detachments, units, activities, vessels, aircraft, and armored vehicles as well as lead, coach, train, and counsel subordinates. However, the Warrant Officer’s primary task as a leader is to serve as a technical expert, providing valuable skills, guidance, and expertise to commanders and organizations in their particular field.

1 Vincenzo Paladino b: Messina, Sicily d: 1962 New York, NY
. +Zinaida Ocnietska b: d: Abt. 1957 Port Tufick, Egypt
. 2 Kira Paladino b: 30 Jan 1920 Yalta, Cremia, Russia d: 20 May 2008 Boynton Beach, FL
…. +Oleg Unknown b: m: 1939 d: 1940
. *2nd Husband of Kira Paladino:
…. +Kiril Evreinov b: m: Abt. 1943
…. 3 Alexsei Evreinov b: 16 Jan 1945 Germany
……. +Kate Unknown
…. *2nd Wife of Alexsei Evreinov:
……. +Helen Unknown
…. *3rd Wife of Alexsei Evreinov:
……. +Chris Unknown
…. *4th Wife of Alexsei Evreinov:
……. +Patty Unknown
. *3rd Husband of Kira Paladino:
…. +Andrew Myslakowski b: Jul 1917 Krakow, Poland m: 1949 NJ d: 27 Oct 1963 Great Neck, NY
…. 3 Robert (Myslakowski) Martin b: 09 Aug 1950 Margaretville, NY
……. +Linda Ardigo b: 29 Mar 1948
……. 4 Evan Martin b: 22 Dec 1978
…. 3 Elizabeth Myslakowski b: 05 Jun 1953 New York, NY
……. +Jay Maller b: 08 Mar 1957
……. 4 Nikki Maller b: 30 Jan 1989
. *4th Husband of Kira Paladino:
…. +Boleslaw Walentyn Dzikowski b: 01 Oct 1915 Gostyn, Poland m: 12 Apr 1969 Forest Hills, New York d: 11 Apr 2000

William, honor those who defend us.

Love,

Dziadziuś Paweł.

Back to Annual Albums OR Family Letters