First Lieutenant Michaelson was a passenger on a C-47D Skytrain transport with the 123rd Maintenance Squadron, 123rd Fighter Bomber Wing stationed at Godman Air Force Base, KY. On 8 April 1951, the aircraft was enroute from Godman to Kanawha County Airport, Charleston, West Virginia when it crashed about eight miles northeast of Kanawha Airport, killing all twenty one Air Force personnel aboard.

Michaelson was awarded the National Defense Service Medal.