DEROS + 18,227

SP5 Darragh in early 1970

My son Tim and me at the  Udvar-Hazy National Air Museum in 2017

That flight-follow mission day began like most other mission days.  Up at zero-dark-thirty, get into my Nomex flight suit, strap on my World War 2 or Korea-era .45 caliber M1911A1 pistol, get some chow and, most importantly, coffee!  Report to the ready room, review the mission and prepare my mission maps.

Then I met my pilot at the revetment.  We did whatever preflight stuff we did in those days and I got into the Mohawk’s right seat.  More pre-takeoff stuff and then off into the wild black yonder (remember that I got up at zero-dark thirty).  As I remember it was a pretty normal flight-follow mission.  I listened for the other aircraft as they called on and off their targets, all the time hoping that each individual mission radioed that they were indeed off each of their low level runs.

The sun had finally come up and it was gonna be another hot and humid day in the Republic of Vietnam.  As we headed southeast towards the South China Sea, I radioed to CPT Larry Stallard, who was piloting another mission, to say goodbye a final time and quote a Bible verse I had memorized since we had met several months earlier.  He and I became friends when he took me under his wing and we had had some Bible study together.  I had learned Philippians chapter 4 verse 13 (“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”) during that time together.

Then my pilot, a Warrant Officer named George Drago, banked our aircraft and we were off to Cam Ranh Bay.  But that wasn’t our destination yet!

You see, when pilots DEROSed from the 225th, they usually left the unit in a Mohawk after they had made a very low pass over the company area.  But I was not a pilot; I had been with the Blackhawks/Phantomhawks since February 1968 and it was now 11 June 1970, so after 28 continuous months with the same outfit I wanted a low pass also!  Mr. Drago knew this so he was going to oblige!

As we headed out over the beautiful multi-shaded azure waters of the South China Sea we climbed to I don’t know how many thousands of feet.  Then, at the top of our climb he dropped the nose and a pad of paper and the maps I had on the dash board just floated in mid-air!  In the wind shield all I could see was the bright blue expanse of the ocean.  Then in the distance our target appeared…a pure white radome.

As the globe began to get really big really fast, Drago began to  pull out of the dive and we zoomed right over the top of the radome, really close, and climbed rapidly climbed again.  I don’t know how many Gs were pressing my body onto that oh-so-comfortable Martin Baker election seat I had been on since the flight began several hours earlier, but it was amazing feeling!  I had gotten my low pass!

Next stop Cam Ranh Air Force Base!  As we got close we were cleared for landing, and we set down on the gigantic 10,000 foot runway and taxied to the base passenger terminal.  I remember that there was a brand new blue and white PanAm 747 in the parking area, and boy did our OV-1 look tiny!

We opened our cockpit doors, got down out of our aircraft, and pulled my luggage out of one of the cargo bays.  We said our goodbyes, I saluted Mr. Drago and off I went to begin processing out of Vietnam.

I was on my way home and out of the Army.  June 11, 1970.  That was fifty years ago today!