Stephen darrah, major retired from the u. S. Army and steve, start off by spelling your full name. Stephen and darrah. Provide a framework for our here this afternoon. Take us from your early through west t up point into the army and through career. My we will come back and look at more detail. I was borned a raised Providence Rhode island 1943. Providence from country day and went to the military academy in july of 1961. While at the military academy, i Academic Department on a daytoday basis. Squash, played a little tennis and was delighted to graduate. Was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the infantry. Schoolto Airborne Ranger as did most classmates. I was assigned to the first of 502nd battalion at fort campbell, kentucky. Spent in a year and a half there and decided i wanted to go to Flight School and i was on to go to the third bridget and decided i wanted to walk so i went to Flight School in 1967 and 1967. Hed in september of went to vietnam on my first tour first ber of 1967 to the cav. Came back a year later and did and back to ourse vietnam for about i think it was seven months or so. Standing down and i had to rotate through a number back. I could get i was reassigned back it fort light with the 197th infantry brigade. I resigned and left the army in, lets see, it was new years eve of 1974. Lets go back and spend a prior to west point. What motivated you to choose west point . Interesting because there amps program on television called west point. Thought these guys with these uniforms on looked pretty sharp. They had an in with the ladies and so forth the way the shows bee and i thought that would a good way to do that. So i applied through the process application congressman and did all of that. Actually turned out to be a fourth alternate meaning there was a principal and three ahead of me. So i thought well this isnt going to happen. Actually i got accepted at duke go to do a premed course there. I got a weeks before letter saying you got an appointment at west point. If you so accept. So on. I said sure, why not. I showed up. Basically how i wound up there. You said you played a logical tennis. Nd you a lot a lot. I played four years up there. With each. At ou played against navy squash and tennis. How did you do . Navy lost. I never never lost, lost. I dont remember if we played the three bes but years on the varsity level we eat them every year and last year we shut them out which is the first time between army and navy in squash. The highlight of my athletic career if you will. You graduate from west point you are commissioned in what branch . Infantry. You decide you want to flight instead of walk. Kind of interesting. When i was with the first of the 502nd there was a gentleman gaspard. Nior he passed away a number of years ago. An aviator and representative for the tennis team. In aed to play tennis once while. We got to discussing one day to i was on orders to go vietnam and with the third brigade and 101st and was with tpeufirst cav when they were one of t together and first offaviators. He said you ought to consider to Flight School. You can fly over that, you dont have to walk through it. Idea sot that is a good spent i to guy and think it was four and a half 4 1 2 at fort texas then at fort rucker. There is rotary . Yes. Did you choose helicopters . Not had this desire im sure why, fred. Ships. Anted to fly gun i had seen pictures and videos that want to fly something i could shoot back. At that point if time the gun with bell was t starting and they were hanging gun systems if you will on the b and cmonthold c model helps. In my last week at fort rucker asked if anybody with be interesting in a weeks transition course into gun ships. Yes. D so we flew the system and i liked it. Ship at thathe gun time . A gun ship was a helicopter four people in it, pilot, copilot and gun earn and clue chief. They were b and c models the first bell had developed and troop lly used for carrying and resupply and so forth and somebody got the idea put some guns on them mini four m m 16 which are rockpods and modify the interior to carry the a. M. In this case. Ammunition. They were the first helicopter gun ships that were developed. 1966, ad some i think in late 1965 when they first came out. So you were in one of the of this . Els they had evolved to the point octoberot to my unit in of 1967, so they had gone hrough a period of evolution with certain improvements. Rotor blades, tail rotors, forth. Ral things and so that is what you were going to fly and you went to the first cav. That is correct. You come to vietnam and tell us about that transition. I first came into vietnam i the i dont know what it fwas but they said what do. Ou want to i want to fly helicopter gun first cav. The he said ok, fine. Anke ands were to go to be signed. When i got this and he they said units i said i can you have two gun ships. 229. Is 227 and either one is good. They signed me 20 d company 229 helicopter battalion as platoon leaders of first platoon. I arrived in about october 10 or over that platoon. What is a platoon. About 28 to 30 minute. Door gunner, crew chief. Warrant officer pilots. Commissioned officer pilots. And five to six helicopters, gun ships. What would be a normal week of the some assignments . We provided armed escort for things. Y of different it could be a combat assault consisting of six troop carrying hueys direction. Or it could be escorting a medevac helicopter into a hot l. Z. And they needed Fire Suppression so helicopter can medevac people wounded. We supplied stuff. Hueys are resupplying somebody and they need an escort the se of conditions on ground we would take two gun ships out and escort them to do that. A number of escorts for range call long rank r we con patrol recon patrol nd that was done on a regular ongoing basis. That consisted basically of a and theyive to six men would be inserted into a particular area and stay there whatever the time they could reconnaissance work, mapping data, so on. E would escort the aircraft that put them in and when we escort the craft to get them out. You would escort the whole way. That is correct. Troops. R carried you said that these were m you would have m16s on them . There were a number of varieties of gun systems hueys. Old b and c model one was m16 with four machine side and two ch nine round rocket pods. One on each side. Arming. The plus door gunners they had door gun 00 rounds of ammunition between the two. You had guns that you could use as far as a pilot . Thats right the far side of left seed was aircraft commander and he would fire what we call the gun systems. And m60s and16 ight side with fire the rocket pods but you had the capability of changing that if something happened to one of those aircraft. Ls in the that was normally the way we divided the responsibilities. What was your First Experience in combat in vietnam . I was assigned the way it the when you went to 29th you flew with an experienced aviator for a period of time. Then that aviator would say he in turn thought could you could be an aircraft or not. R if he didnt think you could you ould be the peter pilot or reassigned someplace else. I had a warrant officer name moteski who was the best pilot i have ever seen and i about i guess for about three months. I became an aircraft canadaer command are fairly quickly but we clicked together a variety of different missions. To answer your question, the one out in my mindks we used aoufrd to do it fire flight at night. Here was a river that ran down through the area and our fire base was close to the coast. Fly three two ld four missions checking the river out. A would have we called it slick, two pairing helicopter with a searchlight system in one the doors and he would fly lowly down the river with a searchlight cooking it out. We would fly 50 to 100 feet if he got shot at we could protect him to get him out and so on. A chase that was another louie that fly much higher in somebody got shot down and they had to be rescued. Distinctly remember it was fairly quickly the second flew and at ion we the time there was a regiment of from thetnamese coming north across that river going south and the cabin intercepted and they were trying to get to the south and break contact ith whatever the cab unit was that they were in contact with. Caliber a number of 50 antiaircraft guns. What i distinctly remember is he first time i saw a tracer round from a 50 caliber at night. I was flying the helicopter next to ki was sitting me and i saw this green thing it was coming e up vertically slowly and a light suddenly appeared and suddenly and came toward us and accelerated right by us. About the time it turned he said break right, break right. Was so trans fixed on that softball, that green big softball that was coming up in to air that he finally had take the stick and bank it. That was the first time i had a large caliber tracer round at night. A lot of them before we went back home but i remember that distinctly. Did you have Laundry Service day . Ext not that time. There were others we did. A number of in those situations. You said you were involved tet. G one of the things that is very fortunate in there regard. We probablyof 1968, flew on average anywhere between hours a month. There was supposedly a limit of ow much flying time you could actually fly. Those limits really were not enforced that much. Depending on the activity that was going on we would fly as , if it was a busy time, as much as 200 hours in a months time. You could be flying every day. Thats correct, seven or and fly at a day night also. I was mber of 1967, selected, myself and one of my arrant officer pilots, were selected to go to the cobra transition course the ah 1 g was developed by bell. Bell helicopter which designed and developed not all but the majority of the helicopters that were in service in vietnam at decided that at some point in time im not sure when of 1967 to develop a purposely designed gun ship. And and the prototype for this was im going to say maybe september and they started manufacturing them and sent them first arrived the in vietnam i think late september, early october. They were part of what they called the new Equipment Training Team down in saigon they actually brought pilots in, crew chiefs and door older from flying the bell helicopters and trained them. Between big difference there cobra and b and c models i mentioned. One only two pilots in tandem. One in front and one in back. Aircraft was designed such a way it had a much higher cruising speed. B and c we could cruise loaded around 70 to 75 knots. The cobra was about 145 knots. The b and c models depending on angle of attack of ourse you could take it up to about 100 knots indicated before real started to get sinky. 210 knotts. As cobra were on the designed for it. They could carry much more rockets, many more heavier payload and had about the same station time, about two a full load of fuel that the b and c models had. The great thing about it was had a width of 36 inches. Width as you kept that pointed at what you were trying a small er you had ilhouette for somebody to shoot. It had better armor brechting take a lot of damage. You were the only gunners . The interesting thing about is a bit of a problem because the crew chief and door flight had been getting pay and going out on missions, could see what was going on and so forth. Own helicopter they were responsible for. Now what they were being asked to do is maintain a helicopter fly it. Psychologically that became it cover become a big problem. Kids. God for the young they said we cant fly we will make sure you are safe when you fly. Kept a c model gun ship in my platoon. Them e supposed to turn in. I kept it to put them up in the air and let them see what is on and where we are flying and so on and so forth. But it was a bit of a change for them. The rest were cobras . Thats correct. Five cobras. Platoon leader a for six months . Yes. Then you became what . I was assigned assist [inaudible]. What was your job . Planning operations. Taking information on available assets that we had to be able to assign to supporting combat assaults and independent facing with prying for them providing for them. It was a Tactical Operations on day to day and week to week basis. But stayed in the air . I continued to fly with my platoon. I was asked to come back and fly commander and guy that took over for my standpoint as platoon leader so i flew with guys on a regular basis. For another platoon leader . Thats correct. So you were under his command . It was , actually interesting because what they did is let me plan and lead the platoon was this doing which i was fine with. I enjoyed the flying and i was in that the guys platoon both enlist and warrant officers and commissioned officers. When i of my objectives was there, personal objective, i wanted to make sure i did to bring i could everybody home. And i was successful in doing that. In flying, it is interesting that it doesnt take were to mistake and somebody get hurt very badly or get killed. Those things we always stressed and that i stressed ith these guys is seven fundamentals about thinking before you do something. Part of s a big, big what we did and it was not that safety aspect when you are a mission but as a safety aspect when you came back, how you refuel, rearm, you do with the helicopter, how you clean them, so forth. So, one of the things i was to do because this was kind of a bible with me if you maintain come back and that dialogue and that environment with the guys that third platoon,he which i did and enjoyed doing it. The to back up a minute on cobra transition, it is interesting, when i was asked to down there, i was not asked, i was assigned for the hreeweek course and i had never been to saigon and there was the fire base and so on. So, this warrant officer and i went there and spent three weeks fly and shoot the al1 z. The first sick cobras that came in country playboys to the 334 down south and other three to my platoon. What is a playboy . Sign. Ir call they were a gun ship company in the southern part of vietnam. We had the three of the first that came in country came to my noon r phraofpb and it as just platoon and was just after tet started. We flew those continuously that i the time frame was there until i came home in october. What were your observations a soldier and going through and tet nam experience that you were in the midst of it . What is your impression of the way the war was being waged . Well, i didnt have a sense, red, because a large sense was w the overall tactical going. We got stars and stripes and we could read that. Focused on what was going on in our unit with us in our helicopters and our units supporting and normally we would support one slick ompany which was three different platoons of two carrying helicopters and they would support one battalion. So, all the things that were the belongs of involved inwere not we inch. Those were the marines that were involved in that. World was a pretty small world and i dont remember having any sense at all about was going on overall with the war, how the war was being waged. Of course we Read Everything about what happened in tet after it actually happened. Quang tree in late of y and early february 1968 because they took over that town. We actually had moved up there a Slick Company to support the first and 12th of the kafr bout three days before there started. The first and 12th were the perimeter defense if you will for the troop carrying helicopters and my gun forth. And so so, what i remember about that time is that the weather was awful. Ely it fwas the start of the monsoo ceilings of had about 200 feet before you got in the clouds and visibility of half mile. Ceiling was 100 feet and to fly in that weather was difficult. A you cant see any more than half or quarter mile than are toing and you are flying 120 140 knots you had to be pretty damn careful about what you were doing. Work we did during that time frame, a lot of it was predicated solely on how the weather was. Could we get out. Could the medevacs get out. Could the troop carrying can the rs get out and resupply stuff get out . It was particularly difficult at weather was the about the same at night and there were difficult times that deal. To what i remember, fred, there was an evening we were trying to get back to our fire base and it was the weather 0 and closed in. By closing in, we could not fly back. Either turn to around and go back it someplace the radar could use at the fire base it pick us up and guide us. I. F. R. Whiche to go is instrument flight us rules up usthe soup and let them talk down. I decided i was going to take he flight three gun slips and two slicks two troop carrying helicopters empty at the time contact with t the Ground Control approach get them at a time and to pick us up before we went to conditions. So, the tpeufirst four aircraftt well. D i was the last one. Contact with the t. C. A. Folks. They come up saying yep. Ok, going up we will pick you up as soon as you get there. And climb in i. F. R. To 4,000 feet and i lost every instrument in the helicopter. Electric, i the lost everything and had nothing compass and attitude indicator showing it way, this way, this way, this way. Nd the mack compass gave you a north, south, east, west as to where you were going. Contact . Ad radio nothing. We had no instrumentation at all nav and attitude indicator. We are 4,000 feet and in the middle of something i cant see. I am and whathere i decided to do well, ok, we are coast, i know if i fly east i will be over the if we run out of gas over the ocean that will be a problem. If i fly west and we run out of i will get a 20 minute and i and i will know can set it down wherever and then maybe we can get picked up so on. So, i turned west and we are 4,000 feet at 80 knots new guy next to me a b bananas. He was having a real time and the guys in the back, tour chief didnt say a word. We flew along for i guess about an o. V. 1 bird came propeller driven he wase mist at us just there. He was fast enough and quick his side turn it up on so he went by this way and missed us. When we had our 20 minute fuel come on, we had flown into it about 10 minutes and i looked instruments, i was flying and saw these lights out n the distance and i had no idea, i didnt know if we were vietnam. Bodia or south i had no idea where we were. So the pilot next it me said spoelstra oh like carrier. An aircraft i said no we are flying west so there are no aircraft carriers in the western direction. Turned out to be was anka. And that was the main heliport for the first cav. I remember sitting in the pproach called them up or didnt call them because we didnt have radios and at the ime i shot the approach at the end of runway we ran out of fuel. Was it. Own and that so, we were very fortunate that night. Turned out that we turned in the right direction and maintained the right course in a safe p back place