Veteran's Corner: Ronald Harder

PALOUSE — Born at the old St. Ignatius Hospital and raised in Colfax, Ronald “Ron” Harder , 79, of Palouse, joined Washington State University ROTC to learn how to fly helicopters, going onto serve in Vietnam.

Harder said during his military service he had to take two years training at Washington State University ROTC “They promised to teach me to be a pilot, so I went two more years ,” he said.

Becoming a second lieutenant after training, Harder then went to his next training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, as an armor officer. He married his wife Marilyn Harder soon after getting orders to go to Vietnam.

“We had four months of training in Texas, and then four more in Fort Rucker in Alabama,” he said, “I was trained to be a Huey Pilot.”

Harder said that the Huey U-H1 helicopter was used to carry the troops in. “I got my training, and then I was assigned to a helicopter company about fifteen miles north of Saigon,” he said.

The unit that Harder was assigned to had been there for a few years, and he said that the commanding officers were magnificent at what they did. “I learned fairly quick that my training was fine, but I flew for long hours and I was shocked how good they were,” he said.

It took a lot of hours flying to become proficient Harder said, “they got me better, and showed me how to stay alive in Vietnam,” he said.

Harder said his flights mainly consisted of combat assaults, “We flew troops into areas so they can find the enemy and then either later that day, or a couple days later, we’d go back and pick them up,” he said, adding that if the troops had made contact with the enemy they would bring more troops.

“Our company worked for four different divisions in South Vietnam,” Harder said, “They would basically call our unit and say ‘Ok, we need you for this particular day.’”

Harder added that when he got back in the evening from flying they knew where they were going to go the next day.

Harder said he stated as, what was called a ‘peter pilot,’ or just the second to the aircraft commander. “You have two pilots on every aircraft,” Harder said, “so after a few months I became an aircraft commander.”

As aircraft commander Harder would take new pilots with him as his ‘peter pilot,’ and as he became more proficient he was made a flight leader.

Harder would lead 10 aircraft, “Normally you had a major and an aircraft above you that were giving you all your instructions,” he said.

There was usually the troop’s commander, or the colonel, on board Harder’s helicopter. “They would tell me where to go and what to do for the day,” he said.

Harder led a couple days a week and aircraft commanders would take turns leading. “The majors who were so outstanding taught us younger officers what we do so we were able to get through Vietnam with no major casualties,” Harder said.

Being in the air wasn’t always easy, Harder said, adding that there were scary moments of being shot at, including one that resulted in his helicopter crashing into a cove of burnt trees. “I had a captain on board and he knew we were going to get hit hard, so he locked arms,” Harder said, noting that they could strap up when the troops were in the back.

“I thought that was going to be 10 ‘KIA,’ killed in action, but it wasn’t my day to die and nine others survived too,” he said.

During his time in Vietnam, Harder also carried the wounded to the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH).

“I’ve got a lot of great memories, and met a lot of great people,” Harder said of his time in the service.