Info Sheet - Henry H. "Rick" Roll
CPT Gunteam Leader D Trp (Air), 3rd Sqdn, 5th Cavalry
Call sign Crusader 12 - Contact me at Rroll@comcast.net
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I flew guns for D Trp (Air), 3/4 Cav in January and February of ‘67 while I was flying in-country familiarization while awaiting the arrival of our D/3/5 birds, UH-1Cs, from the US.
I well member MAJ Peterson; he ran an extremely professional outfit and our troop infrastructure in Cu Chi was head and shoulders better than what we set up at Bear Cat.
I was Frank Delvy’s “peter pilot” for a dozen or so sorties in January ’67 and will never forget his very frequent “simulated fire mission” commands whenever we were over the free fire zone West of Cu Chi. His constant and aggressive training stood me well when I had my own fire team with D/3/5 after our new Charlie models arrived from the US.
I was in flight class 66-16B4 Wolters/Rucker, and upon graduation, was assigned to D/3/5 at Fort Riley after taking a post graduate gunship course at Rucker.
I co-host/organize our annual D/3/5 reunions which is a labor of love as you well know. My co-host is Don Callison who, as our webmaster, www.lighthorseaircav.com, is the heart and soul of our group.
This year I arranged for a restored AH-1G to put on a mini-air show over Daytona beach in front of our hotel just as we finished the playing of “taps” to honor our fallen comrades.
For next year’s reunion, I’ve arranged for Joe Galloway, it’s a long story, to be our guest of honor and speaker at no charge to our group. We expect a turn-out of 150-175 troopers and their loved ones.
The photo is of me taken in our backyard LZ with the ’95 206B3. I co-owned and flew with my business partner. I taught him how to fly it, for business and pleasure. He bought out my equity in it when I cashed-out at the end of ’08. Please notice my VHPA hat; I’m a lifetime member.
D/3/4 was a first class outfit from top to bottom with strong, effective, and extremely competent leadership at all levels.
I salute you in thought and send you and all the Centaurs my very best regards,
H.H. (Rick) Roll
Wyoming, DE July 2019
