Lieutenant Ralph was recently awarded his Vietnam Gunners Wings at HMAS Albatross in Nowra, 45 years after risking his life all day every day aboard and American helicopter gunship in the bloody conflict.

While appreciative of the acknowledgement, Lt Ralph is far from thrilled.

“I’m not really into that sort of thing,” he said.

“This recognition is absolutely nothing compared to what we should have got.”

The acknowledgement has come via lobbying by the likes of RAN reservist Ted Wynberg.

Lt Ralph was one of a group of helicopter crewmen recruited from the Royal Australian Navy to the US Army to crew their Iroquiois helicopters.

“The American Army was running out of qualified and experienced pilots and crew, and of the Australian armed forces, the Navy was the only one that could provide the personnel they needed,” he said.

Lt Ralph’s main tour was one of 427 days in 1969-70 in which he accumulated 1500 flying hours, skimming the tree tops of South Vietnam, swapping heavy fire with Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army fighters.

He was the chief flight engineer, the equivalent of a flying mechanic.

“There were about 150 of us Australians recruited, and of that only about one-third flew,” he said.

“Every mission we came back with between on average nine to 12 bullet holes in the helicopter.” 

“The maximum bullet and shrapnel holes we got in one mission was 94.”

Lt Ralph lost many friends, and his own survival was miraculous.

“I was shot down four times and wounded many times,” he said.

Lt Ralph and his gunship crew inflicted heavy losses on the enemy and their fear of being captured was high.

“Helicopter crews had a price on their heads,” he said.

“A farmer could get the equivalent of 12 years pay for killing us.”

Many of the crews missions were never made public.

“We flew a lot of ‘black ops’ for the US Navy SEALS and marines,” he said. 

He was mentioned in dispatches in 1971.

L:t Ralph said he visited the US to catch up with friends he served alongside in Vietnam “every couple of years.”

He has lived in Moruya most of his life since 1964, and has been training the South Coast 222 Cadet Unit since 2009.