Darrell Delger ~ U.S. Air Force, 1961-1963

Wolf Point native Darrell Delger is one of the outstanding veterans who deserves to be recognized on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

Delger served in the Air Force from 1961-63. The Wolf Point native explained that he joined because he was ready for some adventure at that young age. He was stationed at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls.

“I was disappointed, but it was one of the nicest things that ever happened to me,” Delger said of being stationed in Great Falls. “I wanted to see the world.”

It ended up that Delger was able to see a great deal of the world. After being trained, he served as a crew chief where he worked on planes similar to the Boeing KC-97 Stratotanker that he keeps a photo of as a memory.

“That plane was my responsibility flight-wised,” Delger said of the refueling aircraft. “I had to be sure it was ready to fly at all times.”

He noted that the crew had only a short time to be ready to fly to an unknown location in order to serve our country.

“You had 15 minutes and you didn’t know where you were going,” Delger said. “I enjoyed it. I got to see a lot of the world.”

Delger was the youngest crew chief around.

“Whatever I was told to do, I did it to the letter,” he added.

He said the aircraft usually carried five individuals. “I was the sixth and then we had some maintenance people on occasion too.’ One memorable time was being in Newfoundland during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

“We weren’t briefed or anything ever until we were airborne,” Delger explained.

Staying in Guam was another memory. While there, the crew heard about five or six bombers of telephone lines in the United States. “We didn’t know what was going on, we have never known.”

He said he decided not to enlist because the Air Force wanted him to begin working with missiles. “If God wanted me to be a gopher, I would have been a gopher,” he joked.

He encourages young people to consider looking at the military.

“You can go into the service and get trained for a given job,” Delger said. “You can go to schooling to help yourself. There’s unlimited deals.”

Veterans should be commended for their service on Veterans Day and every day.

“I was one of the fortunate ones. I wasn’t on the front line, but someone had to supply these people,” Delger said. “I take pride in my time of service. Those people on the front line were relying on us.”