Ivan L. Slavich, Jr

Ivan L. Slavich Jr. (September 9, 1927 – October 20, 2012) was a United States Army colonel who helped pioneer the use of the HU-1A "Huey" helicopter as a tactical close-in support assault ship, and commanded the first armed combat helicopter unit in American military history. He served in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War; his military service also included an early enlistment in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Slavich served from 1951 to 1975 as a U.S. Army officer. He served from 1945 to 1947 as an enlisted U.S. Marine. Armed with four 7.62-millimeter machine guns and two rocket pods, each with eight rockets, all mounted outside the helicopter just above the skids, the firepower of the HU-1A exceeded that carried by World War II fighter planes.

These "makeshift killers", armed with homemade rocket mounts and machine gun brackets, ultimately attracted the attention of the Pentagon. With the help of General Earle Wheeler, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Slavich and his men were finally able to test their experiment in combat. The unit was first deployed to Thailand, and then in 1962, the testing ground was moved to the battlefield when Slavich took command of the newly formed Utility Tactical Transport Company (UTT) in Vietnam. The UTT was tasked with providing close-in battlefield support to the dual-rotor H-21 troop carriers. By flying in formation with the troop carriers and employing a unique circular daisy chain pattern at the landing zone so that each Huey was covered by the one immediately behind it, five to six Hueys were able to protect up to 30 H-21 troop carriers at one time.

Under Slavich's command, the UTT quickly earned a reputation for "innovative use of helicopter-borne firepower, finely honed aviator skills, and aggressive support of the ground soldier". Slavich and his men again and again proved that the highly maneuverable and extremely tactical Huey gunships were far superior to fixed-wing aircraft when it came to the kind of close-in support that was required for a Southeast Asian battlefield, especially when lines often blurred between enemy camp and civilian village. Unlike fixed-wing fighter bombers, the low flying, slow cruising Hueys could provide "discriminating fire" to neutralize ground fire in the landing zone while sparing noncombatants.

Brigadier General Joseph Stilwell Jr. wrote at that time of the uniqueness of the helicopter unit, commenting that it was "the only one of its kind in the Army and the only one doing the kind of work it does in a combat environment" in the midst of formidable obstacles such as "the development of appropriate maneuvers, operation of outdated HU-1A helicopters with commensurate parts supply problems, use of jury rigged weaponry, and administrative problems connected with a unit on temporary station orders which had also to perform certain test objectives as well." Stilwell concluded, "That this unit has gained the reputation and respect and professional competence it has may be solely contributed to the drive, ambition, dedication, and integrity displayed by Major Slavich during this period of command." Once word spread about the effectiveness of the UTT, Army and Marine transport pilots refused to fly without UTT support; at times, Slavich and his men would fly up to five and six missions a day, proving to his superiors "that these most vulnerable of military machines were, when flown with originality and daring, in fact not vulnerable at all". In Once Upon a Distant War, William Prochnau wrote that Slavich not only gave [the journalists] the skies, he gave them the war, affording them a rare and unfettered bird's eye view of the unfolding conflict below. He retired in 1975 after serving as the brigade commander, U.S. Army Readiness Division at Fort Devens, Massachusetts.

Later life and death After retiring from the U.S. Army in 1975, Slavich settled in North Carolina, where he taught at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte before embarking on a successful career in real estate. He was the president of McGuire Commercial Properties in Charlotte, and the Oppel Company of Tega Cay, a residential building company in Tega Cay, South Carolina. Slavich retired to Marco Island, Florida in 1987, where he lived with his wife, Miriam, until his death on October 20, 2012.

Awards and decorations