About
James Delahaye is a retired pilot and the author of the book - The Girl Who Ran With Black Tigers – relating to the war in Vietnam as seen through the eyes of a foreign soldier and a young female nurse.
In a nutshell.
James Delahaye was born in the Netherlands but only lived there for a short while before the entire family moved to Switzerland. He went to school both in Switzerland and England and studied Literature in Oxford and Political science in Geneva.
After a year and a half on the Golan Heights in Israel, Delahaye went back for the first time to the Netherlands where he became a short term volunteer in the Dutch Army. He served on Centurion tanks in the heavy cavalry and then joined the all-volunteer Colonial Army (TRIS) in the Dutch colony of Surinam. After returning to Geneva University, he came to the attention of “recruiters” who were interested in his lengthy jungle and other experiences. In the early summer of 1973, shortly after the departure of the bulk of the U.S. Forces from South Vietnam, James Delahaye joined a small group of foreign military “volunteers” and South Vietnamese Rangers loosely attached to the ARVN 37th Ranger Battalion. It is unclear if anyone actually had full control over these covert groups. By the end of ’74 it is estimated that at least sixty percent of the members of this “war band” were either dead or missing in action and Ranger Group 6 effectively ceased to exist.
In the beginning of 1976, Delahaye went on to the U.S. and was accepted at the U.S. National Aviation Academy under a ROTC program. He holds FAA Airline Transport Pilot Ratings (ATP) and instructor single and multi-engine and instrument ratings (CFII-ME) He flew as an Air Force Reserve Officer and as a contractor specializing in desert operation for a number of years and eventually retired. He is married to a beautiful lady and the couple have an equally beautiful daughter.