NHAHS Oldest Helix Award

Naval Helicopter Association Historical Society, Inc. (NHAHS) Oldest Helix Award - 91 Years Young! CAPT Paul L. “Scratch” Hryskanich, USN (Ret.)

By CAPT Bill Personius, USN (Ret)

CAPT Paul L. “Scratch” Hryskanich, USN (Ret.) was born in Elmira, NY on 09 July 1930. He is a first generation American of Ukrainian immigrants. After high school, he attended Cornell University for a year, at which point he realized the Navy would pay his college costs. He applied for admission to USC, looking forward to the mild California weather, and was accepted to the University of South Carolina, graduating in 1954. After completing flight training at NAS Hutchinson, KS in 1955, Scratch was one of the first nuggets to be allowed to go directly to helicopters, receiving his Unrestricted Naval Aviator Designation (N 2771) on 03 February 1955. He joined HS-7 and flew H-19s aboard CVSs, hovering at 15 feet with 90 feet of hydrophone cable out, listening for submarines; he claims to never have heard one except USS Nautilus, which could be heard at five miles. One of his claims to fame from those days was being personally chewed out by RADM John Thach, inventor of the Thach Weave from WWII days. The reason for the interview with RADM Thach is a closely held secret.

After HS-7, Scratch was assigned to Ellison Field as an instructor pilot and then to the US Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA where he completed a MS in Electrical Engineering and flew the station’s H-25 in bad weather when others were reluctant to try. Reassigned to the VP RAG, he discovered his depth perception had worsened and he was permanently grounded. Reassigned as a ground pounder at Patrol Wing Eleven, he became the Wing’s SLJO, including responsibility for a summer dance for USNA Midshipmen where he lost only one Mid and a captain’s daughter.

Scratch then moved to primarily SOSUS station duties. Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) provides deep-water long-range detection capabilities. His next assignment was at the US Naval Facility at Bermuda where he was the XO and then the CO. He spent three years as CO, often acting as the US Representative at local British events and thoroughly enjoying overseas life. He was then unfortunate enough to be assigned to the Pentagon, where he was responsible for oversight of 22 Naval Facilities in both the Atlantic and Pacific, and was heavily involved in the search for the missing submarine Scorpion. He then went to duty in the Pacific at Ford Island and was able to regain his tan after the Pentagon. Scratch then became Chief Staff Officer at SOSUS Atlantic in Norfolk, followed by a five-year command tour at SOSUS Dam Neck from which he retired.

Aside from his many Navy awards, Scratch received the highly coveted award from the Virginian Pilot Newspaper for having the messiest garage in Tidewater, VA… receiving a $25 gift certificate for a car wash in the process.

After retirement from the Navy, Scratch never had a full-time job, focusing instead on worldwide travel with his wife Ginger. He did work part-time as a tax preparer. He constantly marveled at the innovative and ingenious schemes some clients dreamed up to avoid paying income taxes. None of them ever worked. Scratch and Ginger, his wife of 65 years, live in Virginia Beach on Lynnhaven Inlet.

Here is the link for the Audio Interview with CAPT Jim O’Brien https://www.nhahistoricalsociety.org/capt-paul-l-scratch-hryskanich-usn-ret-biography/