Posted on 05/21/2004 4:30:55 AM PDT by condi2008
As the 60th anniversary of D-Day approaches, some skydiving veterans want to take a leap of faith -- if the Army lets them.
Several veterans, who were paratroopers with the 101st Airborne Division during the allied invasion of Normandy, want to do another jump during the upcoming anniversary celebration of D-Day in France.
The trouble is, these vets are in their 80s and the Army doesn't want them to jump for fear that one of them will get hurt.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Make them sign a waiver of liability.
Too bad my grandfather pulled his last rip-cord 2 years ago. He was 1/506th (don't know which Co.) that jumped in on D-Day and would've loved to do something like this.
Wolfhounds....leg all the way!!!!
They need to LET THEM JUMP! My dad would have given his left arm to make another "war" patrol on a diesel sub! Sign a waiver and GERONIMO!
Your granddad had HUGE balls to jump in. I was on Iwo Jima in 2001 leading a battle sites tour and standing atop Mt Suribachi, looking right down on the invasion beachs, I realized that a BLIND MAN could shoot down there and hit someone! That generation had guts to spare, too bad the one following them, the "peace, love, dope" generation was missing their set.
I'd to exchange the remaining WW2 vets for every one of the John sKerry crowd. The old fogeys are FAR MORE self-reliant and gutsy.
It's none of the Army's business!
If these veterans want to jump, they should cut the Army out of the loop and arrange it themselves. That's one of the joys of being a free American.
they'll jump...
George HW Bush is going to be jumping again so why can't these great men? God bless them.
My dad was 101st and jumped in on D-day. He passed in '93 but he would have given his left nut to make this jump with the boys!
RIP Dad, they're still jumping out of perfectly good airplanes! :-)~
If you read the article, boys and girls, the Army wouldn't let them do it for the 50th in 1994 either -- the then-septuagenerians (sp?) trained and showed Uncle that they still had what it takes to jump safely.
The reasons the Army is concerned are (1) if some old hero crunches his pelvis in Normandy, the press, which hates soldiers viscerally, will blame the Army; and (2) we have a LOT of data that shows that as one gets older, one injures more easily and heals more slowly. Unfortunately I am part of those statistics.
As far as the greatest generation, I can tell you sometime about the men that trained me in the 1970s... guys whose heroism (in Vietnam in the 60s) was no less because it was done on the QT, than any set of men we have ever sent to war.
I just discovered that a friend of mine, who fell in the earliest moments of this war, has a son who is picked up his standard and is now in Iraq... I think that real heroism is in the air we breathe and the soil our ancestors are buried in. It is possible for each of us to, if we will, take it up and carry it on. That others in the past have done what now look like greater deeds doesn't matter. Do what you can, do your best, and we'll be proud of you. You can do no more.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Well said.
Semper Fi
I believe that Fox News reported last night that they've already signed a waiver.
For Bush Sr's previous two jumps he received a significant amount of training from the Army. He did a freefall jump and was guided in by radio. Most civilian skydiving student parachute allow the student to land rather much softer these days when the student jumper is under radio guidance from an instructor when the student is capable of listening and does in fact listen (not always the case).
Most civilian drop sones only put 2 or maybe 3 (rare) students in the air at one time when using radio guidance. This is impractical and foolish to try for a large group to jump at one time.
As a former military jumper/jumpmaster (static line and mil freefall) and still a US Parachute Assn instructor, I can tell you that I'd be very leary of assisting 80 year old men do the jump. Beside their being more fragile, many ahve dimished vision and strengh. Strentgh being necessary to steer the parachute to a safe are and avoid obstacles which can kill (power lines, etc.).
About 1.5 years ago I was involved in training about 40 former paratroopers from the Vietnam era to jump with civilian square parachutes. Although their entheuiasm was very high for a number of them their ability and attention details was lacking. For some it became a safety issue and they were not allowed to jump.
I'm sure there are some in the group who are physically young enough to jump but it would be inherint on them to demonstrate it first.
While I greatly admire their spirit, it is wiser to celebrate the other events of the day and leave the jumping to those a little younger.
BFM
18A/18E/05B/05C
Let's not put all of us baby boomers into the same basket. Only the ones with big mouths were missing their family jewels, or had a teeny tiny set. Plenty of guys with big brass ones fought in Vietnam, and plenty of them were still around for Dessert Storm/Shield. Our own Freeper Aloha Ronnie was in the Ia Drang at LZ X-ray for example.
"Only three." The old man replies.
"Only three?" The younger men ask with a mix of contempt and incredulity.
"That's right," says the old man "Sicily, Normandy and Holland."
Plumley made all four combat jumps with the 82nd Airborne in World War II and one in Korea.
Col. Bob Piper is an American parachutist officer who served as a Platoon Leader in ‘G’ Company of the 505th PIR, as a Rgtl. Adjutant (S-1) and as a Rgtl. Intelligence Officer (S-2), during WWII. He made all four combat jumps effected by the 82d Airborne Division, and went through six battle campaigns of fierce fighting in Europe, being wounded only once by enemy fire.
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