re: Normandy vet sings "Blood on the Risers/Paratrooper thread. Any jumpers?

The 82nd is something of a family business on my fathers side. My family likes to say we have had at least one officer serving in the 82nd since before it was designated an Airborne unit in '42 but my research shows we missed about 3 years in the late 70s.

My father was in the 504th that crossed the Rhine in the spring of '45 and set up in Hitdorf (sp?). His company earned a Presidential Unit Citation for the action.

The one thing I have on all the living 82nd relatives is I have a mustard stain (combat jump). I was in the 1-504 when we jumped into Panama (Operation Just Cause) in '89. It was the first 82nd combat jump since WWII and the largest combat jump since Market Garden. IIRC the only other mass combat jump since then was Operation Northern Delay in 2003 which was primarily 173d troopers.

I suppose my best personal story is jumping out of a C-141 at night at under 500 feet watching tracer fire criss-cross around me. Honestly, the most I can remember about that few seconds is hoping I didn't piss myself and praying my main inflated because making the decision, cutting away, and getting a reserve inflated was near impossible at the altitude. I truly was more worried about getting to the ground in a semi-controlled manner than I was about getting shot. This changed abruptly the second my boots touched the ground.

As combat goes mine in OJC and ODS were tame compared to those that went before and those that came after particular kicking doors in GWOT. Most people wearing a CIB went through a lot worse even if they were never grazed for that little bit of chest candy.