A Nearly Tragic Jump

Heroes Remember

A Nearly Tragic Jump

Transcript

I had one bad parachute jump when a fellow got in underneath me He actually came out of the plane behind me about three people, but somehow or other he did something wrong and he got in underneath me and he took the wind out of my chute and I passed him heading for the ground head first and he was yelling for me to get away and I think a gust of wind or something blew my canopy into his risers and that straightened me up just before I hit the ground. So I hit hard enough that I was pretty much unconscious for the first few minutes. But the other jumps were good, no problem with them. That was the funny thing, I didn't panic. I was thinking about pulling my reserve and I realized it was too late cause I felt I could almost reach out and touch the grass and I didn't get scared until it was all over and then I got so scared my knees gave up on me and I couldn't walk for a few minutes. So, no one really knows how they're going to react in a situation like that until it happens.

Description

Mr. McKinney describes tangling with another jumper during training, and being saved from a head first landing by a timely gust of wind. He recalls feeling no fear until after the landing.

James McKinney

James McKinney was born on August 17, 1932 in Winnipegosis, Manitoba. Eventually his family settled in Gladstone, where he finished high school. Along with a brother and two friends, he enlisted in the army at Winnipeg. Mr. McKinney joined the artillery, took a jumper's course, and transferred to the airborne artillery. He also studied logarithms at night school during his basic training, and went to Korea as a Tech Able with the 1st Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Heavy Artillery. In this capacity, he ranged guns on enemy positions and acted as an observer in the observation post trench.

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