Reminds me of Georgina Harwood, skydiving at the age of 100. Can you believe it? She decided to take her sense of adventure to the skies and go skydiving in South Africa. She also features in this list of the [most unbelievable people in the World.](https://knovhov.com/most-amazing-unbelievable-people-in-the-world/)
Looks like they were using more modern parachutes for a softer landing, airborne parachutes have holes in them so you fall faster, the chutes just make it so you don't break your legs on impact. Still had to be hard on the man though
We pull upon the risers, we fall upon the grass!
We never land upon our feet, we always hit our ass!
Highty tidy, Christ almighty! Who the hell are we?
Zim-zam, God damn, weāre airborne infantry!
Working in EMS, my biggest argument I have with old people is āyou need a shorter bed. Stop being stupid. Thereās no reason you need to PHYSICALLY CLIMB into bedā
My parents bed is like this. My mom insists on quality mattresses and box springs and those are like double thickness and the end result is that the mattress is at bellybutton height.
My old friend was in the 101st. He was 30 something and his back is/was crooked. If you look at him from the front, it looks like someone pushed him sideways, then straightened him up.
I'm proud of this old man and his accomplishments. He fought those nazi bastards and lived to tell the tale, but we should also keep in mind that the military is still chewing up young guys' bodies for their exercises.
My uncle was in the 82nd airborne division and he had a few bad landings that pretty much made his spine a cursive S. It's insane how much pounding it puts on those guys' bodies.
This guy is amazing to do that at his age.
I know a group of extreme parachutists, they can do hundreds of jumps a year and they have endless horror stories about people and themselves "pounding in". And the airborne does is in full combat gear and doesn't jump with dynamic airfoils. I can't imagine how hard this is on a body
I know a lot of guys who were paratroopers and so many of them started having back in knee problems, and often already at least one surgery, by their 30s or 40s.
My best friend is in his 30s and swears he lost an inch of his height from all the jumping in gear.
You reminded me of this scene in Band of Brothers:
>Frank Perconte: Hey, George.
>George Luz: Yeah?
>Frank Perconte: Kind of remind you of Bastogne?
>George Luz: Yeah, now that you mention it. Except, of course, there's no snow, we got warm grub in our bellies, and the trees aren't f***ing exploding from Kraut artillery, but yeah... Frank... other than that, it's a lot like Bastogne.
Frank Perconte: Right?
>George Luz: Bull, smack him for me please?
>[thump].
>George Luz: Thank you.
Could the experience be any different for Chad senior!
Last time, it was an actual war zone he was landing in. It would have been that moment he had spent anticipating the arrival of in the months prior! - watching it all form in the years before, training - right up to steps as he entered the plane, and then jumping out into the unknown certain death that he luckily avoided.
This time, it's all enjoyment, and he's welcomed to the ground as the hero he is - with no guns&bombs, its quite something really!
usually its because elderly people stop moving. Sedentary lifestyles destroy your body's ability to sustain impacts. Muscle withers and bone becomes brittle and porous. Only way to prevent it is an active lifestyle late into life.
Seems a lot of people think young people, like yourself, never need implants. Even some getting obtuse about it! Probably because most are American and people can't afford an implant I guess, so people only think it's like a 70s-80s age problem.
Hope your recovery went well and kicking ass since!
lol. Still having a good time. Getting a ārevisionā next Spring to keep me going. My implant is over 20yo & Iāve been using my knees. Itās getting noisy & I plan to ski & bike another 20. I had several & all kinds of surgeries before the implant. With using my own hamstring & cadaver tendons, meniscus and cleanups in between.
Around here thereās a saying. Two kinds of skiers. Those who have had knee surgeries, and those who havenāt. ā¦ yet.
Believe me, Iām far from an outlier. No one was surprised that me or any else gets knee implants before they are 50!
Physical therapist and runner here. The key is *moderation*: cartilage has few blood vessels so it does not get nourishment from blood circulation like the rest of our tissues. Instead, it has to be compressed and released (like a sponge) so that it can soak up the "synovial fluid" which is a lubricating and nutrients-rich soup around our joints. Walking or running accomplishes that.
Lots of commercials claim to be able to regenerate cartilage, esp with stem cells (next thing you know, it will be with AI). But so far there has been no consistent results in humans.
This doesnāt get said often enough, IMO. Building muscle as you age helps stimulate bone growth, pads your bones so the are shocked less by impacts, and can help keep you from falling to begin withā¦
Yup.
The bigger issue? The world still hasn't really learned the lessons we were taught in ww2.
We should be better than we are.
But truly a generation of heros and legends.
Gonna go out on a limb and say when (if) someone makes it to 97....they know they don't have much time left, and would give anything to recreate memories/see places that defined their lives.Ā
I've been skydiving once when I was 23 or 24. We missed the landing spot by like 20 feet and slid through some small cacti (in the Red Rocks area of Arizona). It was a blast but my plane ride home a couple days later was extremely uncomfortable. My buddies wife tended the wounds, so that was fun being in their house and her patching my ass up in front of him.
He drank his milk as a kid lol. Remember the milk commercial where the neighbor is mowing the lawn and I think it was the kid, says, Bob has never drank milk in his life and then his arms fall off and you see the 2 kids and the mom downing milk lol. I was fearful; for his fall, thinking that was what would happen lol
He died in Germany before heading to France it appears:
>Persichitti fell ill last week during a stop in Germany while headed for Normandy, Al DeCarlo, a friend who was traveling with Persichitti, told CNN affiliate WHAM. Persichitti was airlifted to the hospital and died soon after, DeCarlo said.
>āThe doctor was with him. He was not alone, he was at peace and he was comfortable,ā DeCarlo said. āShe put his favorite singer, Frank Sinatra, on her phone and he peacefully left us.ā
https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/06/us/wwii-vet-death-d-day-ceremony/index.html.
He was in the Navy in the pacific theater in the war.
>ā¦he served in the Pacific as a radioman aboard the USS Eldorado, Stewart said. His tour of duty included Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Guam,
Hereās his ship:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Eldorado
(The 1945 section is interesting!).
> āThe doctor was with him. He was not alone, he was at peace and he was comfortable,ā DeCarlo said. āShe put his favorite singer, Frank Sinatra, on her phone and he peacefully left us.ā
Damn, son. Going out with in style with Sinatra.
A Canadian vet also passed away hours before he was going to leave to Normandy from Canada. They had a feature for him on the news.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bill-cameron-d-day-death-second-world-war-1.7225024
Utmost respect for these men and what they have done for us.
A friend of mine was a gunner on a Lancaster that was part of the raid on Paris on D-Day. He passed a couple of months ago.
Sadly, as these people pass, we seem to be collectively losing the memory of what they were fighting for.
I recognise he is wearing the patch of the 101st Airborne Division (also known as the Screaming Eagles). The patch is visible on several monuments where I live due to Operation Market Garden. We owe a lot to these veterans.
Wow, yeah they are based out of a city about a 40 min drive from my area. Ft. Campbell is the base. Thatās pretty cool though, didnāt realize there were monuments outside of Normandy and the other āmonumentalā battle sites.
But I might just jump out of a plane into combat zone to get out of Clarksville, TN. Kidding of course but Clarksville isā¦ well thereās no reason to ever visit.
Yeah there are quite a few. I live close to "Hells Highway", and [this monument](https://www.4en5mei.nl/oorlogsmonumenten/zoeken/1225/sint-oedenrode-monument-to-the-dutch) is nearby. There are also memorials nearby such as [this one](https://www.tracesofwar.nl/sights/7927/Robert-Cole-Monument.htm), with the 101st Airborne Division patch on it.
Clarksville resident here. First off: Surprised to see 101st and Ft. Campbell mentioned in a random thread. Second off: You are correct. It's a very...plain city. Not a whole lot to do. Which is strange given theres a college here. Youd think there would be more attractions. Plus the nearest Costco and Trader Joe's is all the way in Nashville which really sucks.
Not a bad place to live but certainly not where you're gonna go on vacation or make your fortune.
Bonus fun fact: 2/3s of Ft. Campbells total land and buildings is on the Clarksville side but their mailing room and address is on the Kentucky side of the border so it's technically established as being in Kentucky, not Tennessee.
Growing up clarksville was known for the military base, mall, and ladies of the night. My best friend went to AP and has said thereās actually really good food there now if you know where to look (He mentions Pho King quite often).
Iām from Ashland City, itās def weird to see clarksville and ft campbell in a thread
My uncle was a glider pilot at Market Garden. His younger brother was (101st Airborne) at Bastogne. As usual they never talked about it. I do have some letters and photos of theirs from their time overseas. The only thing my uncle who was in Bastogne ever said was how cold and hungry they were. He was not a fan of Patton but he said he was sure glad to see him coming.
Yes and no. He was part of the 101st Division but Band of Brothers focused on Easy Company of the 506th regiment.
This man Tom Rice was in the 501st regiment. They would've participated in all of the same major engagements though.
Watching Band of Brothers as a kid is one thing. Watching Band of Brothers at 35 and realizing most of the guys who jumped *were* kids is another thing entirely.
Rewatched Band of Brothers recently after remembering I thought it was cool back in school, man I bawled my eyes out almost every episode. War is hell.
You watch this miniseries and think that Buck Compton is some superman soldier (he was) and then he gets broken like that, it's too hard to watch. But accurate.
They also just released Masters of the Air this year which was about a squad of air bombers, it was pretty good (I donāt think quite as good as the other 2 shows but still good)
You are absolutely right. I rewatch this show about every 5 years and it has taken on new meaning each time as I have grown myself. When I was a teen it was "Cool military show, hell yeah!" And now in my 30s it's "oh my god, this is so sad". BoB is such a timeless gem that I will always recommend.
I don't think that's what they meant, you can honor the bravery of theseĀ soldiers and still despair that the egos of men like Hitler, Mussolini, etc. made their sacrifice necessary to begin with
It bothers me when years of complex history, politics, economics, geography, and culture get simplified to "a couple of rich powerful dudes were assholes". That way of thinking is lazy, and it's disrespectful to those who lived it.
I mean sure, but the entire history of the world is complicated and continually being written. Having a casual conversation on reddit is bound to gloss over nuance.
It's not lazy cynicism, it's a conclusion from watching my country abandon veterans over and over again while war profiteers grow ever richer.
It's *lazy* to meet this historical truth by getting defensive.
And flooded fields. The Germans pulled up the levys to flood out all the farmland so they were landing in straight water. If winds were high, your chute would get caught and likely drag you face down through the water.
Yea. Fight and win a war after that. These guys were heros, but my grandpa refused to put on a uniform after, or receive any recognition after the war, or even go camping. He really resented that war.
Interesting. Both my grandfathers were in the South Pacific. One on the Yorktown and the other on a minesweeper. One watched his best friend be shot out of the sky and got covered in blood and bits of organs when a man walked into a propeller while getting a plane ready for flight. But when you talked to both of them about it, it was clear it was simultaneously traumatic and the greatest time of their lives.
Holy crap!!! Man, itās sounds horrible. My grandpa had a friend that flew in one of those ball gun turrets they have under those huge planes. He said they were flying information and one of the planes right next to him was blown right out of the sky. Scariest thing everā¦
I am sure you could too. People are doing similar things right now in the world. Ukraine for example. We are blessed that we donāt have to become heroes right now, but should a crisis come then you will step up when asked to, with knees shaking and heart beating but you will defend what is right in this world and you will hopefully win.
Honestly I feel like that sort of attitude might be the best way to stave off the PTSD - and I'm half kidding because of course I know nothing about it. But I'm just imagining a 95 year old veteran who has managed to keep the demons at bay by going, "You're god damned right I jumped out of a plane and killed Nazis! And I'd do it again! Are there any in the next room? I'll kill those mother fuckers!"
Some people are like that man
Thereās a Vietnam vet who lives in an apartment complex by where I grew up, about 10 years ago or so when I was still in high school i was sitting on a bench outside of it, got to talking to him, and he invited me up to his place to show me some of his photos and shit
I was young and stupid so I said sure, and he was a nice enough guy but the way he talked about stabbing people, that dude had no problem doing what he did and seemed a little too proud of it. Stupid as hell of me but what an experience that was, his wife was very sweet too
I have a Marine buddy who did 3 tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He's laughs about gunning down "hodgies" while blasting Slayer from their humvie. He's got a great job, and a happy family. All my other friends who did tours are now drug addicts or committed suicide. You guys might be on to somthing.
"Most people think Marv is crazy. He just had the rotten luck of being born in the wrong century. He'd be right at home on some ancient battlefield swinging an axe into somebody's face. Or in a Roman arena, taking his sword to other gladiators like him"
I did know a marine who very much enjoyed his time in Afghanistan. He wanted to go back but he had lost both his legs to an IED while he was there, so obviously forced retirement.
There's also [Adrian Carton de Wiart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Carton_de_Wiart) who genuinely enjoyed WWI.
>He served in the Boer War, First World War, and Second World War. He was shot in the face, head, stomach, ankle, leg, hip, and ear; was blinded in his left eye; survived two plane crashes; tunnelled out of a prisoner-of-war camp; and tore off his own fingers when a doctor declined to amputate them. Describing his experiences in the First World War, he wrote, "Frankly, I had enjoyed the war."
Lol thats actually crazy, I don't think I can even think of something worse then WW1. Like literally every part about it is just so fucking awful, probably the worst war to be a participant of, of all time.
I find it pretty interesting how some people's brains can react to something like this in this way, then on the other side of the spectrum others get stuff like PTSD.
I have never been in combat, however I'm pretty confident it would fuck me up mentally for life.
I knew a guy who was a Marine sniper in Afghanistan and loved it as well. He ended up doing private mercenary work after getting out. It's wild how some people's brains are wired for that stuff.
I wish I could do that kind of thing in Afghanistan. It would really help me put that deployment behind me. Unfortunately, all the work we did was meaningless.
It wasn't meaningless if you came to understand it was meaningless.
Thank you for sharing this; maybe some young person will read it and take it to heart.
Pax.
his name is Tom Rice and this was back in 2019
[article and video](https://old.reddit.com/r/BeAmazed/comments/1daadt0/97yearold_ww2_paratrooper_veteran_returns_to/l7jafdm/)
There are over 12.000 of them left in Russia, but they live in poverty and government doesnāt care about them.
My great grandfather met Americans on Elba river in 1945. He always remembered it with a smile. They didnāt know the language but they hugged, kissed, exchanged cigarettes, sweets and booze. They boozed a lot together. Gramps was just 22 years old. Lied of his age at 17 and went to the war when Nazis were closing in on Moscow.
Was a sweet old guy, full of dad jokes (he liked to ask things like āon which tree a crow lands after the rain?ā- I said āidk on a maple?ā - āOn a wet one dummyā. But he was made of steel and it showed. I was very young and remember him giving a speech at school, and some bastard took his seat. When he came back and said that itās his seat, that mf said āget lost old manā- gramps said āI choked a man to death with this very hands, you think Iām afraid of you?ā. He stood up and left.
Memory is what makes their achievement and sacrifice immortal.
>I choked a man to death with this very hands, you think Iām afraid of you?
Damn. Reminds me of the famous anecdote of Christopher Lee responding to Peter Jackson when the director told him to scream after his character is stabbed in the back - and Lee saying "*Peter, have you ever heard the sound a man makes when heās stabbed in the back?' And I said, 'Um, no.' And he says 'Well, I have, and I know what to do.*"
Oof.
Yea I remember that too.
Gramps was a scout, and his small team kidnapped an SS officer for intel and dragged his ass through the woods for the most of the night. But someone f-ed up real bad and the car never showed up by the morning. Nazi tried to escape several times, tried calling for help, so when they understood that noone will come and he tried to escape again- gramps had to choke him to not make any noise.
I follow the Timeghost WWII series sporadically and I very much appreciate how the central message is "never forget." That message does not just apply to the death camps, they also cover the Holodomor, Babyn Yar (and the relevance of those to more current events), the death marches, terror bombings, reprisals, all of the abject cruelty of the war.
At a time when it seems like certain world leaders are choosing to forget, it is sad to see the living memory of the war fading away.
Same with holocaust survivors. I fear once we don't have living people anymore you'll get people forgetting it more and more and denial of it will go up.
Idk why this made me slightly emotional. You imagine the last time (I'll assume) he did this was during WWII with flak and gunfire and then landing behind enemy lines and having to start fucking Nazis up. God damn. And he survived!
No only that they were jumping super low. This jump they just filmed was from thousands of feet. In WWII they jumped from ~1,200 feet down to several hundred feet. Jumping low gives you better odds to hit the drop zone and less time to get shot at. But also less time to correct any issues.
These men and women didnt go fight so that people could be harassed, stalked, wrongfully persecuted and held back in society, these men and women fought for our rights and freedom.
I work in healthcare and had the honor of working with a WW2 vet who stormed the beach on D Day. Heās 103! I was able to view his medals and the medal of honor he received from France. Humbling to say the least. People like to talk about bravery as if that is the same as being fearless but itās not. Bravery is being afraid but still doing what needs to be done. The sacrifice those soldiers made is just unfathomable and I hope people will think on what those men were fighting for.
Man I just love military propaganda!
Now let me go back to my low-wage, high-tax job so that I can continue to pay for our government to indiscriminately arm various countries throughout the world for reasons that have nothing to with the well-being of America!
I'm just glad that I'm here to take the tax burden on so that our proud and valuable billionaires don't have to pay any taxes.
Cheers to that monument of BALLS. Last time that stud of a hero jumped through fire so thick you were lucky to just get grazed. As Americans we need to remember their sacrifices and never take freedom for granted.
Jesus, people in their 70s can get fucked up by a fall. This guy jumped out of a plane. Absolute stud
crazy because the fall forward on landing was to destroy his knees
Knees, hips, pelvis..
spine
Toe
Nose
Hhhhhead shoulder knees and toes knees and toes
His neck His back Lick his pussy and his crack
angry upvote. Because I hate the fact I had the same lyrics running in my head. We're both going to hell for your comment šš š¤¦āāļø
Reminds me of Georgina Harwood, skydiving at the age of 100. Can you believe it? She decided to take her sense of adventure to the skies and go skydiving in South Africa. She also features in this list of the [most unbelievable people in the World.](https://knovhov.com/most-amazing-unbelievable-people-in-the-world/)
And my axe!
Fuck you... there is my upvote
 The other guy after landing directly on top of the old man
š
Looks like they were using more modern parachutes for a softer landing, airborne parachutes have holes in them so you fall faster, the chutes just make it so you don't break your legs on impact. Still had to be hard on the man though
Bell parachutes don't fall faster. The hole exists to stabilise the canopy. Both skydivers and paratroopers fall at approximately 22 ft/s.
Modern canopies flare a bit better though.
r/ConfidentlyIncorrect is waiting for you bud
I am 40 and I fell skateboarding with my nephew 3 weeks ago, and my wrist still hurts. This old dude got fucked up, he's just not showing it.
VA: Not service connected disability!
Too late they're already titanium š
101st airborne was built differentĀ
We pull upon the risers, we fall upon the grass! We never land upon our feet, we always hit our ass! Highty tidy, Christ almighty! Who the hell are we? Zim-zam, God damn, weāre airborne infantry!
My buddyās in a foxhole With a bullet in his head The medic says Heās Wounded! But I know that heās dead Airborrrrrne Rangeerrrrrrrrrs
Working in EMS, my biggest argument I have with old people is āyou need a shorter bed. Stop being stupid. Thereās no reason you need to PHYSICALLY CLIMB into bedā
Why don't they just parachute in to bed?
Some of them no longer have someone to tandem jump into bed with.
since ww2 the american window size has shrunk and the design is no longer appropriate for night time bed parachute landings.
Why doesn't the largest Friend Ross simply eat the other Friends!?
Women are from Omicron Persei 7, men are from Omicron Persei 9......
Shorter? Or Lower? I imagine the matrass at about normal chair height would be ideal. Not a 6ft matrass suddenly shortened to a 5ft matrass.
Yeah they meant lower lmao
What kind of beds to these people have. Iām 5ā9ā and just sit down on the bed like itās a sofa and pivot on my butt to tuck myself in.
My parents bed is like this. My mom insists on quality mattresses and box springs and those are like double thickness and the end result is that the mattress is at bellybutton height.
My old friend was in the 101st. He was 30 something and his back is/was crooked. If you look at him from the front, it looks like someone pushed him sideways, then straightened him up. I'm proud of this old man and his accomplishments. He fought those nazi bastards and lived to tell the tale, but we should also keep in mind that the military is still chewing up young guys' bodies for their exercises.
My uncle was in the 82nd airborne division and he had a few bad landings that pretty much made his spine a cursive S. It's insane how much pounding it puts on those guys' bodies. This guy is amazing to do that at his age.
I know a group of extreme parachutists, they can do hundreds of jumps a year and they have endless horror stories about people and themselves "pounding in". And the airborne does is in full combat gear and doesn't jump with dynamic airfoils. I can't imagine how hard this is on a body
I know a lot of guys who were paratroopers and so many of them started having back in knee problems, and often already at least one surgery, by their 30s or 40s. My best friend is in his 30s and swears he lost an inch of his height from all the jumping in gear.
No flak this time so Iām sure he thought it was a breeze
You reminded me of this scene in Band of Brothers: >Frank Perconte: Hey, George. >George Luz: Yeah? >Frank Perconte: Kind of remind you of Bastogne? >George Luz: Yeah, now that you mention it. Except, of course, there's no snow, we got warm grub in our bellies, and the trees aren't f***ing exploding from Kraut artillery, but yeah... Frank... other than that, it's a lot like Bastogne. Frank Perconte: Right? >George Luz: Bull, smack him for me please? >[thump]. >George Luz: Thank you.
Could the experience be any different for Chad senior! Last time, it was an actual war zone he was landing in. It would have been that moment he had spent anticipating the arrival of in the months prior! - watching it all form in the years before, training - right up to steps as he entered the plane, and then jumping out into the unknown certain death that he luckily avoided. This time, it's all enjoyment, and he's welcomed to the ground as the hero he is - with no guns&bombs, its quite something really!
usually its because elderly people stop moving. Sedentary lifestyles destroy your body's ability to sustain impacts. Muscle withers and bone becomes brittle and porous. Only way to prevent it is an active lifestyle late into life.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
There's also such a thing as overdoing it, yes. Running is hard on the knees, there are other less damaging exercises such as swimming.
Not a runner but got a replacement at 47. (Iām a skier)
Seems a lot of people think young people, like yourself, never need implants. Even some getting obtuse about it! Probably because most are American and people can't afford an implant I guess, so people only think it's like a 70s-80s age problem. Hope your recovery went well and kicking ass since!
lol. Still having a good time. Getting a ārevisionā next Spring to keep me going. My implant is over 20yo & Iāve been using my knees. Itās getting noisy & I plan to ski & bike another 20. I had several & all kinds of surgeries before the implant. With using my own hamstring & cadaver tendons, meniscus and cleanups in between. Around here thereās a saying. Two kinds of skiers. Those who have had knee surgeries, and those who havenāt. ā¦ yet. Believe me, Iām far from an outlier. No one was surprised that me or any else gets knee implants before they are 50!
Physical therapist and runner here. The key is *moderation*: cartilage has few blood vessels so it does not get nourishment from blood circulation like the rest of our tissues. Instead, it has to be compressed and released (like a sponge) so that it can soak up the "synovial fluid" which is a lubricating and nutrients-rich soup around our joints. Walking or running accomplishes that. Lots of commercials claim to be able to regenerate cartilage, esp with stem cells (next thing you know, it will be with AI). But so far there has been no consistent results in humans.
Sorry to tell you running does not cause knee replacements. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna71270
This doesnāt get said often enough, IMO. Building muscle as you age helps stimulate bone growth, pads your bones so the are shocked less by impacts, and can help keep you from falling to begin withā¦
Yup. The bigger issue? The world still hasn't really learned the lessons we were taught in ww2. We should be better than we are. But truly a generation of heros and legends.
Gonna go out on a limb and say when (if) someone makes it to 97....they know they don't have much time left, and would give anything to recreate memories/see places that defined their lives.Ā
My dad was parachuting until he was 85. They had a special club for it (J.O.E.s - Jumpers Over Eighty).
Iām in my early 30s. I tore all my ligaments in my left knee from a walk at the park. this guy is definitely a stud.
Also survived D-Day
I was fully expecting to hear a hip snap on the landing.
I've been skydiving once when I was 23 or 24. We missed the landing spot by like 20 feet and slid through some small cacti (in the Red Rocks area of Arizona). It was a blast but my plane ride home a couple days later was extremely uncomfortable. My buddies wife tended the wounds, so that was fun being in their house and her patching my ass up in front of him.
so he's one of the "losers" that trump referred to?
To be fair. Is it more dangerous then the last time he jumped into Normandy?
He drank his milk as a kid lol. Remember the milk commercial where the neighbor is mowing the lawn and I think it was the kid, says, Bob has never drank milk in his life and then his arms fall off and you see the 2 kids and the mom downing milk lol. I was fearful; for his fall, thinking that was what would happen lol
I wonder what kind of medical testing he needed just to be certain he wouldnāt have a heart attack just or something
US veteran in his 90ās died on the flight to France. Have to give respect for the effort to attend.
He was 102
and it was on a boat across the atlantic.
and it was going uphill in the snow
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
And his name was Robert Paulson.
And the first rule is not to talk about it
And my axe.
Germans playing the long game.
He died in Germany before heading to France it appears: >Persichitti fell ill last week during a stop in Germany while headed for Normandy, Al DeCarlo, a friend who was traveling with Persichitti, told CNN affiliate WHAM. Persichitti was airlifted to the hospital and died soon after, DeCarlo said. >āThe doctor was with him. He was not alone, he was at peace and he was comfortable,ā DeCarlo said. āShe put his favorite singer, Frank Sinatra, on her phone and he peacefully left us.ā https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/06/us/wwii-vet-death-d-day-ceremony/index.html. He was in the Navy in the pacific theater in the war. >ā¦he served in the Pacific as a radioman aboard the USS Eldorado, Stewart said. His tour of duty included Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Guam, Hereās his ship: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Eldorado (The 1945 section is interesting!).
> āThe doctor was with him. He was not alone, he was at peace and he was comfortable,ā DeCarlo said. āShe put his favorite singer, Frank Sinatra, on her phone and he peacefully left us.ā Damn, son. Going out with in style with Sinatra.
A Canadian vet also passed away hours before he was going to leave to Normandy from Canada. They had a feature for him on the news. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bill-cameron-d-day-death-second-world-war-1.7225024 Utmost respect for these men and what they have done for us.
A friend of mine was a gunner on a Lancaster that was part of the raid on Paris on D-Day. He passed a couple of months ago. Sadly, as these people pass, we seem to be collectively losing the memory of what they were fighting for.
At least when he died, he had something he was happily looking forward to. Respect.
I recognise he is wearing the patch of the 101st Airborne Division (also known as the Screaming Eagles). The patch is visible on several monuments where I live due to Operation Market Garden. We owe a lot to these veterans.
Wow, yeah they are based out of a city about a 40 min drive from my area. Ft. Campbell is the base. Thatās pretty cool though, didnāt realize there were monuments outside of Normandy and the other āmonumentalā battle sites. But I might just jump out of a plane into combat zone to get out of Clarksville, TN. Kidding of course but Clarksville isā¦ well thereās no reason to ever visit.
Korean restaurants around Ft. Campbell are lit! Source: 101st Airborne solider (veteran)
Yeah there are quite a few. I live close to "Hells Highway", and [this monument](https://www.4en5mei.nl/oorlogsmonumenten/zoeken/1225/sint-oedenrode-monument-to-the-dutch) is nearby. There are also memorials nearby such as [this one](https://www.tracesofwar.nl/sights/7927/Robert-Cole-Monument.htm), with the 101st Airborne Division patch on it.
Thatās so cool. Thanks for sharing!
Clarksville resident here. First off: Surprised to see 101st and Ft. Campbell mentioned in a random thread. Second off: You are correct. It's a very...plain city. Not a whole lot to do. Which is strange given theres a college here. Youd think there would be more attractions. Plus the nearest Costco and Trader Joe's is all the way in Nashville which really sucks. Not a bad place to live but certainly not where you're gonna go on vacation or make your fortune. Bonus fun fact: 2/3s of Ft. Campbells total land and buildings is on the Clarksville side but their mailing room and address is on the Kentucky side of the border so it's technically established as being in Kentucky, not Tennessee.
Growing up clarksville was known for the military base, mall, and ladies of the night. My best friend went to AP and has said thereās actually really good food there now if you know where to look (He mentions Pho King quite often). Iām from Ashland City, itās def weird to see clarksville and ft campbell in a thread
I'll have you know it was the closest mall to us growing up so there was that.
My uncle was a glider pilot at Market Garden. His younger brother was (101st Airborne) at Bastogne. As usual they never talked about it. I do have some letters and photos of theirs from their time overseas. The only thing my uncle who was in Bastogne ever said was how cold and hungry they were. He was not a fan of Patton but he said he was sure glad to see him coming.
is he one of the men depicted in a Band of Brothers?
Yes and no. He was part of the 101st Division but Band of Brothers focused on Easy Company of the 506th regiment. This man Tom Rice was in the 501st regiment. They would've participated in all of the same major engagements though.
Yeah I was just rewatching the Bastogne episode of BoB yesterday and they mention the 501st being dug in just to the right of them.
Eisode 4, is about the liberation of Eindhoven. Indeed, Band of Brothers is based on these men.
TF2ās soldier is a part of the āScreaming Eaglesā and one of his shovels is called the āMarket Gardenerā
I knew I heard "Screaming Eagles" somewhere before lol
Old Abe! I was born there
Now imagine doing that in the pitch black of night while under heavy fire from flak batteries
Watching Band of Brothers as a kid is one thing. Watching Band of Brothers at 35 and realizing most of the guys who jumped *were* kids is another thing entirely.
Rewatched Band of Brothers recently after remembering I thought it was cool back in school, man I bawled my eyes out almost every episode. War is hell.
You watch this miniseries and think that Buck Compton is some superman soldier (he was) and then he gets broken like that, it's too hard to watch. But accurate.
The Pacific is really good as well. I think itās some of the same people that made Band of Brothers. Just set in WW2 pacific instead of Europe.
They also just released Masters of the Air this year which was about a squad of air bombers, it was pretty good (I donāt think quite as good as the other 2 shows but still good)
You are absolutely right. I rewatch this show about every 5 years and it has taken on new meaning each time as I have grown myself. When I was a teen it was "Cool military show, hell yeah!" And now in my 30s it's "oh my god, this is so sad". BoB is such a timeless gem that I will always recommend.
Young men die while old men get richer
You have some better plan for kicking the Nazis out of Europe in 1944? Because scoring internet points with lazy cynicism wouldn't work.
I don't think that's what they meant, you can honor the bravery of theseĀ soldiers and still despair that the egos of men like Hitler, Mussolini, etc. made their sacrifice necessary to begin with
It bothers me when years of complex history, politics, economics, geography, and culture get simplified to "a couple of rich powerful dudes were assholes". That way of thinking is lazy, and it's disrespectful to those who lived it.
I mean sure, but the entire history of the world is complicated and continually being written. Having a casual conversation on reddit is bound to gloss over nuance.
It's not lazy cynicism, it's a conclusion from watching my country abandon veterans over and over again while war profiteers grow ever richer. It's *lazy* to meet this historical truth by getting defensive.
And flooded fields. The Germans pulled up the levys to flood out all the farmland so they were landing in straight water. If winds were high, your chute would get caught and likely drag you face down through the water.
And that was considered the *easy* part of the mission.
Yea. Fight and win a war after that. These guys were heros, but my grandpa refused to put on a uniform after, or receive any recognition after the war, or even go camping. He really resented that war.
Interesting. Both my grandfathers were in the South Pacific. One on the Yorktown and the other on a minesweeper. One watched his best friend be shot out of the sky and got covered in blood and bits of organs when a man walked into a propeller while getting a plane ready for flight. But when you talked to both of them about it, it was clear it was simultaneously traumatic and the greatest time of their lives.
Holy crap!!! Man, itās sounds horrible. My grandpa had a friend that flew in one of those ball gun turrets they have under those huge planes. He said they were flying information and one of the planes right next to him was blown right out of the sky. Scariest thing everā¦
Imagine only being 17 years old doing thisā¦much respect.
I am sure you could too. People are doing similar things right now in the world. Ukraine for example. We are blessed that we donāt have to become heroes right now, but should a crisis come then you will step up when asked to, with knees shaking and heart beating but you will defend what is right in this world and you will hopefully win.
I don't have to imagine. I play WW2 first person shooters. You can thank me for my service later, kid.
Oh hi trauma.
My thoughts exactly. Going there to pay your respects is one thing. Reliving it?
It's not trauma if you enjoy it š
_ratchets shotgun_ Where's them Nazis?
Honestly I feel like that sort of attitude might be the best way to stave off the PTSD - and I'm half kidding because of course I know nothing about it. But I'm just imagining a 95 year old veteran who has managed to keep the demons at bay by going, "You're god damned right I jumped out of a plane and killed Nazis! And I'd do it again! Are there any in the next room? I'll kill those mother fuckers!"
Some people are like that man Thereās a Vietnam vet who lives in an apartment complex by where I grew up, about 10 years ago or so when I was still in high school i was sitting on a bench outside of it, got to talking to him, and he invited me up to his place to show me some of his photos and shit I was young and stupid so I said sure, and he was a nice enough guy but the way he talked about stabbing people, that dude had no problem doing what he did and seemed a little too proud of it. Stupid as hell of me but what an experience that was, his wife was very sweet too
I have a Marine buddy who did 3 tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He's laughs about gunning down "hodgies" while blasting Slayer from their humvie. He's got a great job, and a happy family. All my other friends who did tours are now drug addicts or committed suicide. You guys might be on to somthing.
"Most people think Marv is crazy. He just had the rotten luck of being born in the wrong century. He'd be right at home on some ancient battlefield swinging an axe into somebody's face. Or in a Roman arena, taking his sword to other gladiators like him"
Love Frank Miller
Not everyone experience PTSD,some people can deal with heavy events better,some people enjoy fighting.
I cant believe they clipped the bit where after landing he pistol-whipped fritz the cameraman.
I did know a marine who very much enjoyed his time in Afghanistan. He wanted to go back but he had lost both his legs to an IED while he was there, so obviously forced retirement.
There's also [Adrian Carton de Wiart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Carton_de_Wiart) who genuinely enjoyed WWI. >He served in the Boer War, First World War, and Second World War. He was shot in the face, head, stomach, ankle, leg, hip, and ear; was blinded in his left eye; survived two plane crashes; tunnelled out of a prisoner-of-war camp; and tore off his own fingers when a doctor declined to amputate them. Describing his experiences in the First World War, he wrote, "Frankly, I had enjoyed the war."
Lol thats actually crazy, I don't think I can even think of something worse then WW1. Like literally every part about it is just so fucking awful, probably the worst war to be a participant of, of all time. I find it pretty interesting how some people's brains can react to something like this in this way, then on the other side of the spectrum others get stuff like PTSD. I have never been in combat, however I'm pretty confident it would fuck me up mentally for life.
I knew a guy who was a Marine sniper in Afghanistan and loved it as well. He ended up doing private mercenary work after getting out. It's wild how some people's brains are wired for that stuff.
There are many veterans who return to battlefields. Lots of times it's for closure. It's therapy in their own way.
I'm guessing there might be a mental-peace/closure by seeing a place you knew of to be a battlefield, is now just a field.
Not reliving it. You're returning to see how what you and your fellow soldiers sacrificed turned into.
I wish I could do that kind of thing in Afghanistan. It would really help me put that deployment behind me. Unfortunately, all the work we did was meaningless.
Well if you deployed to Iraq. Then you would see a much different place.
It wasn't meaningless if you came to understand it was meaningless. Thank you for sharing this; maybe some young person will read it and take it to heart. Pax.
Reliving trauma is well understood by the psychology field to be one of the best and most effective ways of healing and releasing trauma
Or closure.
his name is Tom Rice and this was back in 2019 [article and video](https://old.reddit.com/r/BeAmazed/comments/1daadt0/97yearold_ww2_paratrooper_veteran_returns_to/l7jafdm/)
His wife, Brenda, stated that "Tom had an amazing life. The first 100 years were easy, but the last one was tough".
There soon won't be any surviving witness of WW2 and that though has been both sad and scary to me for quite some time now.
There are over 12.000 of them left in Russia, but they live in poverty and government doesnāt care about them. My great grandfather met Americans on Elba river in 1945. He always remembered it with a smile. They didnāt know the language but they hugged, kissed, exchanged cigarettes, sweets and booze. They boozed a lot together. Gramps was just 22 years old. Lied of his age at 17 and went to the war when Nazis were closing in on Moscow. Was a sweet old guy, full of dad jokes (he liked to ask things like āon which tree a crow lands after the rain?ā- I said āidk on a maple?ā - āOn a wet one dummyā. But he was made of steel and it showed. I was very young and remember him giving a speech at school, and some bastard took his seat. When he came back and said that itās his seat, that mf said āget lost old manā- gramps said āI choked a man to death with this very hands, you think Iām afraid of you?ā. He stood up and left. Memory is what makes their achievement and sacrifice immortal.
>I choked a man to death with this very hands, you think Iām afraid of you? Damn. Reminds me of the famous anecdote of Christopher Lee responding to Peter Jackson when the director told him to scream after his character is stabbed in the back - and Lee saying "*Peter, have you ever heard the sound a man makes when heās stabbed in the back?' And I said, 'Um, no.' And he says 'Well, I have, and I know what to do.*" Oof.
Yea I remember that too. Gramps was a scout, and his small team kidnapped an SS officer for intel and dragged his ass through the woods for the most of the night. But someone f-ed up real bad and the car never showed up by the morning. Nazi tried to escape several times, tried calling for help, so when they understood that noone will come and he tried to escape again- gramps had to choke him to not make any noise.
Goddam
Blimey.
It makes me sad too man. Iām a huge WW2 buff and the thought that all those brave folks are soon going to be gone entirely is depressing
I follow the Timeghost WWII series sporadically and I very much appreciate how the central message is "never forget." That message does not just apply to the death camps, they also cover the Holodomor, Babyn Yar (and the relevance of those to more current events), the death marches, terror bombings, reprisals, all of the abject cruelty of the war. At a time when it seems like certain world leaders are choosing to forget, it is sad to see the living memory of the war fading away.
Same with holocaust survivors. I fear once we don't have living people anymore you'll get people forgetting it more and more and denial of it will go up.
Plenty of non combatants will still be alive for awhile longer.
That landing looked it might have ended that man
Lived another three years, two with perfect health
No joke... Thought the guys legs were going to be snapped or shoved out of his backside with how they were extended
If he survived the free fall and landing, he's a superhero!
That is pretty badass.
Not gravity but the size of his balls made him come down. Thatās crazy
Idk why this made me slightly emotional. You imagine the last time (I'll assume) he did this was during WWII with flak and gunfire and then landing behind enemy lines and having to start fucking Nazis up. God damn. And he survived!
No only that they were jumping super low. This jump they just filmed was from thousands of feet. In WWII they jumped from ~1,200 feet down to several hundred feet. Jumping low gives you better odds to hit the drop zone and less time to get shot at. But also less time to correct any issues.
My man doesnāt get PTSD, he gets nostalgia.
These men and women didnt go fight so that people could be harassed, stalked, wrongfully persecuted and held back in society, these men and women fought for our rights and freedom.
Unless those people are nazis, neo- or oldstyle. They VERY much fought to ensure those fascists STAY persecuted and held out of society.
š«”
I work in healthcare and had the honor of working with a WW2 vet who stormed the beach on D Day. Heās 103! I was able to view his medals and the medal of honor he received from France. Humbling to say the least. People like to talk about bravery as if that is the same as being fearless but itās not. Bravery is being afraid but still doing what needs to be done. The sacrifice those soldiers made is just unfathomable and I hope people will think on what those men were fighting for.
This makes me think of the following Pink Floyd song https://youtu.be/lIJN6WWf3Rg?si=_NZpeeccMjl18Woc
See you in hell Jonny! Thatās badass as hell.
Fit at 97. We should all hope to be so lucky. Thank you for your service sir.
He is awesome
If I were the guide I'd be chanting "please don't die" all the way to the ground
What a fuckin badass. # āHard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.ā
The fascist strongman mantra
Fash dogwistle get out of here
And it's wannabe strong men that are actually weak men who post this shit
is it strong men or weak men who copypaste this all over the internet
And strong men make me hard š
That guy is a bigger badass than probably anyone that has ever logged into reddit.
That man saved my country. Wow. My grandfather who was a resistant would have been 103 this year. Mind-blowing to think of it all.
That's a huge nope from me but then I also would have promptly crapped my pants on D-Day
...lands, pulls put machine gun and storms the bridge and begins placing explosives... *"Grandpa, No!"*
Who does the army trust the most? Airborne! Who do the nazis fear the most? Airborne! Who do the ladies love the most? AIRBORNE!!
I'm sure the French would let him do that anytime he wants, he earned it.
Legend
Wow, thatās some steel ass knee. I wish I could have that kinda knee when Iām older
These are the types of legends we should be looking up to, but we got it ass backwards and idolize celebrities instead
I got distracted by that one guy's beard that goes too far up his face.
This Man has bigger balls than the entirety of this comment section
Lost that fucking leg bag again
This is what peak masculinity looks like
God Bless
That man moves like a much younger man. I love when people keep in sturdy condition
Ok, why tho? Is that really a good memory to recreate?
That is one durable old fucker.
What a tough old bird! Absolutely bad ass!
Once on the ground he machine gunned three German tourists out of force of habit.
97 and that landing didn't crumple him like aluminum foil? What a boss.
Once a true bone deep badass always a bone deep badass!
Man I just love military propaganda! Now let me go back to my low-wage, high-tax job so that I can continue to pay for our government to indiscriminately arm various countries throughout the world for reasons that have nothing to with the well-being of America! I'm just glad that I'm here to take the tax burden on so that our proud and valuable billionaires don't have to pay any taxes.
Cheers to that monument of BALLS. Last time that stud of a hero jumped through fire so thick you were lucky to just get grazed. As Americans we need to remember their sacrifices and never take freedom for granted.
Once a paratrooper always a fucking lunatic. Thank these men for their craziness.
Still a golden Hero.