PEOPLE OF INTEREST
The PARACHUTIST
ANTHONY INSWASTY
Dana Beach’s years in the air didn’t end when he retired from the U.S. Air Force pararescue reserve unit. He continues to jump over such places as Normandy
and the Netherlands to honor veterans of the past who liberated Europe.
Skydiving is a thrilling sport for many adventurers.
Dana Beach takes it a jump further with World War II
escapades in the air.
He’s taken leaps over Normandy in northern France and
the Netherlands with the Liberty Jump Team, a group of
about 75 parachutists from around the country who pay
tribute to the war heroes of battles in Europe. Most jumpers
are veterans, but civilians also join after taking the team’s
jump course.
Beach, who served in the Air Force for 25 years and has
lived in Fort Pierce since 1979, has been to Holland and Belgium
twice and three times to France. Next year, he will be
visiting Normandy for the fourth time with the jump team in
honor of D-Day’s 75th anniversary.
“We jump on two to six drops,” says Beach. “We jump on
active drop zones used by the 82nd (Airborne Division) and
the 101st.” They jump from 1,500 feet, using military static
line parachutes, fied cords attached to the aircraft and the
jumper’s deployment bag.
The team jumps from vintage C-47 aircraft, many of them
that carried U.S. paratroopers for the D-Day landings.
“We wear World War Two uniforms that paratroopers
wore,” Beach explains. However, it’s not necessarily a reenactment
as with some participants in dramatizing historic
battles.
“Every jump is a real jump. We’re not re-enacting,” he
notes. Liberty Jump Team includes vets all the way back to
Vietnam.
“We usually have about 25 to 30 people for each event.
Next year (in Normandy) there will probably be more.”
Weather can be unpredictable. There could be six days of
jumping if the weather in France holds out, as it did for the
allied troops at the time.
Local residents get a thrill over watching the jumps. “People
come from all over Europe.” They even use World War II
equipment and vehicles left there from the war. That includes
jeeps and tanks. Some of the residents hold bivouacs, temporary
camps, during the events. “It’s a real sight to behold.”
Then there are those who still remember being liberated
from occupation.
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BY JERRY SHAW