Double amputee paratrooper to jump into Normandy for 82nd anniversary of D-Day

On June 7, 2012, Jon Harmon was a 19‑year‑old private first class on his first deployment in Afghanistan when an explosion took both of his legs — and nearly his life.

Now, exactly 14 years to the day, the former paratrooper will step out of a WWII-era C-47 and jump into the same drop zone where paratroopers of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment and the 82nd Airborne fought on D‑Day.

“The fates always have an odd sense of irony in my life,” Harmon said in a press release. “Jumping on my 14th alive day, into the drop zone my 508 guys jumped, it’s surreal.”

“Eight months ago, if someone said that was possible, I would’ve laughed them out of the building,” Harmon continued. “But once it became a possibility, it was mission mode. How do we do this? What prosthetics? What padding? And then it was off to the races.”

For Harmon, the road — or sky — back to static-line parachuting has been a long time coming.

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Source: Military Times
Website: www.militarytimes.com