He later called it “the worst jump I ever had.” The plane was flying far too fast, and as he went out the door, his arm got caught. “I got my left armpit caught in the lower left-hand corner of the door,” he remembered. He swung out, slammed back into the side of the plane, and finally broke free.
He landed safely, but it took a week and a half for his scattered group to come back together.
Seventy-five years later, on June 5, 2019, Tom went back. At 97 years old, he climbed aboard a World War II-era C-47 plane and jumped once more over the fields near Carentan, in Normandy. This time, he made a tandem jump, strapped to an experienced parachutist, with a huge American flag flowing behind them.
This time, there were no bullets. Instead, crowds of people cheered as he drifted down.
When he landed, he proudly flashed V for victory signs. “It went perfect, perfect jump,” he said. “I feel great. I’d go up and do it all again.”
Tom said the best way to honor the soldiers who gave their lives that day was to step back into the shoes of his younger self.
Tom Rice passed away in 2022 at the age of 101. What a man, and what a generation.
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