WWII Vet Who Jumped From Plane On D-Day…Parachutes For 100th Birthday
on Aug 17, 2021
100-year-old World War II D-Day veteran Tom Rice jumped into his 100th birthday by jumping out of a military plane with the U.S. Navy parachute team, the “Leap Frogs.”
The event took place at the Hotel Del Coronado on Coronado Island in San Diego, California and Tom explained that he does Crossfit at the gym in Coronado so he’s not afraid of aging nor does he have a fear of heights.
“I can take off my skin and dance around my bones,” Tom said with a laugh, to CBS reporters.
Onlookers watching Tom cheered to see how brave he was to do the risky stunt at his age. However, Tom’s faced much harder conditions, such as parachuting into gunfire to storm the beaches of Normandy back in 1944.
That’s right, in 2019 when Tom was 98-years-old, he also recreated the jump on the beaches of Normandy from a C-47.
”[I was] wondering where the heck I was,” Tom said as he reflected on D-Day. “I didn’t get hurt.”
This time for his birthday at Cornado Island, Tom had a crowd of people on the beach cheering and celebrating. They sang “Happy Birthday” and “God Bless America” as he parachuted down and safely landed on the ground.
”It’s tremendous,” Tom said right after the jump. “It’s different.”
Tom plans to go sky diving for his 101st birthday next year. When asked if he had any advice for the younger generation, Tom had two things to say…
“Stand up and make a decision and stick with it,” Tom said, and “We are all for one and one for all.”
