Summer of 1975, he was QUITE uncomfortable when we went to Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga. The guy had never even SAT in an aircraft much less flown on one. After I did my first two jumps, while in the USAF, he told me...If YOU can do it, I can too. About a year later, Sept 1990, I surprised him with a cool looking Florida Gators T shirt. Had a Gator flying a B-17 with "Bombs Away, Dude!" on it. He said... MAN! That is cool!! I said.... Glad you like it because you are wearing it when we jump! His face turned pale when I showed him the jump certificates. Jump Day...He was VERY calm n quiet during instruction (We did Static Line / Solo jumps) I THOUGHT he'd finally say "NO FREAKING WAY!!!" and back out. Instead.....His jump was SO perfect, the Jump Instructors used HIS video for future classes on how to do a PERFECT static line jump. He was SO proud and smiled every time he talked about it. That Jump School has long since closed but just last September, I drove all the way down to Keystone Heights simply to see that Airfield again. GREAT times.
