The Wrangell sentinel., 1944-08-04
WRANGELL PARATR00PER TELLS HOW IT FEELS
 TO JUMP FIRST TIME

AAHM " AAAAoAAAof 1Asf " eAAAE GtA boy and graduate of Wrangell high school. was recently initiated into the art of Paratrooping at Fort Benning Ga. Tn a letter home young Lew describes the thrills (and chills) of his first ride down Ion the silk" He says
 Tt is something like Eve never experienced before and I sincerely recommend 1t for the thrill of a lifetime.
 There are 24 Of us to a plane and we jumped at 1900 feet in per feet weather. In the plane the ten- sion, before our first jump, is great but no one is visibly scared. Then comes the get ready and go for the first stick (squad of 12 mem. You watch them step out into space and kind of laugh-it seems funny but still you are not scared. They circle che field and it's your turn. The iumpmaster tells you to get ready you hold the static line snap fast ener up in front of your face and wonder; am l scared? Whats it like? That tail surface is sure close. Too late to worry now
 You don't have time to think now as it takes only eight seconds to clear a stick All of a sudden you are through the door and out in the Iprop blast. The side of the plane, the tail surface and the ground all spin around in your vision. l hap pened to notice that my feet were about six inches apart. The worst thing you can do is keep your feet apart as they might snag on a sus- pension line and break a leg or ankle. That thought flashed through my mind but before I could even finish the thought or start to pull my feet together I heard a whack and there I was suspended at a lit- tie over 1000 feet in the air-alive and amazed
 'I looked up at that canopy. She looks down on you like a protecting mother. 'Oh, you great big beautiful doll," was all I could manage to say.
 That is when it is really great. There are men floating down about 100 feet away and I can see col lased chutes on the ground with little men walking around them. This is the life!
 Now I'm getting close to the ground and prepare to land. I grab all four risers. look straight ahead, feet together, knees slightly bent and remember to fall easy but don't bang my head.
 "One of the things that thrills me most is the few seconds before the chute opens and I am falling free. You'd be surprised how much you can see and remember in that sec Ond. Sure is funny to see the plane flying off into space leaving you behind. Sometimes you see the ground spinning but there is never any sensation of falling. It all de- bends on how the prop blast hits you whether you see the ground, the plane retreating Or the guys next to you.
 My second jump they dumped me over the trees. I slipped to the right into the only cleared ground "a raspberry patch! Was I ever mad. Did you ever try to pull a piece of silk 28 feet in diameter out of bunch of briars?
 Tomorrow will be my fourth jump. It's a mass jump-no signal ling each man out You just go out on the back of the man ahead. There will be three planes dumping at a time so it will really be some thing. Also, this jump is from 800 feet instead of 1900.
 There is one sure thing, love this jumping. It's really a hell of a lot of fun. Friday night we made a night jump and Saturday should get my silver wings (Paratroop) and be entitled to wear my pants tucked