STE.-MERE-EGLISE, France -- The biggest parachute drop here since D-Day itself is set for this weekend and 38 aging World War II veterans plan a return engagement.
Members of the Return to Normandy Association - veterans ages 67 to 82 - overcame initial Pentagon resistance and will join more than 500 active-duty U.S. paratroopers scheduled to jump Sunday to commemorate the D-Day jump of 13,000 U.S. paratroopers. It was the biggest airborne operation ever.
The old soldiers may step less spritely than their modern counterparts, but for them, Sunday's exhibition is more than mere show.
"I lost a very close friend that night. He had his face blown off by a German grenade. He never even got to see the dawn," says Richard Case, 70, a Las Vegas travel agent who landed here on D-Day.
"It's probably the best way we can remember the guys who didn't come back," says Robert Williams, 71, of Union, Ky., a former "Screaming Eagle" of the 101st Airborne. "It's not for the glory. We've got all the glory we need."
They earned that glory 50 years ago, when they flew in the vanguard of the greatest military assault of all time.
As volunteers in the 82nd and 101st airborne divisions, their mission was to drop behind enemy lines and secure the west flank before the seaborne invasion started at dawn on Utah and Omaha beaches.
High winds, anti-aircraft fire and nervous pilots combined to scatter American paratroopers far from designated drop zones. Dozens of unlucky soldiers landed in this village's square, where a German garrison massacred them as they hung helplessly from trees and telephone poles.
A dummy of Pvt. John Steele, made famous in Cornelius Ryan's The Longest Day, still hangs as he did from the church steeple here. Across the square, the parachute-shaped roofs of the Airborne Museum salute all the men who came to France by air.
And now, a few will return that way again. But after taking much flak from the Pentagon.
Despite completing three qualifying jumps in San Diego in February, the men failed to win over Pentagon planners. The World War II Commemoration Committee fought the idea of brittle septuagenarians bounding into the clouds above a field of 30,000 spectators.
"We're very concerned, as well as the doctors and the Airborne folks," says retired Lt. Gen. Claude Kicklighter, the commemoration committee's executive director.
After months of negotiations, U.S. military officials gave grudging approval. Officials agreed to provide ground support and jump masters.
But the whole operation will be canceled if winds exceed 13 knots, says Army Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Foster, who is in charge of medical and ground support for the jumpers. "We don't expect to do any emergency evacuations," he says.
Warren Wilt, 71, a retired farm equipment mechanic from Abbyville, Kan., says he understands the Pentagon's hesitation.
"Airborne are a little eccentric," he says. "We're high-risk. We're too old to be fooling with."
But that didn't deter French and private U.S. sponsors.
Continental Airlines flew the veterans to Paris. A French group arranged everything from accommodations in private homes to the updated parachutes. Thursday, the group visited EuroDisney.
The French also will provide two C-47 planes like those that carried the old paratroopers 50 years ago.
The men themselves paid as much as $ 1,000 each for World War II jumpsuits and boots.
Despite the Pentagon's concerns, most of the returning veterans are experienced sky divers - some with as many as 1,000 jumps behind them.
Robert Dunning, 72, has jumped more than 130 times since D-Day.
"It relieves a lot of tension," he says. "It's the ride down. Everything is quiet. Your chute is open and you see the world in a completely different light."
Of course, it was far different on June 6, 1944. Then, most were burdened with heavy equipment as they dropped in darkness through flying shrapnel and bullets.
"This time," Wilt says, "all we're going to have on is a camera. No armament, nobody shooting at you."
Easy or not, the jump carries meaning for these old vets.
Says Richard Mandich, 69, who jumped in Operation Market Garden in Holland: "As long as you live, you try to do as much as you can. That's human nature. And these guys can do it. They may be older but they're younger than their chronological age.
"You might categorize them as tough old roosters."
What D-Day paratroopers wore
On D-Day, 23,000 paratroopers jumped into enemy territory to secure the areas flanking Normandy beach. Their combat gear weighed about 68 pounds. How they were outfitted:
Helmet Steel shell fit over flexible liner. Olive-drab netting used for camouflage.
Combat jacket Pockets closed with snaps instead of buttons, which could catch on parachute. Jacket, trousers replaced tight-fitting overalls.
Leather jump boots Were better quality than infantry boots.
Field pack Used with belt or hung on shoulder held rations, supplies.
Waist belt Held entrenching tool, canteen, holster and weapon. Soldier with M1 rifle wore ammunition pouch with 852 cartridges, 66 cartridges for .50-caliber machine gun, 1 mine and 4 TNT charges.
Other weapons carried Combat knife Foot-long, usually tied to leg. .45-caliber pistol
