THE PARACHUTE

I grew up in a small town in the suburbs of New York City.  In 1944, the public golf course across from my parents’ house was sold to a land development company.  I guess that not many people played golf during wartime, especially on a public course.  The land lay unused for 6-7 years which was great for us kids who lived near the course.  

There was a large hill on the course and my friend and I would use it in the winter to sleigh ride.  When the large pond froze, a bunch of us would play ice hockey on it.  In the spring, the brook running through the course was overflowing.  My friend and I would wade in the brook and catch crawfish, tadpoles, and frogs.  Local fathers asked permission to build a backstop and baseball field for use by the little league and local kids.  This was great.  We played softball spring, summer, and early fall for years.  The field was built on the widest and longest fairway.

In late fall of 1945, my friend told me his cousin had just returned from the war and he brought home a German parachute.  We went over to his house to check it out.  My friend’s cousin was full of information.  He told us how many American jumpers were injured or killed when they landed because they couldn’t dump the air out of the chute or get out of the harness and were dragged to death.  He showed us how clever the Germans were.  They had devised a large push button harness holder to put around their waist.  All harness straps were snapped into this holder and locked.  When they were landing, they unlocked the holder and, upon impact, pushed the button and all the straps would fall off.  The chute would fly off without dragging the soldier.  We asked if we could take the chute to the golf course and play with it.  For some unknown reason, he agreed. 

My friend went first.  I hooked him up and he took off running down the fairway.  It was a very windy day and, when a gust of wind came, my friend would go up about 15-25 feet and glide along – about another 50 or so feet.  He would land and do it over again.  Then it was my turn.  I was taller and heavier than he was but the wind was picking up.  I ran down the fairway and a gust of wind lifted me up about 50-60 feet.  We had learned that by pulling on the ropes, you could control where you were going to land.  Well that didn’t work out too well.  I flew up and over a two-story house next to the fairway and landed in a large oak tree.  As I was hanging in the tree, I could hear the parachute being ripped apart by the sharp, leafless branches.  I hit the harness holder and got out of the parachute (Thank God for German engineering!) and climbed out of the tree just as my friend came running.  We were petrified at what his cousin would say about his chute being ripped apart in a tree.  I had a great idea.  I told my friend to run to the local firehouse and tell them I was hanging in a tree.  I climbed back into the tree and buckled the harness.  We thought the firemen would put up the aerial ladder and take me and the chute down.  Hopefully, his cousin would feel sorry for us.

Well, the fire department came – put up an extension ladder – and took me down.  When we asked them to take down the chute, they said “No.”  It would take time to set up the aerial ladder and it might be needed in an emergency.  My friend’s cousin showed up that weekend with some friends with chainsaws and got the chute down.  

Twenty years later, I became a firefighter and I was assigned to this same firehouse.  Over coffee one morning, I was telling the Captain and some other firemen how I grew up just three blocks from the firehouse and walked past it every school day for 7 years. I told them I had also come there to register for the draft when I was 18.  Then I told them about the parachute incident.  The Captain smiled and said he remembered that call.  He had been the Lieutenant on the aerial ladder.  We went down to the basement and returned with the daily journal from that year.  There was the incident report with my name on it.  

I spent twenty years in the fire department and retired as a Lieutenant on the aerial truck.  I never did have to retrieve someone in a parachute in a tree.