{"id":218614,"date":"2024-07-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=218614"},"modified":"2024-07-09T16:09:26","modified_gmt":"2024-07-09T16:09:26","slug":"it-was-just-awesome-jmcs-hinnant-parachutes-during-80th-anniversary-of-d-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=218614","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It was just awesome\u2019: JMC\u2019s Hinnant parachutes during 80th anniversary of D-Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n John Hinnant, an executive officer to the Deputy to the Commander of the Joint Munitions Command, poses for a photo after landing on the Carentan Drop Zone in Normandy, France on June 2 during a commemorative event surrounding the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
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\n John Hinnant, an executive officer to the Deputy to the Commander of the Joint Munitions Command, leaped out of \u201cThat\u2019s All \u2026 Brother,\u201d a C-47 Skytrain, into Normandy, France, during a commemorative event surrounding the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
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\n John Hinnant, an executive officer to the Deputy to the Commander of the Joint Munitions Command, slept on a cardboard box inside a hangar at North Weald Airfield in Essex, England, before strapping on his parachute in Europe for a commemorative event surrounding the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
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\n At Duxford Airfield in the United Kingdom, John Hinnant, an executive officer to the Deputy to the Commander of the Joint Munitions Command, takes a selfie while aboard \u201cThat\u2019s All \u2026 Brother,\u201d a C-47 Skytrain.
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\n Parachutists, who are members of the Round Canopy Parachuting Team, drop into the Carentan Drop Zone in Normandy, France, on June 2 during a commemorative event surrounding the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
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\n Parachutists, who are members of the Round Canopy Parachuting Team, land in the Carentan Drop Zone in Normandy, France, on June 2 during a commemorative event surrounding the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
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\n John Hinnant is an executive officer to the Deputy to the Commander of the Joint Munitions Command.
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Many of the parachute jumps John Hinnant has taken have been under the cover of darkness while he was a member of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne). The unit\u2019s nickname is \u201cNight Stalkers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hinnant is now an executive officer to the Deputy to the Commander of the Joint Munitions Command.<\/p>\n

After dedicating 29.5 years to serving our country and being unable to discuss the specifics of most of his jumps, Hinnant can share stories about jumps he made outside of his Army duties.<\/p>\n

Hinnant\u2019s 115th jump took place June 2, and he landed in Normandy, France, as part of commemorative events surrounding the 80th anniversary of D-Day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI planned to jump on June 1 in England and June 2, a cross-channel flight from England and jump into Normandy. The June 1 jump was cancelled because of weather – the winds were too high,\u201d said Hinnant, who slept on a cardboard box inside a hangar at North Weald Airfield in Essex, England, before strapping on his parachute in Europe. \u201cThere are usually small commemorative jumps occurring every year, but this year was really the biggest year because it\u2019s basically the last year we\u2019re going to have World War II veterans participating in a major milestone.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing in that hanger and sleeping on that floor is exactly what troops were doing back then. We flew the exact same routes they flew and, in a C-47 aircraft that flew during that timeframe,\u201d Hinnant added. \u201cThe only difference was it was daytime, we weren\u2019t getting shot at, and we had newer parachutes.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

D-Day occurred on June 6, 1944, and was a crucial World War II operation. It was the largest seaborne invasion in history, and involved more than 156,000 troops from the U.S., U.K., Canada, and other Allied nations. The assault on the German-occupied French coastline initiated the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi control and led to the eventual defeat of Nazi Germany.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife\u2019s maternal grandfather jumped into Sicily and Holland in 1944, so the family history played into why I wanted to jump,\u201d said Hinnant, who has been an Army Civilian for six years. \u201cI found out about the jump into Normandy from a friend who I\u2019ve known for 35 years, and he told me about it last May during a reunion for the 160th. I was semi-interested, but my wife was more interested than me, as I was kind of reluctant as I didn\u2019t want to get injured.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe emotional part was once I landed in Normandy. I landed on the same drop zone as the Soldiers did in 1944, so there\u2019s not a lot of words to describe the feeling of being in the same place where so many men died and fought for their lives\u201d Hinnant added. \u201cWe were a part of history. It was just awesome, and I\u2019d love to be able to go back and jump during the 100th anniversary. I\u2019ll be a young 74-year-old continuing doing what I enjoy most.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018All about the fun\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hinnant participated in the Normandy jump as part of the Round Canopy Parachuting Team-USA, which \u201cperforms round canopy commemorative airborne demonstrations to increase awareness and educate the public about the sacrifices and heroism of Allied Paratroopers from WWII onward,\u201d according to the organization\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

RCPT-USA takes part in events \u2014 such as the D-Day festivities \u2014 across the country and internationally in partnership with its European chapters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an international organization but we have a U.S. portion of it,\u201d Hinnant said. \u201cThe French, English, and the Dutch chapters of the organization coordinated everything for this event.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way RCPT runs the jump process is very safe,\u201d Hinnant added. \u201cThey use the SF-10 Alpha parachutes. They are military surplus chutes that have been inspected to make sure they\u2019re still serviceable, and the chutes that they use are the same exact ones I had when I was in the Army. Nothing was new to me besides the fact I wasn\u2019t wearing a uniform, and I had a beard. Other than that, it was like I was back in the military.\u201d<\/p>\n

In preparation for his trip to Europe, Hinnant went to Palatka, Florida, which is where RCPT-USA\u2019s headquarters are located, and he refreshed his jumping abilities. In March, Hinnant went back to get jump-master certified.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about the fun,\u201d Hinnant said. \u201cRCPT has the motto \u2018it\u2019s more than just a jump,\u2019 so it\u2019s not just the function of jumping but also bringing people together \u2013 former military members \u2013 and back into the fold. It\u2019s about the teamwork and camaraderie.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThey actually save lives by doing this,\u201d Hinnant added. \u201cThere are some Veterans in some cases who are on the verge of committing suicide, and RCPT is a way for a lot of Veterans to connect back into something that they enjoyed while they were in uniform.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 7 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 John Hinnant, an executive officer to the Deputy to the Commander of the Joint Munitions Command, poses for a photo after landing on the Carentan Drop Zone in Normandy, France on June 2 during a commemorative event surrounding the 80th anniversary of D-Day. (Photo Credit: Courtesy) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218616,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-218614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=218614"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":218624,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218614\/revisions\/218624"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/218616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=218614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=218614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=218614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}