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LINED UP FOR A PRACTICE
JUMP - Cairns, North Queensland. Chet Nycum recalls that on one
occasion (which two independent records now fix to be 25 June 1943) near
Cairns, General MacArthur witnessed a practice jump "Look," said
the General, "there is a man whose chute did not open," "No," corrected
Colonel Kinsler, "that is just a kit bag." At that moment, Pvt.
Donald Wilson bounced ten feet, and then he bounced five feet.
Ordinarily, an injury or death happening in a training jump does not
merit a Purple Heart as it is not incurred in the face of the enemy.
Before he left the field, MacArthur ordered Kinsler to award
Wilson the Purple Heart. General MacArthur was not ever an ordinary
soldier.
More Reading - The Wilson Incident |
