Go, Gabriel, Go, LTC
(Ret) Henmar
R. “Gabe” Gabriel (61)
The Start of the Cadet Sport Parachute Club/Team
Background
Today’s cadets and recent graduates will have difficulty
understanding why cadets were not permitted to make parachute jumps prior to
June 1958. However, the recent incident where a cadet was injured, graduated
and was later discharged from the Army because of the injury while a cadet
illustrates the resistance to the Academy allowing cadets to participate in
“hazardous duty activities”, specifically parachute jumping and the sport of
“sky diving”.
Having been a member of the 82nd Airborne
Division as an enlistedman prior to entering the Academy, I had maintained my
membership in the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) and the Airborne
Association. During Plebe Year I received my usual periodicals from these two
organizations. Sky Diving, under the leadership of Jacques
Istel, the President of the Parachute Club of America (PCA),
was slowly making inroads in the United States. Several Northeastern
universities were forming teams. I joined the PCA and through the combination
of publications realized that there was an opportunity to possibly form a cadet
sport parachute club at West Point.
I had been talking to some of the NCO's who were our instructors during the academic year. They told me that the Army was about to authorize Sport Parachuting and an AR was soon to be published. My real break came when the Army published AR 95-19 in April
1958. This regulation set down the specifics for Army personnel to participate
in sport parachute activities. There did not appear to be any thing in the
regulation that prevented cadets from jumping. One of the NCO's got me an early copy of the AR.
Approval
I discussed the idea of a Cadet Sport Parachute Club with my
Tactical Officer, Captain Amos B. Shattuck, IV (46). He encouraged me to
learn as much about the sport as I could, to get a copy of the AR and to
collect any information from the military publications that might support the
formation of a club.
As a brash Plebe at West Point I wrote the Commanding
General of the 82nd Airborne Division and ask for permission, as an
ex-member of the Division, to come to Fort Bragg during my leave at the end of
Plebe Year and participate in parachute jumping and training for sky diving
with the intent of starting a Cadet Sport Parachute Club. If possible, I wanted
to get enough training to be qualified as an instructor. My request was passed
to Captain Harry Padley, Assistant G-3
with the Division. His response was encouraging, but guarded. Although it was a
new endeavor for the Division and equipment was short, if, as the AR required,
I could get the permission of the Installation Commander (the Supe) he would do
all that was possible to assist me, at no expense to the government.
I also wrote a letter to Mr. Jacques
Istel and asked him what could be done to learn how to sky
dive and start a cadet sport parachute club at the Academy. Mr. Istel was
establishing a sport parachute training center in Orange, MA.
He invited me and anyone else at West Point to come to Orange to observe the training and the sport
and to receive training. Of course there was a cost associated with the
training that was far above my General Account monthly allocation. He also said
that he was trying to get several of the universities to hold a novice meet the
next year at Orange
when it would be open. If we were ready we could participate, or just come and
observe.
I took the letter from Captain Padley, the letter from Mr.
Istel, the copy of the AR, several articles from military publications and a
draft of a request for permission to participate in sport parachute jumping to
Captain Shattuck. He had me make some changes in the request and told me that
when he got the request he would forward it to the Superintendent with a
recommendation of approval. I prepare the request and took it to Captain
Shattuck. It was submitted to him on May 7, 1958, one month before graduation.
As the paper work started the long process from Captain
Shattuck to Colonel Seth Hudgins (39), the Commander, 1st
Regiment, USCC, to BG John Throckmorton (35), the Commandant, to LTG
Garrison Davidson (27), the Superintendent, the roadblocks started to
appear.
- No
cadet had ever been given permission to jump before. [Note: This does not
mean that cadets had not jumped before. I had heard several stories of
cadets who had jumped with units during training.]
- The
new AR 95-19 had just been published and it applied to all Army
personnel. There was no mention of cadets not being allowed. However,
Installation Commander’s permission was required to participate.
- If you
were injured, you could be discharged from the Academy and have no medical
retirement benefit. [Note: See the case mentioned at the beginning of the
article.]
- As a
Cadet I carried two green (active duty) ID Cards, one as an enlistedman
and one as a cadet. If I left the Academy for almost any reason, I would
revert to my enlisted status. I would therefore be able to continue in
the Regular Army or possibly be medically discharged. [Note: At different
times enlisted personnel entering the Academy have been handled in
different ways. At that time enlisted personnel were not discharged on
admittance to the Academy. We held a dual status until either separated
from the Corps or graduation. At graduation we were discharged from the
Army and commissioned in the Army.]
- The
Academy did not have any officers or NCO’s trained to be able to assist in
the formation of a club.
- Several
of the NCO’s with the 1RCT were very interested in forming a Post Sport
Parachute Club. The 1RCT had an airborne detachment, including a
parachute rigger section. Some of the NCO’s that were interested and were
willing to help me were MSG Joe Dye, SFC Maguire, SSG Bartlett and SSG
Sammis. They submitted paper work to establish a Post Club. They would
try to get someone trained to be an instructor. After I returned from Fort Bragg, the 1RCT Commander approved
their papers and forwarded them to the Superintendent. They went to Fort Bragg in September 1958.
- There
was limited aviation support for the Academy and it was stationed at
Stewart AFB. There was no drop zone and airfield near West
Point.
- The
NCO’s of the 1RCT told me that there was a small, old auxiliary field
near the town of Wallkill that had been used by the 1RCT to make “pay
jumps” for personnel who had not jumped in the last 90 days for one
reason or the other. Cadets could get a truck, just like other sports
clubs, and drive to Wallkill to make jumps.
- There
would be expenses involved in transportation to and residing at Fort Bragg.
- My
brother was an enlisted Post Forest Ranger at Fort Bragg.
[He happened to have served with MSG Dye of the 1RCT in the Mountain Cold
Weather Command at Camp Hale,
CO.] He could see that I
got around and if necessary find me a bed. I could make arrangements to
have my Mother’s car at West Point at graduation and would be able to use
it for the transportation to Fort
Bragg and at Fort Bragg.
[ Richard Johnson, one of the
early casualties of the Vietnam War, had gone to high school with me. His
parents would drive Mother’s car up from Richmond for me to have after
graduation.] I had a classmate, Charles T. Westpheling (61), whose
father, Colonel Charles P. Westpheling (31), was assigned to Fort Bragg and they would assist me as
needed. This turned out to include arranging dates for me.
As far as Captain Shattuck and I could tell, we had
responded to all of the roadblocks and the paper work was making its way to the
Superintendent. However, as graduation approached, there was no approval from
the Supe and I thought that maybe I had become the victim of a “pocket veto”.
If I did not have the approval by the time I went on leave, the opportunity
would be lost. Captain Shattuck was ever optimistic and encouraging. Graduation
came, Recognition proceeded and a little glum I returned to my room to start
leave. There on my desk was a note to report to the Commandant before going on
leave. Needless to say, I ran across Central Area to the BG Throckmorton’s
office. When I reported to him, he called me forward, handed me a pile of
papers and said, “Cadet Gabriel, your request to go to Fort Bragg
and jump has been approved. Good luck.”
Training
Captain Padley had been reassigned
and was not at Fort
Bragg when I arrived.
However, he had set everything into motion and Captain Shepard took care of me.
There was a vacant BOQ room that I could use at no expense to the government.
There were several officers and NCO’s that were scheduling me on any jump that
had an open spot. They also saw to it that I got to the marshalling area on
time. Depending on the drop zone, they saw to it that I got back for the next
jump or my brother would pick me up and take me where I needed to go. I ate
meals at the officer’s club, the enlisted mess with my brother, at the
Westpheling’s home. At the end of the day I could not buy a drink at the bar.
Someone always wants to buy mine for me. The support provided me was outstanding.
During the next three weeks I made 28
jumps; day troop jumps, night troop jumps, light aircraft static line jumps and
finally, freefall jumps. I jumped from C130’s, C123’s, C119’s, Beavers and
small Cessna’s. I jumped with units of XVIII Airborne Corps, 82ndth Special Forces Group. One hot afternoon,
after a wonderful lunch at the Westpheling’s, we loaded on a C119 and taxied
out to the strip. With engines roaring the C119 rushed down the strip for a
take off. About half way down the strip the engines reversed, the brakes were
applied and we came to a stop short of the end of the strip. We taxied back to
the other end and started down the strip again. This time we took off. It seems
that with the heat and high density-altitude we were overloaded. The trip down
and back had burned off enough fuel for us to get airborne. After we got
airborne the air was turbulent and there was more that one airsick trooper on
that flight. One night my brother had agreed to pick me up after the jump. At
the marshalling area I told him that I was manifested as the #2 man out the
left door, therefore I should be near the rallying point at the near end of the
drop zone. The unit chaplain was jumping that evening and as we talked, it was
decided that we would push the two sticks, be the last ones out each door. As
the plane came over the drop zone my brother watched as troopers went into the
trees before reaching the drop zone. With a flashlight in his hand he started
working his way back along the stick trying to find me, the #2 man and calling
out, “Henmar! Henmar!”. The pilot had given an early green light and only the
last few of us from each stick made it to the drop zone. The rest had gone into
the trees. My brother helped many troopers out of trees that night and finally
made it back to the rallying point and found me. He had to return to the area
the next morning to supervise the removal of the parachutes from the trees.
Airborne Division and 77
In addition to learning to perform
free falls, I was taught how to pack a free fall parachute. However, during
this training phase, all of my chutes were packed by someone else or by me
under strict supervision of a parachute rigger.
When it was all finished I had
increased my number of jumps and learned to free fall, but I had not been able
to do enough to qualify as an instructor. I returned to West Point for summer
training at Camp Buckner. While there I had the
opportunity to talk to several of the NCO’s from the 1RCT and let them know
what I had accomplished. They were enthused by what I had accomplished and
pushed harder for a club for the 1RCT. There was not much that I could do at Camp Buckner
to get a club started except talk it up with my classmates.
The First Year
With the new academic year our cadet
company also get a new tactical officer. After I had gotten into academics and
was ready to see what could be done to form a cadet club, I asked to meet with
my new tactical officer, Captain Walter Meinzen (48). He was very
supportive of my efforts and encouraged me to get the club formed. Our present
AOG President, Colonel Seth Hudgins, Jr. (64), remembers the next event.
His father, Colonel Seth Hudgins(39), was the 1st Regimental Commander,
USCC. He happened to be eating on the poop deck the evening that I had my
announcement made. He went home and told the family about it. When
announcements were made there was quite a bit of laughter when the adjutant
announced, “Any cadet interested in forming a sky diving parachute club, meet
Gabriel to the right of the mess hall door.” It was almost like “Meet St. Peter
at the gate.” That was the start of the club.
The initial members were all prior
service, airborne qualified cadets. In addition to myself there were Victor
Letonoff (60), Harry Calvin (60), Joe Maio (61), John
Lawton (62), Ernest Webb (62), Sam Carr (62), Gordon Downey (61), Kennet
Kirchner (60), Charles Lutz (59) and others. While still in the
formation stage of the club, Fred Terry (60) asked to join. Fred was not
airborne qualified. However, AR 95-19 did not say anything about a requirement
for airborne qualification. It did outline training required and prior airborne
experience would help meet these requirements, but was not required. Fred
became the first non-airborne qualified member. The officers for the club that
first year were: Henmar Gabriel, President, Victor Letonoff, Vice President,
Fred Terry, Secretary, Harry Calvin, treasurer and Joe Maio, Safety Officer.
Our Officer-in-Charge (OIC) was Captain Walter Meinzen.
Fred Terry brought much more to the
club than some may remember. First, he brought a tremendous energy and desire.
He was secretary for the club the first two years. Second, he opened the
membership to other non-airborne qualified cadets. Third, his stepfather loaned
Fred and me the money to buy the first two parachutes for the cadet club. Each
parachute cost a little over $300. While a Yearling I only got $10 a month in
personal money, it was tough to pay off the parachute. These were personal
parachutes, but used by all the cadet club members over the next couple of
years. We bought two bright red, flat circular parachutes from Pioneer
Parachute Company. The parachute riggers
from the 1RCT modified the parachutes to make them a single open gore,
steerable parachutes. This means that they cut out most of one gore of the
parachute and attached control lines to the lower corners of this gore. They
also instructed all the cadets in the methods for packing these chutes.
The cadet club had no financial
support, so each cadet purchased his own white, one-piece jump suit, goggles
and gloves. We were able to get some second hand helmets from the AAA.
Meanwhile the 1RCT NCO’s were receiving training in sport parachuting. The
cadet club needed a qualified instructor/jumpmaster for us to jump. Members of
both clubs took a trip to Orange,
MA to meet with Mr. Istel. No one
jumped on that trip. Fred Terry and I took a trip to visit and watch a meet
between several university teams. We spent Friday evening at Brown University
discussing organization and training with their team. Saturday night we spent
with Fred’s family in Worchester,
MA. That is when I met his
stepfather. Sometime after this visit he made his offer to us. It was March
1959 before we made our first jump at Wallkill. The first week of May we went
to Orange, MA to jump against Yale. The next weekend
three of us went to Fort
Bragg for National
Invitational Sport Parachute Meet. We had hoped to compete in the novice event,
which was a three jump, jump and pull accuracy jump where you were graded on how close you came to the
target. Events were postponed because of weather and we had to leave on Sunday before we could complete our third jumps, so we
did not finish the competition.
Several things were learned during
this first year. Weather was a big factor through the winter. With the short
days it was virtually impossible to go to the motor pool, get a truck, drive to
Wallkill, chute up, get up to altitude and make a jump. With only two parachute
riggers at the 1RCT, it was very difficult to coordinate having one of them
available when cadets were available. Aircraft support was almost non-existent.
Weekends were a time when we could be available, but the pilots may have been
flying all week and wanted to be home with their families or the aircraft was
away for the weekend, etc. We needed a full time instructor for both the 1RCT
club and cadet club.
More Training
In the spring of 1959 to help with
the problem of riggers on site I recommended to the OIC that I be permitted to
go to parachute riggers school at Fort Lee, VA at the end of our Cow Trip, near
the end of June. He said that if I was able to get done what I had gotten done
last summer, he did not see why not. I wrote a letter to the MG Alfred
Denniston (28), Commanding General, Fort Lee and Quartermaster School
requesting that two cadets be enrolled in a parachute rigger class. I outlined
the need and the time frame that I would be available. The NCO’s from the 1RCT
had already provided the course schedules for rigger school. MG Denniston knew
LTG Davidson and called him to ask if there was any financial support for the
cadets. The Supe told him that there was not, that this would be at no expense
to the government. LTG Dennison told the Supe “something can be worked out.”
The Academy received a letter from the Quartermaster School
stating that two slots were available for a particular class and they needed
the names of the students to attend. The only other club member available at
that time and willing to give up his leave was Fred Terry. At the beginning of
July Fred and I reported to the Quartermaster
School. We were provided rooms
in the barracks, meal cards for the mess hall and necessary equipment that were
beyond our normal cadet issue. I was from Richmond,
VA, forty miles away, and once
again pressured my Mother into letting me use her car. There were several
officers in the rigger class, one being from Turkey. They were very helpful in seeing that we got
taken care of at the officer’s club and lined us up with some dates. I met my
future wife that summer.
Fred and I completed the course and
took the CAA licensing exam. The only hitch was that Fred could not make the
two jumps with parachutes he had packed. Because he was not airborne qualified
and these were airborne operations, he had to watch from the ground. After the
jumps I received my Army Parachute Rigger wings. It was two months later before
we received our CAA licenses.
During my Cadet Leader Training
[Third Lieutenant] following Rigger School, I was assigned to Company D, 506th Airborne Battle Group, 101st Airborne
Division and was able to be a member of the Pathfinder Team that jumped in to
start the field training exercise. I believe that this was the first "approved" jump by a cadet during Cadet Leader Training.
Second Year
Things began to happen the second
year. PFC Ted Strong was assigned to the 1st Battle Group in the late spring of 1959.
He held a C license, highest license at that tiem, from the Parachute Club of America and was an instructor in
sport parachuting. Through the summer he worked with the 1st Battle Group club to help
develop instructors and build a 1st Battle Group Teamteam. We now had two cadet riggers with FAA
licenses to supervisor parachute rigging. The Academy had an Otter (U8)
assigned to the flight section. This was much larger that the Beaver (L20) we
had been using and could even take a team to a meet. We had growing support
from the Tactical Department, including an Assistant OIC, Captain George
Gividen, Jr. (51). The club officers that year were: Victor Letonoff,
President, Harry Calvin, Vice President, Fred Terry, Secretary, RJ Wooten,
Treasurer, Henmar Gabriel, Safety Officer. Major Meinzen was the OIC.
We now worked on schedules to get the
cadets, the instructor, the aircraft and other requirements together at the
same time. Learning to free-fall from the Beaver was easy. A 2x6 was placed
through the stirrup steps of plane. When the jumpmaster told the pilot to “Give
me a cut!”, the pilot would cut back the engine the student would step on the
board, stand slowly and turn to his right and put his hands on the wing
support. When the jumpmaster said, “Go”, the student would kick up his heals
and push off with his fingers. He would be in the stable freefall position.
With the Otter we jumped out into the prop blast and fell away into a stable
position.
Fred and I experimented with our
parachutes. We cut more material out of them and made them more responsive.
This also actually gave the parachute more lift. We always test jumped them
before any other cadet used them. Additional parachutes were obtained from some
source. 1RCT club was active and we jumped with each other. With the two clubs
working together we were able to get more aircraft support and individual
training. We also learned that a “center cone pull pin” was not a good idea for
a sport parachute. Both of the chutes that Fred and I had bought had such. The
pilot chute had a spring in it that had to be compressed when placed in the
backpack. In the center of the compressed pilot chute was a cone with a hole
through it. One of the pins of the ripcord went through this hole. On one of my
jumps it took me three pulls to finally get my chute to deploy. The cadets in
the plane knew something was wrong because they said the jumpmaster, MSG Joe Dye, was hanging
way out the door and turning white. The cadet and 1RCT riggers got together to
investigate what could have happened. We concluded that the center cone had
rotated after being packed and that I was trying to pull a pin out of a hole
that was aligned 90 degrees to the line of pull. It was only that super rush of
adrenalin brought on by fear that gave me the strength on the third try to get
the pin out. We modified all backpacks with this type pilot chute to prevent
future problems.
Jump stories
On one trip to Orange, MA,
the first trip for Captain Gividen, Mr. Jacques Istel asked Captain Gividen to come
make a jump with him from his aircraft. As the two of them walked out to the
plane I followed. Jacques turned around and said, "Gabriel, you don't need to come, it is just the two of us". I nodded and continued to follow them. When they got to the plane, Captain Gividen turned and sat down in the door of the plane,
undid a zipper on the leg of his jump suit, took off his artificial leg and handed
it to me. I thought that Jacques would choke. He had never seen anything like
that. As Captain Gividen landed I ran out and handed him his leg. Captain Gividen lost a leg in combat in Korea. It never slowed him down. If
a cadet showed up in class without his garters or had baggy socks, Captain
Gividen would ask him where his garters were. No matter the response, Captain
Gividen would put his foot up on a chair, pull up his trouser leg and state, “I
always wear my garters”, as he pointed to the thumb tack pushed into his
artificial leg.
In Plebe gymnastics we were taught
that the body would follow the head. I got a reminder of that one-day when I
lowered my head to look at the ripcord handle as I pulled it. Well, as my head
went down I did a slow forward flip and was on my back when my parachute came
up between my legs. When the chute fully deployed I got a very quick spin back
to the normal position and saw lots of little stars.
On one of our trips to Orange Joe Maio was packing his parachute on the ground, as we usually did. The was a nice looking young lady walking around in short shorts and watch what we where doing. Apparently Joe was looking back to see if she was looking back to see if he was looking back her. After he jumped out of the plane and pulled his rip chord, something hit him on the head. He looked around for a bird or something and saw nothing. Fortunately we have good used football helmets and what ever hit him did not hurt him. After the jump he headed back to the backing area and stated to pack his chute. We used some "shot bags" that were about a foot long and four or so inches wide. They were filled with "shot", little balls of lead and weight about five pounds. These were used to hold folds made in the chute as you moved down the toward the harness. Joe called out for a shot bag and got the reply that they were all in use. He looked around and counted the number of bags in use and realized that one was missing. He then realized what had hit him on the head.
Fred Terry firmly believed that he had a wood magnet in his parachute. No matter the wind, the drop zone or the aircraft, if there was a tree near the drop zone Fred would find it. There are several pictures of him in trees in the photos we have.
Conclusion
It took the work of many people to
get the cadet sport parachute club started. With out the support of the
officers and NCO’s of the 1RCT and the officers of the Tactical Department it
would not have happened. The understanding and encouragement of my Tactical Officers and the support of the Commandant and Superintendent in efforts to go
to other Posts for training all made it possible. Fred Terry’s stepfather giving
us a much needed boost when we didn’t have parachutes. He loaned me the money to buy my parachute. and that got us jumping. Captain
Padley, Captain Shepard and the crew of people who helped me at Fort Bra, showed that it could be done. The Fort Lee
support was outstanding. My thanks to all of them, my fellow cadets and to all
who have followed them in supporting the club through the years.
