Paratrooper looks passed bad landing

Antipodean Andy · Oct 8, 2008

Certainly is special.

Paratrooper, 83, looks past bad landing | bucyrustelegraphforum.com | Bucyrus Telegraph Forum

PERRYSVILLE — Sooner or later it happens to every paratrooper. It’s the day when the ground comes up too fast. It’s the rough landing. Ken Kasse, 83, of Perrysville, waited 63 years for that day.

An authentic World War II combat jumper, Kasse has been going out the door for years, on static lines and in freefall jumps.

Last Friday afternoon in Terre Haute, Ind., he finally met up with that bad landing and got his bell rung.

On top of that, his chute billowed and he was dragged across the ground.

“The jump was fine, but hitting the ground was terrible,” he told a reporter for the Terre Haute Tribune-Star. “This might be my last jump.”

That jump took place during the Victory Days celebration in Terre Haute. But the 65th anniversary of the D-Day airborne assault at Normandy, France, is looming. Hopefully Kasse will be there.

He’s a paratrooper through and through and even though he will be 84, the chances are good he’ll be going out the door of a C-47 over the green fields of Normandy.

Mostly, Kasse was a bit embarrassed by his jump and all the attention it called to his buddies on the Liberty Jump Team.

He shouldn’t be. He and his buddy, Andy Vergara, 86, of Florida, were the only authentic World War II veterans on the team.

A retired Army master sergeant and an airborne veteran of World War II, Korea and Vietnam, Vergara always flies the flag of his native Puerto Rico on every jump.

The Liberty team is a special bunch, a true band of brothers.

Based out of Texas, they are led by Chris Koers, jumpmaster and former Green Beret; Dom Launay, a former French Army paratrooper, and his wife, Jill, the team’s indispensable organizer.

Most of the team members are former airborne members, although a few never wore a uniform.

Capt. John Pennington, who served with an armored unit in Germany, always wanted to jump.

Mark Durivage, of Toledo, never wore a uniform but he wears one when he goes out the door with the Liberty team.

No matter what their background, these men are close.

Ken Kasse went through the team’s jump school in Oklahoma a couple of years ago to re-qualify.

When he showed up for the first team meeting at Terre Haute last Thursday there were hugs all around. These are men who share a common passion and a strong sense of friendship.

They were a major part of the big Victory Days show at Terre Haute’s International Airport-Hulman Field.

A word about this show. It was marvelous.

It was an air show celebrating the World War II era.

The show was originally slated for Columbus, Ind., but June floods ruined that plan and the event moved across the state to Terre Haute, a pretty city on the Wabash River. A huge array of World War II fighter and bomber planes was there.

A group of actors put together a great radio show on stage that featured Frank Sinatra, Dinah Shore, Red Skelton, the Andrews Sisters and the great Glenn Miller Army Band.

There was a huge market for World War II era uniforms and equipment. There was an evening dance where a bunch of folks brought back authentic jitterbug dancing.

One of the authentic airplanes on the ground was the Black Sparrow, a restored C-47. Many of the planes were provided by the Commemorative (Confederate) Air Force.

They must have let school out in Terre Haute on Friday because a zillion elementary kids and their teachers were on site, soaking up some real history. They were finding out what it was like for grandpa when his “Greatest Generation” went to war.

Even before he jumped, a team from the Tribune-Star, reporter Crystal Garcia and photographer Joseph C. Garza, focused their Saturday front page story on Ken and Andy.

Ken, who jumped with the 17th Airborne Division into Germany in March 1945, was a reporter’s dream. He's quotable and lots of fun. Plus he had that rough landing.

He was the newspaper’s front page story Saturday and wherever we went that day, to Mass at a local Catholic Church or just to dinner, people recognized him.

It must have been fun for Ken to be a celebrity.

His jumps were over for the weekend. He had, I believe, a mild concussion. He wore his uniform and took part in the Saturday celebrations and got applause wherever he went.

I am sure the guys and gals from the Liberty Jump Team were proud of Kenny and Andy, too.

As for the future, I just hope Kenny goes out the door over Normandy next year and does a few more jumps with his team.

He’s airborne. And that’s so special.
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