Hello Terry, just a note to let you know that all is well. I'm sitting in the club this afternoon, just laying around doing nothing but day dreaming, thinking about you, but of course!
I've been grounded since Wednesday due to a little experience I had. Darling, I've found the Caterpillar Club as of the other day I've still got the rip cord handle for a souvenir.
Here's the story, some of it is interesting, might be worth reading. Here's hoping I don't bore you.
We were coming back, ready to land, when the pilot called me up to the cockpit. Ferg said, "will have to make a crash landing, go back to the radio room and ask the crew who wants to bail out and who doesn't." I went back and put it up to the crew. I told them just how things stood, and that Ferg would rather have them bail out, mainly because a crash landing is either good, or it's one big puff!! They add decided to join the paratroopers, everything was put in readiness for the ordeal.
I went back up in the nose to get my chute, and prepared myself for the jump. I checked my chute to look for any flaws and to see that my harness was tight enough. I opened the latch and must have looked out at the empty space for several seconds before I put my hand on the rip chord - then my head went out, the final heave, and I was free of the plane. The prop wash caught me full blast.
I watched for about four seconds, then I pulled the handle. It opened with a jerk that was over with before I knew it. Terry, it felt good to see the silk, so white and strong, hanging above me. I guess the first thing I felt for was my nuts, they were still there, no harm done, darling, I'm glad of that.
I looked around to see where I was going to land, it looked pretty good, but I noticed that I was coming in back first. I wanted to see where I would land so I could try to avoid any trees, houses, or fences that I might run into. I tried to turn myself around, but was hung up on that score because I started to swing. I stopped the swinging alright, and tried again to turn myself around.
The swinging started again, and once more I had to stop it. In the meantime, I hadn't noticed how near the ground I was and was in the middle of turning around for the 3rd time when I landed, on my right side, with a helluva thud, right in the middle of a muddy field. I collapsed my chute to keep from being dragged along. The worst was over, for I was on the ground; how badly was I hurt, if at all? I soon found out when I got up, my right leg gave away. Not knowing whether it was broke or not, I decided to favor it anyway, and took out my compass. I couldn't see any houses, so I let out in one direction, hoping to come to a house or a road soon. I walked for about ten or fifteen minutes until I came to a road.
I was picked up and taken back to the base, smoking one cigarette after another, sweating out the landing that Ferg was making. I prayed that he'd be alright. If I would have known then that he had made one of the prettiest landings anyone could make, I wouldn't have sweated him out so much.
The results; the crew are all safe, and it seems I'm the only one hurt. My ankle is sprained and my knee and hip are a little sore. I'm satisfied with as little as that, it was good to be on the ground in one piece.
The whole jump took about 90 seconds, but it takes longer than that to read up to here. And as a matter of information, when one lands in a chute, he hits the ground at the same speed he would if he jumped from the top of a truck going 20 m.p.h. So you see I'm lucky to have only a sprained ankle. It's a lot better now, and I've argued with Doc Brady since this morning trying to convince him that my leg is well enough to get back into operations again. He finally decided to let me go, so I'm back in the fighting again, starting tomorrow.
We got our own ship at last, due to the crash - I'll let you know what we name it in the near future.
Darling, I'm getting a lot of mail from you now. I couldn't ask for anything more. By this time you should be getting mine.
This is all for today, except that I love you more and more every day. I probably won't have a chance to write tomorrow, but will the first chance I get. A mission kisses and one embrace.
All my love,
Jim
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