History 2005 Part 1     Part 2 of 2

The Israeli Freedom Jump 2005    

Those individual who have been involved in military parachuting for some time may recollect that the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) had a defined policy of inviting overseas military jumpers to their shores for the purposes of exchanging ideas and enhancing airborne fellowship. Unfortunately the increased activities of the PLO and the Intafada put paid to that little plan in the late 80s.

Andrew waves the flag

    Recent years have seen a lessening of tension and last year it was decided to resurrect the old system, particularly with the 60th anniversary of the cessation of hostilities in Europe. A plan was devised whereby a fully manifested C130 would make three drops over the prime DZ at Palachim to commemorate the occasion this was to include individuals from countries friendly to Israeli although the  majority of the paratroopers were to be regular Israeli soldiers. The importance of the event was made clear when it was announced that the Minister of Defence (who had fought as a Para in the Yom Kippur) and Chief of the Defence Staff were also to jump. On Sunday 29 May the foreign delegation of 42 individuals were bussed to the parachute Training School at Tel N of  for refresher training and equipment familiarisation. There was also a tour of the school and packing shed, the all-military, all-female packing team all apparently selected for their youth and beauty.   The following day saw 3.30 reveille so the jumps could take place in the early morning before the morning winds increased in speed. The first sticks were readied in a way that would be familiar to any British jumper, the Israelis having based their methods on those taught to the many WW2 troops who had served with the British Airborne forces before immigrating to Israel in 1948 to join the fledging IDF.  To enhance the spirit of unity most sticks were made up of mixed IDF and foreign jumpers.  The Jump Masters were slick and profession although with a fairly casual air that perhaps would not be so familiar to British personnel. Exits were in the usual fashion at a height of 1200 ft. There was no wind indication on the DZ by smoke or wind sock, jumpers being expected to judge wind direction by drift alone. The rigs jumped were unmodified T100s. A kit bag was folded lengthways and placed across the carrying handle of the reserve. This was then used to stow the field-packed main and reserve once on the ground   Dispatching was accurate with no individual having to walk further than 300m on the sage bush and soft sand DZ to reach the RV panels. There was an informal gathering following the jump with TV crews and press in attendance. The French Contingent showing their Gallic style with the provision of ice cold Champagne . All jumpers then returned to the Para School for lunch in the Cookhouse at which time Israeli wings were presented to all foreign jumpers by the Commandant. 

Andrew

  The following evening saw a moving and spectacular ceremony with large screen video displays and laser light enhancement. The Army band played throughout and enlisted personnel sang local songs. All the foreign delegates were then formed up and presented with their jump diploma authorising the display of the Israeli wings on their uniforms. A large number of personnel from the home para units both past and present were in attendance along with the military attaches from most of the visiting members parent countries and other senior dignitaries. A letter of greeting was read by the Prime Ministers military advisor that had been personally written by Ariel Sharon.  The occasion reached a wonderful finale with the release of 60 doves amongst the swelling music and colourful lighting. A measure of the importance of the occasion was gauged when it was revealed that the busy highway alongside the Parachute Regimental Memorial at which the event took place was closed to road traffic so vehicle noise would not spoil the occasion!

      The jump programme was augmented in style with a imaginative itinerary of visits to important military sites in the Golan, Israel-Lebanon border and Jerusalem . Amongst the other activities planned were opportunities to swim in the Dead Sea , paddle in the River Jordon, and wail at the Wailing Wall.

      The whole occasion was superbly planned and executed with the intention of running a similar event in 2006. Delegates from the following countries were in attendance; UK, USA , Italy , Portugal , Germany , Holland , South Africa , France , Brazil .Pathfinder was represented by Jerry Watkins and Andrew Lansdell

Article by Jerry Watkins

  Foot note Any individual considering attending next year should be warned that the British are considered the prime experts in foot drill and tend to be selected when moving formed squads around the barracks!    (Steve Jennings your department I think)

Provisional plans for next year will include Pathfinder members jumping in WW2 uniform and then taking part in the Peace march around Jerusalem (About 15k)Start saving your pennies as this will be expensive but a not to be missed jump. Its also a holiday as you will not get a tour anywhere else like this.

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On may 5th 1945 the German armed forces surrendered in Holland. This year with the 60th commemoration Pathfinder was asked to perform a parachute display at the island of Texel. All expenses were paid for, we just had to show up. Until the last moment the Air Force had promised us a C-130 to jump from but at the last moment the aircraft was pulled back. All in all we had only 9 jumpers left so we used the standard aircraft of the Parachute centre at Texel as jumpship. At the Marine barracks at Texel we had free lodging for all our jumpers

At 10.45 hrs, may 5th 2005, we took off from the airfield at Texel and 2 minutes later we were at 2000ft above the dropzone. The DZ was about 400 x 500 yards but with fences and ditches and bordering the north side of the town of Den Burg.  Alle exits were smooth, all canopy deployments perfect. All jumpers landed on the DZ, no injuries at all. Several thousands of spectators watched a perfect parachute display. The 2i/c of the Marine barracks complimented us with a "job well done."

After the parachute display a Lancaster bomber made a low pass over the town of Den Burg.
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French Alps 7-8 May 2005
 

click here to see video of Vasieux drop

From the start this adventure was troubled.  First we had the use of a Dakota and a coach to take us to France.  The Dakota had to pull out due to engineering and cost problems, then a C130 drop in Holland was cancelled and this in turn cancelled our coach that was to take parachutes to Holland and then onto France.

Some very difficult negotiations with the French over the cost and details put the operation at the point of being cancelled on many occasions.  However it went ahead with two mini buses taking the parachutes and several members across France.

At the Semnoz Memorial

 

My first time in a Dakota and having not jumped for a time I felt a little nervous but at the same time very excited and proud to be doing this first drop, onto the Semnoz mountain top some 4000ft above the town below.

We eventually exited from 800ft and it turned out to be the best drop I have done.  Crisp fresh air and still pockets of snow covered the mountaintop.  Only minutes before the top of the mountain was covered with thick fog, but just as the ground team heard the engines of the Dakota the fog cleared and we could see one of the most fantastic sights you can imagine.  We all landed safely, and soon after attended a ceremonial parade and a photo session at the memorial.  Graham Anstee got himself into the local paper.

Just after landing Semnoz mountain top

 

The following day Sunday 8th due to some cancellations and a little luck I was given the chance to do a second drop into the Vercors Mountains, at a place called Vassieux.

This time it was bright sunshine and a nice grassy landing.  However Simon and graham apparently landed a little hard with Simon hurting his shoulder. A ceremony and several hours touring the town we got a bus and a minibus back to the accommodation. 

This operation turned out to be extremely well received and operationally went very well.  Many many thanks to Nigel who couldn’t make it, but did along with Steve kept this operation alive.

French resistance museum at Vassieux

Memorial

By Nick Bird

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Incredible account from the Ground perspective

The Drop

The old Citroen, ‘traction avant’ climbed higher into the snowy mountains, the driver obviously familiar with the tortuous bends as he whirled the wheel from side to side with careless ease, his passengers not daring to look too carefully over the numerous precipices.  However from his accent he was quite obviously not a local and he seemed to have little more idea than us as to where exactly the British parachutists were coming in.  

p_ruvien au S-Phone

We passed a cluster of American jeeps parked on a corner and asked for further information but they were vague and obviously French, disguised as Yanks. The offer of a plastic cup of vin de Savoie gave them away !

 

From the air dropping on to Semnoz

Finally we reached the summit and were surprised to find quite a reception committee waiting, but the swirling clouds seemed likely to prevent the aircraft finding the DZ. Then suddenly we heard the unmistakable drone of a Dakota and caught a glimpse of it through the clouds as it circled.  A bugle call sounded and as if by magic the clouds rolled away and the ‘plane turned, throttled back and made a slow turn as it dropped towards us.  A slow pass over us and then out they came, eight khaki clad figures one after the other, clear against the sky despite their camouflaged ‘chutes.

All managed to avoid the numerous boulders, despite the lack of manoeuvrability of the X type ‘chutes and they were suddenly among us, eight weather-beaten veterans pleased to be on French soil. The DZ was

 quickly cleared as the Dakota turned and made another run over the dropping zone and our band of eight quickly became sixteen, all safe and in good spirits.  

This was Semnoz near Annecy on May7th 2005 - a re-enactment of a drop made some 62 years earlier by SOE agent, Peter Churchill - no, no relation to our illustrious Prime Minister, although later he claimed to his German captors that he was the cousin, 62 times removed from Winston - and thus received more favourable treatment !  The veterans were almost all British civilians, mainly ex paras or SAS, who spend much of their time (and money) performing these demonstrations over Europe.  Their uniforms and their parachutes were those used during the forties - but they were equipped with a reserve parachute, a luxury not available to British troops until the mid-fifties.

We then made our way down the hillside to the bottom of the ski lift station and took part in a ceremony where a plaque to Peter Churchill was unveiled.  Despite the cold the standard bearers stood firm (your editor amongst them)  as the speeches rolled on for almost an hour ; Mercifully our own Consul General, Colin Bright, present with his daughter, kept his brief and to the point.  

‘Nous voici rassemblés pour rappeler à notre mémoire les actes héroïques de nombre de parachutistes français, américains et britanniques lors de la dernière guerre mondiale, en ce haut lieu chargé d’histoire. L’étonnante reconstitution du largage des parachutistes à laquelle nous avons assisté ajoute une dimension émotionnelle à cette commémoration et nous rappelle l’action courageuse de ces combattants dont beaucoup sont restés dans l’ombre. Pour nous britanniques, cet hommage va aujourd’hui particulièrement au britannique Peter Churchill qui sauta ici le 15 avril 1943 et dont nous dévoilerons tout à l’heure la plaque qui lui est dédiée.

Il est de notre devoir de faire revivre l’esprit de la Résistance et l’élan qui a transporté tous ces hommes et toutes ces femmes vers des valeurs qui les dépassent.  Ces événements sont loin dans le temps pour la jeune génération et cette page de l’histoire risque d’être effacée par la disparition de ses témoins.  Je me réjouis de voir que les jeunes sont présents aux côtés des plus anciens car il appartient à la jeune génération de prendre le relais et d’assumer son devoir de transmission pour que les valeurs  - liberté, fraternité - qui portaient ces hommes et ces femmes soient un modèle dans la vie de chacun d’entre nous.

Merci à tous ceux qui ont participé à l’organisation de cette journée et merci à vous de m’avoir convié à partager avec vous ce grand moment d’émotion.

(Bulletin  de la British Légion de Lyon, juillet 2005)

unknown writer British Legion Lyon (France)

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                                                 by Terry Crawley
    Following the two jumps last year at Arnhem commemorating the 60th Anniversary, The Pathfinder Parachute Group were invited by the French to jump on the 7th/8th May this year to celebrate the end of the war in Europe sixty years ago.
 
    There were two jumps in the French Alps from a world war two Dakota using PX Mk4 static line chutes. The first was 3000 feet above lake Annency at Semnoz onto the original DZ used by Peter Churchill. The view from the aircraft was out of this world bearing in mind that if you missed the DZ 3000 feet is a long way down.
 
    The Jump Master, Ian Marshall decided that we should exit the aircraft from a lower altitude since we were using non steerable canopies. It worked perfectly and we had no casualties.  The jumpers were made up of ex French Para's from Indo China onwards plus Dutch , American and British.
    There was a large ceremony afterwards where I met Standard bearer Brain Rosen Ex 21 SAS and his wife.
 
    The second jump was on Sunday 8th May on the Vercours, onto the plateau of Vassieux.  This was another perfect jump. The wartime DZ was used by the SOE, French, British and American. The Germans also landed Glider borne troops in the same area..  There followed another large ceremony which was attended by the last remaining American veteran parachutist of that time

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Operation Neptune + Video click Hear 

http://www.marinenl/mariniers/goem/amfostbat/  (click this link)

This is the link to the official site of the Royal Marines Amphibious support battalion.

The support batallion (AMFOSTBAT) has been founded to centralize the knowledge about Amphibious actions and to house the increasing number of amfibious units.
It houses the 1st and 2nd boatcompany which have all landing craft and a so called  Amphibious Beach Unit zijn ondergebracht. 
The batallion is housed at the Joost Dourlein barracks at Texel, where since a long time the basic Amphibious basic course is tought. On a regular basis the traing section and operational units are based at the barracks to "freshen up".
Besides the basic training several courses take place for the landing craft crew

Combined exercise Royal Marines and Pathfinder, Operation "Neptune"

Pathfinder was to execute a water jump and the Marines used this to practise their water recovery drills,

Pathfinder (Holland) organized a water jump in July 2005. This for 2 reasons: 1- it's good fun to do, 2- to have made a planned water jump as a training in an emergency situation.

 

We found the commanding officer of the Amphibious Assault Battalion of the Dutch Royal Marines at Texel very willing to cooperate. He already helped us last year with the jump at the John Frost bridge at Arnhem and was keen to take part. This way it was to be an exercise for both the Marines and Pathfinder.

 

Because of logistic reasons we had to set the maximum number of jumpers at 25. In the beginning we had almost 40 interested but the closer we got to closing the manifest the fewer we had. Some had very good reasons to cancel their participation, others just pulled back. All in all we almost had to cancel this event because of lack of interest. In the end we had 10 jumpers, 5 Pathfinder members and 5 from outside our organisation.

The ground training started at Sunday July 17th 2005. Paperwork, parachute packing, getting to know each other. On Monday we continued with exit- and reserve drills followed by a theory class about a water landing. Next was parachute release training in a suspended harness and also with an inflated parachute. During the afternoon we did more training in the swimming pool. We had a rescue diver with us, and first all jumped in the pool wearing the parachute harness. This to feel what it is like to have to swim with an harness. After this a jumper (wearing a harness) jumped in the pool and the parachute, risers and lines were pulled over him. This way everybody could train how to avoiding entanglement in lines and how to get out of such an entanglement. It turned out that it was a good thing to have a diver present as one of us had a bit of trouble being entangled in the fabric and lines. In the end everyone passed this training.

 

Tuesday July 19th 2005, 10.00 hrs. After a briefing all jumpers got their kit on and boarded the Antonov-2 aircraft. About 5 minutes after take off we were over the sea, between Texel and Den Helder. The Marines were present with 1 landing craft (LCVP mk3) and 6 rubber boats (LCRM). In one of the LCRMs we had a rescue diver. Besides the regular crew there was a medic onboard the LCVP and they had a warm pot of coffee brewing. Stick 1 and 2 consisted of 4 jumpers each. Each jumper was picked up by an LCRM and brought to the LCVP. The LCVP would lower it's ramp, the LCRM sailed onto the ramp. The ramp was raised until it was level and the jumper and equipment transferred from the LCRM to the LCVP. The ramp was lowered back into the sea, and the next LCRM arrived to unload it's cargo. The 3rd stick was only 2 jumpers, both the jumpmasters. everything went perfect and when all were onboard the LCVP all boats returned to the Marine barracks at Texel. The wind was a bit high and the sea a bit rough. This caused 2 persons to loose their breakfast. On the barracks everyone had a shower and all equipment was washed clean of the salt water. All in all it has been a perfect exercise. 4 articles about this jump have appeared in the press.

The manifest of this jump was:
1- John Verduin   2- Graham Anstee,  3- Jan Boyen Rienks,  4- Dennis Vermeulen,  5- Melvin, 6- Fraser Malcolm, 7- Jasper Nales, 8- Sylvia Krijnen, 
Jumpmasters: 1- Ron Visser,  2- Brord van der Maat  
Rescue diver: Jack Corstens
 
This jump could not have happened without:
- Survival Equipment Services for supplying the reserves
- Paracentrum Texel for the free use of the mains and accomodation
- Secumar for the use of the life jackets
- Dutch Royal Marines for the boats, coffee, and soup
- Antonov Foundation Holland for the aircraft
- All the participants for the fun we had.

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Thailand:
The Pathfinder team had been invited by the 1st LRRP - King's Guard Division for a joint operation at the Royal Thai Army Special Warfare Center in Lopburi.
We were billeted within the Thai army unit headquarters.
The first day was dedicated to preparing the joint operation and the usual packing and drills associated with such operations.
The next day was a very early wake up for the major part of the unit (4. a.m.) and a roll call (5 a.m.) before boarding a convoy for a 3 hours ride to the north.
A small group made of the Free Fall Insertion team left with an aircraft from the military wing of Dong Muang international airport at around 07:00 a.m. and reached the DZ of the Special Warfare Centre in less than an hour.

 

The Pathfinder team made a total of 2 jump and returned by land while I flew by aircraft back to the air force base along with the Associate military attaché a European nation. The aircraft crew were very familiar as this was the same team that flew me out of Phuket during the Tsunami operation at the beginning of the year.

All Pathfinder members jumped free fall. The Thais also made jumps out of a Casa 212 aircraft as well as several drops from a Chinook along with the graduate military cadets of Chulachomklao military academy.

The following day was dedicated to free fall drills in preparation to the operation in Cambodia to which we flew the next morning.

Pathfinder has been granted the use of the unit's facility to conduct the ground training for the its members as well as with the local unit with which it has been working in close cooperation.

On the last evening we had a dinner with the core members of the unit , courtesy of the unit commander.

Cambodia:

The usual familiar faces of the 911 Para Commando battalion members were there to greet us at the Pochentong airport. From there we left for the hotel downtown then on to the headquarters of the 911 Para battalion to inspect the equipment and start with the free fall training for the local 911 parachutists.

The Pathfinder team has been performing this regularly as a routine cooperation with the 911 unit. We were delighted to meet General C. P. D. and his secretary of staff, Colonel Y.C.

The next day was another day of ground training and equipment inspection followed but two jumps on the next day from the MI17. All the Pathfinder members again jumped free fall over the 911 headquarters.

Thanks to the following members for their great contribution to the revival of the Cambodian airborne:

Ian Marshall

Jason Snailham

Alaster Mc.

 

In recognition to these services the following have been awarded medals (Officer of the Shahametrei) from Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia as a recognition for their contribution and assistance to the 911 unit;
Ian Marshall
Jason Snailham
Maamar Ferkoun
This goes to the whole Pathfinder team and other fellow paratroopers who joined us on these trips, without whom all this would not have happened.