Jon Harmon, front, poses with fellow jumpers in front of a World War II-era C-47 aircraft ahead of D-Day anniversary events in Normandy, France. (Leslie Herlick/U.S. Army)
A veteran 82nd Airborne paratrooper who lost both his legs during combat in Afghanistan will board a World War II-era plane to jump once again, this time onto the Normandy drop zone of his airborne predecessors.
Thousands of veterans, active-duty troops and history enthusiasts are converging on Normandy this week to mark the 82nd anniversary of the D-Day landings that helped alter the course of World War II.
The paratrooper, 32-year-old Jon Harmon, will be among those paying tribute.
“Normandy’s everything,” Harmon said in a recent Army statement. “That’s where our guys made their history, and to be able to jump in those drop zones, in front of the men who actually dropped there, is the greatest honor of my life.”
Harmon will fly aboard a C-47 vintage military transport aircraft on June 7, the same day that 14 years earlier resulted in the loss of both legs in an explosion while he was deployed to Afghanistan.
Harmon was on a routine patrol through a village in Kandahar Province when he stepped on a roadside bomb. Two other bombs detonated during a flurry of action that caused numerous casualties and killed Pfc. Brandon Goodine, the Army statement said.
Jon Harmon celebrates after a parachute jump during his early years with the 82nd Airborne Division. Harmon lost both legs in Afghanistan in 2012 and is returning to the skies this week for a commemorative jump into Normandy, France. (Courtesy photo/Jon Harmon)
Jon Harmon celebrates after completing a parachute jump. This week, the former 82nd Airborne paratrooper will jump into Normandy, France, to honor the airborne soldiers who fought on D-Day. (Courtesy photo/Lacey Carroll)
Jon Harmon sits in a World War II-era C-47. The former 82nd Airborne paratrooper lost both legs in combat in Afghanistan and will take part in D-Day anniversary events in Normandy, France. (Leslie Herlick/U.S. Army)
Harmon, who initially lost his right leg, was later evacuated to Germany for treatment and then to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., where doctors amputated his left leg above the knee.
On Sunday, Harmon will jump into Sainte‑Mere‑Eglise, the area where the 82nd Airborne’s 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment landed 82 years earlier.
“The fates always have an odd sense of irony in my life,” Harmon said. “Jumping on my 14th ‘alive day’ into the drop zone my 508 guys jumped, it’s surreal.”
During the jump, Harmon will carry a necklace that belonged to Goodine along with the fallen soldier’s original Army ID card.
Harmon also will carry the ashes of his grandfather, an infantryman who served in the Korean War, the Army said.
“I’ll be jumping with all my guys,” he said. “Every paratrooper who came before me.”
