thedrifter
09-08-06, 07:35 AM
September 07, 2006
Amputees aim to break world skydiving record
By Michelle Tan
Staff writer
Twenty-four amputees, including 11 current and former soldiers and two former Marines, will try to break a world skydiving record on Sunday.
The jumpers, part of a group named Pieces of Eight, will practice all weekend in Perris, Calif., and on Sunday they hope to break their own 10-year-old skydiving record of a 14-amputee star.
Pieces of Eight was formed in the late 1970s by Larry Yohn, who had lost his left leg and was told he couldn’t skydive in France. He enlisted the help of three other amputees, including Al Krueger, an Army veteran who lost his left arm to gunshot wounds while serving in Vietnam, to prove that they could still be skydivers.
Krueger will participate in Sunday’s jump at Perris Valley Skydiving Center.
Included in the group of skydivers jumping on Sunday are three veterans of Operations Enduring Freedom or Iraqi Freedom, four Vietnam veterans and two Desert Storm veterans.
Ellie
Amputees aim to break world skydiving record
By Michelle Tan
Staff writer
Twenty-four amputees, including 11 current and former soldiers and two former Marines, will try to break a world skydiving record on Sunday.
The jumpers, part of a group named Pieces of Eight, will practice all weekend in Perris, Calif., and on Sunday they hope to break their own 10-year-old skydiving record of a 14-amputee star.
Pieces of Eight was formed in the late 1970s by Larry Yohn, who had lost his left leg and was told he couldn’t skydive in France. He enlisted the help of three other amputees, including Al Krueger, an Army veteran who lost his left arm to gunshot wounds while serving in Vietnam, to prove that they could still be skydivers.
Krueger will participate in Sunday’s jump at Perris Valley Skydiving Center.
Included in the group of skydivers jumping on Sunday are three veterans of Operations Enduring Freedom or Iraqi Freedom, four Vietnam veterans and two Desert Storm veterans.
Ellie