A bipartisan group of House lawmakers is commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day on Thursday by parachuting out of a World War II-era plane over Normandy, France, just as Allied airborne forces did on June 6, 1944.
The 10 legislators – nine Republicans and one Democrat, all veterans of the armed forces – will don World War II military uniforms and jump into Normandy from a U.S. C-47 military transport plane that was extensively used during the war.
“The fact that we’re in Normandy, and you’re wearing that uniform … and you’re jumping from that plane that isn’t what we’re used to from our [service], you’re stepping back in time in a way, and you’re really trying to think about how many sacrifices that were made,” Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., one of the lawmakers participating, told Fox News Digital.
“This is one of the greatest opportunities that I’ve had since I’ve been in Congress: to be able to literally recreate and reenact what they had done in 1944,” he said. “And so, [what is] really going to be one of those things I think about is how many we lost and then also how lucky we truly are as Americans.”
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Reps. Ronny Jackson, left, and Cory Mills pose during training for their D-Day commemoration parachute jump. (House of Representatives)
Asked what he’ll be thinking about as he jumps out of the plane, Mills joked, “This is either going to be a great jump or we might not be the majority any longer.”
He also noted that it’s likely one of the last D-Day anniversaries that will actually have the aging veterans of that war in attendance.
Mills and his companies are part of a wider group of lawmakers that will be in Normandy along with President Biden to mark the anniversary of what’s widely considered to be the turning point of the war in Europe, when Allied forces went on to defeat the Axis powers led by Germany and its leader, Adolf Hitler.
The bipartisan group that is participating in the ceremonial parachute jump are all military veterans. (House of Representatives)
Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., who had previously done the jump alongside Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., and will do so again, told Fox News Digital, “It’s a real honor to be able to observe and honor the veterans in the way that we are.”
Crow, a former Army Ranger, said he, like Mills, served in the 82nd Airborne Division; both units played critical roles in the June 6, 1944, operation.
“To be able to honor the veterans who served in those units before me, actually conducting the jump, is certainly a real privilege,” he said.
The Colorado Democrat said he and Waltz first came up with the idea on the House floor: “I thought that it would be a good way, both as former paratroopers, to actually participate and honor our veterans.”
AMERICAN WWII VETERANS TRAVEL TO FRANCE TO BE HONORED FOR 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF D-DAY
U.S. troops disembark from landing craft on D-Day, June 6, 1944. (Imperial War Museum/AFP via Getty Images)
Another participant, Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, quipped to Fox News Digital, “It’s probably not the smartest thing to do at my age. But you know what? I’m going to do it.”
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“It’s just awesome. I mean, it’s going to be one of the last D-Day anniversaries where you actually have, you know, veterans that were there,” Jackson said.
Other lawmakers participating are Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., Rich McCormick, R-Ga., Keith Self, R-Texas, and House Homeland Security Chair Mark Green, R-Tenn.
