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Young
Lincoln lawyer goes to France WWII
reenactment to honor his grandfather Jim
Moriearty
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a link to a friend
 [October
08, 2019]
Jim Grimaldi had a story to tell at the
Elkhart Historical Society Dinner
Lecture on Friday evening. It was about
his personal commitment to honor the
memory of the paratroopers who jumped
into France on D-Day hours before the
main landing on the beaches of Normandy.
Grimaldi also emphasized that he wanted
to honor the memory of his grandfather
Jim Moriearty, a World War II veteran
and long time Lincoln insurance agent.
Grimaldi called his presentation “On the
shoulders of giants.”
How did this commitment begin? Grimaldi,
a lawyer in Lincoln, and wife Jennifer
were talking about taking a trip to
France with their kids to attend the
World Cup Soccer Tournament. As they
delved into planning the trip, he came
across an article about 2019 being the
75th anniversary of the D-Day landing on
June 6, 1944.
D-Day was the turning point of the war
in Europe. The Normandy landing was a
massive operation. Part of the force
included paratroopers who jumped into
France behind enemy lines in the dark of
the morning on June 6th.
According to the article, the
anniversary observation would include
the Liberty Jump Team, a WWII
commemorative paratrooper group, who
would recreate the event by jumping into
France from vintage aircraft on June 6,
2019 to honor the brave soldiers of that
conflict.
Jim felt the tug of history calling out
to him to join this endeavor. Jennifer
agreed saying, “If you don’t do this,
you will regret it the rest of your
life.” World Cup Soccer on hold,
paratrooper drop into France on the 75th
Anniversary of D-Day a go! The whole
family including their four kids was on
board for this alternative trip to
France.
To make this matter even more of a
wonderful coincidence, it turns out that
Jim Grimaldi was himself a paratrooper,
having earned his Airborne Wings in the
Army in 1997. Do you see how this plan
seemed destined to happen? He reached
out to the Liberty Jump Team and soon
became a member.
There was one important matter to take
care of though. “I had not made a
parachute jump since my army days,
almost twenty years ago,” he said. So,
he was off to jump school all over
again. “I had an idea that was running
around in my head. I called a friend
from my army days, someone I had not
seen since leaving the army, and he
jumped at the opportunity to join up
too,” he said.
The Liberty Jump Team brought them up to
jump status in no time, using parachutes
that are much like the ones used in
WWII.
“Jumping as a paratrooper is a
completely different experience from
skydiving. Skydivers go to ten thousand
feet and have a long period of free fall
before opening their chute. Paratroopers
jump from 1,200 feet or less, sometimes
as low as 500 feet. We want to spend a
minimum time in the air where we are
most vulnerable to avoid being shot at.
Remember, paratroopers are dropped
behind enemy lines, an extremely
dangerous battle front,” he said.
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And another difference is what
paratroopers carry when performing their
mission. “Our rig weighs about 48
pounds, parachute and reserve chute. To
that you have to add another 50 pounds
of weapons, ammunition, food, water, and
anything else we would need to be on our
own behind enemy lines,” he said. The
Liberty Jump Team does not add the extra
weight, just the appropriate uniform and
parachutes.
The Grimaldi family and the Liberty Jump
Team headed to France as June 6th, 2019
approached. They toured former
battlefields that still had German
bunkers in place, and the towns that
were closest to the D-Day landing sites.
On the big day, the Liberty Jump Team
suited up, climbed into a World War II
era C-47 aircraft and headed to the site
on the Normandy coast where the actual
paratroop landings occurred. “This was
my first jump from a C-47. I was really
excited,” he said.
Jim Grimaldi, lawyer from Lincoln,
Illinois, became Jim Grimaldi
paratrooper jumping out of a plane on
the 75th anniversary of D-Day over the
actual site of the original jumps. “I
felt so privileged to be performing in
this event, to honor those who came
before us, and who exhibited untold
courage in the face of the enemy,” he
said.
“On the shoulders of giants” is
Grimaldi’s way of honoring those
paratroopers who came before him. “I
can’t do anything without looking back
at who came before me, who showed us the
way. My grandfather Jim Moriearty was
part of the World War II military, and I
honor him every time I jump,” he said.
What does the future hold for Jim
Grimaldi? Commemorative paratrooper
teams have been jumping over Normandy on
D-Day since 2002. “I made the jump on
the 75th anniversary, and plan to jump
every year at the event until the 100th
anniversary,” he said. That will be his
time to pass on the tradition to another
generation of paratroopers, to let them
“Stand on the shoulders of giants.”
Jim Grimaldi mentioned one final event
that took place on the 75th Anniversary
Commemoration of D-Day. A member of the
Liberty Jump Team traveled to France
with his fiancée. Their plan was to get
married after the parachute jump on the
actual battlefield where they all landed
surrounded by their team mates.
The couple’s plan seemed to run into an
insurmountable road block as they could
not find anyone qualified to perform the
service.
Well, as it turns out, Grimaldi is
ordained and performed the wedding
ceremony just as the happy couple had
planned it. An amazing ending in one of
the most unlikely places!
[Curtis Fox]
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