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SKYDIVING ON THE WINGS OF AN ANGEL

By Dee Taylor

Can we spread our wings and soar as the birds do? Some think so and take part in the "ultimate thrill" by participating in the sport of skydiving. In Quincy, Illinois at the World Free Fall Convention, men and women from all walks of life, doctors, lawyers, and mechanics in pigtails arrived to participate in this exhilarating sport. Daredevils they are, and loving every moment of it.

One young man in particular would take his last dive that day. Then a mother receives a call. An experienced skydiver was killed while skydiving on a glorious summer day. When death steals a child, a mother's heart forever cries. This is her story of how her son took his last skydive on the wings of his guardian angel.

"My son, Jerry joined the 82nd Airborne at the age of twenty-five," Linda said. With strong conviction she continued on, "Jerry had jumped 195 times plus his military experience. He was not an amateur. He had more than mastered his sport."

Sighing Linda continued, "Jerry always seemed drawn to adventures with high risk, but like a cat perched to jump, he only took a calculated risk. Before he joined the Army he was an elevator installer. He loved to tell how cool it was to sit on top of the cab and travel up and down thirty stories. He just loved heights."

Skydivers have a relationship to the sky much like sailors have to the sea. Both are good friends but can be terribly unforgiving. Speeding at 140 miles per hour, delaying the opening of the parachute, feels as solid to a skydiver as water to a water-skier.

Reaching down in her treasured memories, Linda reminisced. "When Jerry was little he climbed before he walked. I often told him that he needed several guardian angels because he was too much for one." Tears welling up in her eyes, and her voice quivering she said, "He once yelled to me as he was repelling down a mountain, Hey Mom, I'm keeping my guardian angels busy."

Jerry was keeping his guardian angels busy again on a hot summer afternoon in August. As the phone rang in the Carmicle home, Linda could not capture the voice that said her only son was found dead in a farmer's field after his last jump of the afternoon.

Scott Chew, a skydiver physician and safety official investigated, and reported Jerry landed under his main canopy. He was dead when they found him with a fractured femur and had suffered massive chest injuries. He had removed his helmet and goggles. It appeared his equipment was functioning properly. Chew in his call to Jerry's parents said, "He died within 5-10 minutes after impact."

The family agreed it seemed fitting to have his remains cremated and scatter his ashes from an airplane by fellow divers. During the memorial ceremony an unexplainable thing happened and once again, Linda knew her son's guardian angels were on duty that day.

The sky was perfectly clear, beautiful and blue, good for filming the event. On the finished tape, for about two seconds, an image of a skydiver was seen within Jerry's ashes in the sky. The skydivers that participated in the memorial could not believe their eyes. They played the tape over and over again, looking for an explanation.

Speaking with a knowing twinkle in her blue eyes, Linda hesitated and commented, "It made a tremendous impact on all the divers. They wondered out loud, laughed and said it would be just like Jerry to give a final farewell and comfort to those he left behind." Linda smiled and said, "Only God really knows if he was supported by the wings of his guardian angels as they filmed Jerry's memorial that day. Perhaps God was letting them see they are only separated in the flesh, and Jerry would always be jumping with them in the spirit."

Jerry's aunt, Linda Lou penned a poem and sent it to his parents assuring them his guardian angels were indeed on duty the last jump of his life that summer day.

ODE TO JERRY NOEL CARMICLE

You always loved to soar like a bird in
God's majestic sky.
Guardian angels were with you long before
You had to die.
God's voice was heard on that day, whispering
In the wind,
His angels waited for Him to say, when
they should descend.
God stretched out his arms of love
As you neared the ground,
And said, "Peace be with you my child."
"We are heaven bound."
Angels rushed down from Heaven to catch you
And carry you away,
From your earthly home and the soybean field
Where you lay.
The joy of loving you is missed by so many
You left behind,
Your precious memory will always live in each of our
Hearts and minds.

Of all of Jerry's loved ones left behind, one watching for his master's return is his companion and best friend, Archer. Remembering his master's last command to be a good boy and he would return, Jerry's devoted dog patiently sits by Linda's knee, waits and listens as a mother's heart forever cries. With tears in her eyes, Linda said, "I will always believe Jerry's guardian angels were with him in the farmer's field that day, gently lifting him on their wings, carrying him safely back to his heavenly home."

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Last Updated on December 27, 2004

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