WAR COMMEMORATION Army bars 11 veterans from Normandy jump

CLEVELAND (AP) -- An area World War II veteran won't get a chance to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Allied invasion of France next month by parachuting into Normandy.
The Army has decided that the parachute drop would be too dangerous for Howard Greenberg of Bay Village and 10 other veterans, because of their age.
"I am depressed. I was really looking forward to it," said Greenberg, 79. "My reason for wanting to do it was to honor two Jewish friends of mine who were killed in World War II."
"I resent being told I'm not physically fit. I only weigh 11 pounds more than I did the day I was discharged," he said.
Greenberg, a retired optometrist, served with the 11th Airborne in the Pacific and jumped into Normandy in 1994 on the 50th anniversary of D-Day.
"The Army officially said no," said Bob McCaffery, chairman of the Friends of D-Day 2004, the group raising money to pay for the jump. "Age was the issue."
He notified the veterans -- all in their 70s and 80s -- on Thursday. He said Saturday that those interested in making the jump are "lean and mean."
"The Army realized that these guys have trained and they are the exception among average 80-year-olds," said McCaffery, of Las Vegas. "But they said the risk of an injury happening at a ceremony of this magnitude was just too great."
The group of veterans who wanted to jump into Normandy 10 years ago faced similar obstacles -- but with a different result. Then, President Clinton gave the ultimate approval that allowed 38 veterans to jump near Ste.-Mere-Eglise, the D-Day objective of the 82nd Airborne Division.
Some paratroopers dropped on a herd of French cows.
McCaffery said the group will appeal to the White House again, but the situation is complicated by other events going on to mark the anniversary.
White House spokesman Trent Duffy said the White House typically reviews such requests. Army Col. Dan Wolfe, executive officer of the World War II Commemoration Committee, did not return a message left at his office Saturday.
Aware of the dangers
Greenberg said he was aware of the dangers of jumping.
In 1995, he was one of six WWII paratroopers who went to Russia to perform an airborne tribute. The man who jumped before Greenberg was killed when his parachute failed to open. Greenberg's jump was canceled.
In 2000, while performing another tribute near Fort Bragg, N.C., another member of Greenberg's group, Arnold "Dutch" Nagel of Delphos, Ohio, died after his parachute did not open properly.