Charles Plumb was a US Navy jet pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile.
Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent six years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience!
Here is one of his stories.
“One day, my wife and I were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, ‘You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Haw. You were shot down!’
‘How in the world did you know that?’ I asked. ‘I packed your parachute,’ the man replied. I gasped with a mixture of surprise and gratitude.
The man pumped my hand and said, ‘I guess it worked!’ I assured him, ‘It sure did. If your chute had not worked, I wouldn't be here today.’
I could not sleep that night, thinking about that man. I kept wondering what he had looked like in a Navy uniform: a white hat; a bib in the back; and bell-bottom trousers.
I pondered how many times I might have seen him and not even said ‘Good morning, how are you?' or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor.
I thought of the many hours the sailor had spent at a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he did not know.
Who's packing your parachute? Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day.
Charles Plumb needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory.
Through those six years, he needed his physical parachute…his mental parachute…his emotional parachute…and his spiritual parachute. He called on all these for support.
Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is truly important.
We may fail to say “Hello,” or “Thank you.” We may fail to congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened. We may fail to give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason.
As you go through this week, this month, this year, recognize people who pack your parachute.
I am sending you this as my way of thanking you for your part in packing my parachute. I want you to know that you are still remembered…you are still important …what you do still matters.
Send this on to those who have helped pack your parachute.
I wish you sunny day and a bright forever!
