A U.S. Army paratrooper receives German jump wings after a jump over Ft. Bragg, N.C., Dec. 8, 2007, during Operation Toy Drop. The 10th Annual Randy Oler memorial Operation Toy Drop is hosted by the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (Airborne) and is a foreign wings exchange and community service operation to support the military and local community by collecting over 1,400 toys for families in the Fayetteville area. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Micky Bazaldua


A U.S. Army paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division has his equipment checked before a jump over Ft. Bragg, N.C., Dec. 8, 2007, during Operation Toy Drop. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Micky Bazaldua


A U.S. Army jumpmaster from the 82nd Airborne Division instructs soldiers on proper exiting procedures during Operation Toy Drop at Ft. Bragg, N.C., Dec. 8, 2007. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Micky Bazaldua


An U.S. Air Force loadmaster lowers the ramp of a C-130 Hercules during Operation Toy Drop at Ft. Bragg, N.C., Dec. 8, 2007. U.S. Air Force Photo by Senior Airman Clay Lancaster


U.S. Army paratroopers prepare to board a C-130 Hercules aircraft during Operation Toy Drop 2007 at Pope Air Force Base, N.C., Dec. 8, 2007. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Clay Lancaster


U.S. Army paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division parachute from a C-130 Hercules aircraft over Ft. Bragg, N.C., Dec. 8, 2007, during Operation Toy Drop. The 10th Annual Randy Oler memorial Operation Toy Drop is hosted by the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (Airborne) and is a foreign wings exchange and community service operation to support the military and local community by collecting over 1,400 toys for deserving families in the Fayetteville area. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Micky Bazaldua


A U.S. Army jumpmaster performs a pre-jump inspection aboard a C-130 Hercules aircraft during Operation Toy Drop over Ft. Bragg, N.C., Dec. 8, 2007. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Clay Lancaster


A U.S. Army paratrooper jumps from a C-130 Hercules aircraft during Operation Toy Drop 2007 at Pope Air Force Base, N.C., Dec. 8, 2007. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Clay Lancaster


A U.S. Army paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division parachutes from a C-130 Hercules aircraft during Operation Toy Drop 2007 at Pope Air Force Base, N.C., Dec. 8, 2007. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Micky Bazaldua


U.S. Army paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division parachute from a C-130 Hercules aircraft during Operation Toy Drop 2007 at Pope Air Force Base, N.C., Dec. 8, 2007. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Micky Bazaldua


U.S. Army paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division head back to base after a jump during Operation Toy Drop 2007 at Pope Air Force Base, N.C., Dec. 8, 2007. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Micky Bazaldua


More photo essays at DefenseLink

Labels: 82nd Airborne Division, aircraft, C-130, Civil Affairs, Fallen Heroes, Hercules, Opeartion Toy Drop, paratroopers, photo essays, photos, Pope Air Force Base, Sergeant First Class Randy Oler, US Army

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Today in History
0882 - John VIII ends his reign as Catholic Pope; Marinus I begins his
1431 - King Henry VI of England crowned king of France
1538 - King François I orders renewed pursuit of Protestants
1577 - Danzig surrenders to troops of Polish king István Báthory
1617 - Spanish viceroy Hernando Arias de Saavedra founds provinces Río de la Plata (Argentina)/Guaira (Paraguay)
1631 - Mount Vesuvius, Italy erupts, destroys 6 villages & kills 4,000
1653 - Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England, Scotland & Ireland
1659 - General Monck demands free parliamentary election in Scotland
1689 - English Parliament adopts Bill of Rights after Glorious Revolution
1740 - Prussian Libya falls to Silezie
1761 - Russian army occupies Kolberg
1773 - Boston Tea Party
1809 - Napoleon Bonaparte divorces Empress Josephine by the French Senate
1811 - Most violent & prolonged quakes in US begins in Midwest region; 8.0 earthquake shakes New Madrid MO
1817 - Leaders of Molukkas uprising hanged in Ambon
1824 - Great North Holland Canal opens
1835 - Fire consumes over 600 buildings in New York NY
1838 - Boers beat Zulu chieftain Dingaan in South Africa
1857 - Earthquake in Naples, Italy
1858 - Dutch government decides to vacate Schokland Island
1862 - Kingdom of Nepal accepts its constitution
1864 - Battle of Nashville ends after 4400 casualities
1880 - Republic of South-Africa forms
1884 - Great Britain recognizes King Leopold II's Congo Free State
1897 - 1st submarine with an internal combustion engine demonstrated
1900 - Boer army under General Kritzinger take Cape colony
1905 - "Variety", covering all phases of show business, 1st published
1907 - Great White Fleet sails from Hampton Downs on its World Cruise
1909 - US pressure forces Nicaraguan President José Santos Zelaya from office
1912 - 1st US postage stamp picturing an airplane, 20¢ parcel post, issued; Austria-Hungary engage in conflict with Serbia
1913 - Charlie Chaplin began his film career at Keystone for $150 a week
1914 - French offensive in Artois (Pétain)
1915 - Albert Einstein publishes his "General Theory of Relativity"
1920 - Over 180,000 die when 8.6 earthquake destroys 15,000² miles (Kansu China)
1930 - Golfer Bobby Jones wins James E Sullivan Award
1931 - German SPD begins Eiserne Front against fascism
1932 - Heavy earthquake ravages Kansu China, 70,000 killed
1940 - British air raid on Mannheim
1941 - Sarawak occupied by the Japanese
1942 - Hitler orders combat against partisans in Russia & Balkan
1943 - "Tamiami Champion" trains collide, kills 73 & injures 200
1944 - Battle of the Bulge begins in Belgium; German V-2 strikes Antwerp bioscope (638 kill); US 2nd Infantry division occupies "Heartbreak Crossroads," Wahlerscheid
1949 - Sukarno becomes President of Indonesia; Mokammed Hatta becomes premier
1950 - Truman proclaims state of emergency against "Communist imperialism"
1953 - 1st White House Press Conference (President Eisenhower & 161 reporters); Charles E. Yeager flies over 2,575 kph (1,650 mph) in Bell X-1A (first man to fly at nearly two and one-half times the speed of sound)
1960 - 134 die as United DC-8 & TWA Super Constellation collide over Staten Island, New York NY
1962 - Constitutional Monarchical Hindu State of Nepál adopts new constitution
1965 - Gemini 6 returns to Earth; Pioneer 6 launched into solar orbit; Taufa'ahau Tupou IV, becomes King of Tonga
1969 - British House of Commons votes 343-185 abolishing the death penalty
1970 - 1st successful landing on Venus (USSR)
1971 - Bangladesh (East Pakistan) declares independence from Pakistan
1973 - US kidnap victim Paul Getty III freed
1976 - Government halts swine flu vaccination program following reports of paralysis; Andrew Young named Ambassador & Chief US Delegate to UN; Liberian tanker stranded at Nantucket, 180,000 barrels oil in sea
1978 - Ronald Reagan denounces President Jimmy Carter's recognition of China People's Republic
1980 - President-elect Reagan announces Alexander Haig as Secretary of State
1981 - Dutch Van Agt's 2nd government falls
1983 - Riverside CA judge denies cerebral palsy victim Elizabeth Bouviato request to starve herself to death in a county hospital
1988 - Political cult leader Lyndon LaRouche convicted of tax, mail fraud
1990 - Reverend Jean-Betrand Aristide elected President of Haiti
1991 - UN reverses ruling that Zionism is racism by 111-25 (13 abstain) vote
1992 - Israel orders deportation of 415 Palestinians after escalating terrorist activity
1997 - President Clinton names his Labrador retriever, "Buddy"

Birthdays
1485 - Catherine of Aragon, Spanish princess/1st wife of Henry VIII
1622 - Kurt S. Adeler, Danish admiral/ship builder
1742 - Gebhard Leberecht Fürst Blücher von Wahlstatt, German fieldmarshal
1809 - Peter P. van Bosse, Dutch attorney/liberal minister of Finance
1812 - William Grose, Union Brevet Major General
1819 - Robert Selden Garnett, Confederate Brigadier-General
1825 - Henry Heth, Confederate Major General
1828 - John Beatty, Union Brigadier-General
1830 - John Frederick Hartranft, Union Brevet Major General
1851 - Theodoor H. de Meester, Dutch premier (1905-08)
1857 - Edward Emerson, astronomer (Jupiter's 5th satellite)
1863 - Ralph Adams Cram, US gothic architect (Cathedral of St John the Divine NYC)
1888 - Alphonse Juin, French marshal
1906 - John Morrison, politician/landowner; Lord Margadale, English Conservative parliament leader/large landowner
1907 - Ray C. Bliss, Ohio State Republican Chairman
1909 - Henricus Verbunt, civil servant/resistance fighter
1941 - Lesley Stahl, White House correspondent (CBS-TV)
1955 - Carol M. Browner, US Administrator (EPA)

Passings
0714 - Pippin II of Héristal, Duke/prince of France
0875 - Ado of Vienne, French archbishop of Vienne, dies at about 75
0882 - John VIII, Italian Pope (872-82), dies
0999 - Adelheid the Saint, German empress of Otto I/saint, dies at about 68
1404 - Albrecht of Bavaria, duke of Bavaria, dies at about 74
1670 - Dorothy, 1st English marquis of Halifax, dies
1672 - John II Casimir Vasa, cardinal/king of Poland (1648-68), dies at 63
1774 - François Quesnay, French personal physician of Louis XIV, dies at 80
1858 - Richard Bright, British Dr. (Bright's disease/nephritis), dies at 69
1859 - Wilhelm Grimm, writer (Grimm's Fairy Tales), dies at 73
1916 - Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, powerful Russian monk, murdered at 45
1920 - Ma Mua-Ming-Hsin the Benovelent, Chinese muslim rebel (holy war)
1922 - Gabriel Narutowicz, 1st President of Poland (December 7-16, 1922), assassinated
1944 - Glenn Miller, USAF veteran, jazz composer/orchestra leader (Danny boy), dies at 40 when his plane disappears on the way to entertain US troops
1945 - Fumimaro Konu Japanese prince/PM (1937-39, 40-41), commits harakiri
1949 - Traitsjo Kostov Bulgarian communist vice-premier, executed
1980 - Harland "Colonel" Sanders, founder Kentucky Fried Chicken, dies at 90
1983 - Kusan Sunim, founded Milae Sa temple/Bulsung Sa Zen in Korea, dies at 74
1985 - Paul Castellano, Organized-crime chief, shot dead at a New York, NY restaurant
1987 - Albert P. Morano (Representative-CT, 1951-59), dies at 79
1993 - Bentri Seddik, Algerian court judge, murdered at 46; Kakuei Tanaka premier of Japan (1972-74), dies at 75; Ratu Penaia Ganilau President of Fiji (1987-93), dies at 75
1996 - Jean-Pierre Levy, resistance leader, dies at 85

Reported Missing in Action
1965
Wickhamm, David W. II, USN (WV);A4C shot down, KIA, body not recovered

1967
Hill, Howard J., USAF (IL); F4D shot down, released by DRV March, 1973 - retired as a Colonel - alive as of 1998

Low, James Frederick, USAF (CA); F4D shot down, released August, 1968

1969
Buckley, Victor P., USN (VA); RF8G shot down, KIA, body not recovered

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