Saluting America's future service members
America Salutes is a first-of-its-kind virtual event recognizing the 150,000 recent high school graduates who enlisted in the U.S. military.
A 103-year-old man from central Texas has qualified for the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest tandem skydiver.
Al Blaschke took the 14,000-foot plunge to celebrate his two grandsons graduating from college, KVUE reported. Blaschke first jumped in 2017 to celebrate his 100th birthday, but that same year Verdun Hayes, a D-Day veteran, set the record at the age of 101.
Reporters gathered to interview Blaschke, as well as his grandsons, ahead of Thursday's jump.
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"I'm excited to see my grandsons up there – that's what I'm excited about," Blaschke told the reporters. "That's my dream. I never thought I'd be around this long."
The retired craftsman, who lives in Georgetown, survived the Spanish Flu, the Depression, World War II and now coronavirus. But he said he isn't jumping out of planes just for a thrill.
"I will not jump just to jump. I jump to celebrate something," he added.
For his grandsons, it was their first jump, but they were glad to celebrate their graduations that way – Jason, from Texas A&M and Kevin from the University of Texas.
"Yeah, when you say I'm going to jump at 103 and you've already jumped at 100, why not?" Blaschke’s son, David, told reporters outside Skydive Spaceland San Marcos as he waited for his father and sons to return.
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"Oh yes, this was altogether way different than my first jump," Al Blaschke said later. "This was a real jump."
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