Airborne School graduates 448, celebrates its 68th anniversary
BY MICK WALSH --
It was clearly a Don Lassen kind of day.
Hundreds came out to Fort Benning's Eubanks Field on Friday to congratulate the latest Airborne School graduating class, see a freefall demonstration by a group of all-star paratroopers and celebrate the 68th anniversary of the initial jump of the original test platoon of soldiers, many of whom were among the first to parachute into Normandy on D-Day.
Don Lassen, who edited and published Static Line, the newspaper serving the entire Airborne family and personally arranged an annual dinner in Atlanta for troopers, died Aug. 8 in his hometown of Rex, Ga.
Ben Reese of Columbus, one of a handful of surviving members of the 1940 platoon of two officers and 48 enlisted men, was at the Benning event, dressed out in white shirt and tie.
Mike Lyde, also of Columbus, represented the famed Triple Nickel Association, the all-African American 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, whose history dates back to 1943.
Silver Wings were pinned on a class of 448 (550 started the program three weeks ago) from C Company of the Airborne School after rousing speeches by the school's commander and the Infantry Center's top noncommissioned officer.
But it was the man who wasn't there that drew notice.
"I worry that no one will step in and take over for Don," said Reese, the day's invited guest and a longtime friend of Lassen. "Things might sink without him."
Lassen stood out at events such as Friday's. His sport coats were as colorful as the silk canopies that carried sky troopers from a UH-60 helicopter to the ground.
Tim Stout, a columnist for Static Line, called the 86-year-old Lassen "the grandfather of the Airborne" and added that his "red cannon cocker dinner jacket will be missed at future Airborne functions."
Lyde said Lassen, who served with the 82nd Airborne Division during World War II, "provided information to the world about our organization. He was a friend of all of us here today. He'll be missed. I only hope that someone out there will take his place."
Airborne School boss Lt. Col. Jon Ring, who, with Command Sgt. Maj. Matthew Walker, pinned wings onto the honor graduates, said he believes someone in the Lassen family will step in and keep Static Line alive. "It may not be the same as Don would have done it, but the slack will be picked up. He was the lead on so many of the things done by the Airborne community."
Lassen confided in a reporter last year that health problems were slowing him down. "I have to start making plans for the future of the newspaper," he said.
Services for Lassen were held Monday in Atlanta. He is survived by his wife, Fran, three daughters and one son.
In lieu of flowers, the family asked that contributions be made to the Airborne Historical Association.
Reese, who has been the only surviving member of the test platoon to show up at such events since the death of his friend Louie Davis, enjoys telling anyone who asks about the early days of Airborne.
"I like coming back here," he says. "And I'll continue to come as long as I'm feeling well."
------------------------------------------------------------ Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results.
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