SFC (R) John Thornton

Sergeant First Class (Retired) John Thornton sat down with me for Heroes Live.

Exmore, Virginia. Eastern Shore. Barely a thousand people. Youngest. Three older sisters. He saw riggers jump at Fort Lee and that was it. Twenty-two. Active duty, 1987.

Alaska. 6th ID. Long Range Surveillance. They asked if he wanted Ranger School. He did not know what it was. He said yes. He called his mother. She thought he meant forest ranger.

No recycles. Florida phase almost broke him. Anything worth having is difficult. How do you eat an elephant. One bite at a time.

82nd. Jumpmaster. Then a black hat at Advanced Airborne School after the accident opened seats. Korea. Detachment first sergeant. Chuck Pendergrass. He ran into him years later in a grocery store.

Green Ramp, 1990. He was arguing over lunch with Dacon when it hit. Mark Gibson from his first duty station died. Rounds cooking off. They loaded the living on five-tons and drove over Alice packs to get them out.

Twenty-one years on jump status. Never off it. Retired 2008. Waffle House for a minute. Then HVAC on the installation. Best decision he ever made. He saved a drowning child because the training just takes over.

Five kids. All of them working. Two sisters gone to cancer. He said without family we could not have done what we did. If he did Ranger School, anybody can. Thank you, John. That is why we hit record. Get the story on tape before we are too old or too sick to tell it.