We had a blast once again at the annual Virginia Beach Patriotic Festival!
As in years past, we are honored to have jumped Wounded Warriors in partnership with our friends at Combat Wounded Coalition (CWC). The jumps were planned for Thursday, May 31 and Saturday June 2 but weather delays on Thursday pushed our first jump day to Friday. Skydiving is always weather dependent, and our team and partners flexed to provide our jumpers the opportunity they deserved.
It all took place at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront alongside the bustling Patriotic Festival.
Special thanks to the City of Virginia Beach and the Virginia Beach Police Department for their flexibility and partnership in order to make this event happen!
This year, we jumped 48 people. It was a mixture of Danish, British and American Wounded Warriors as well as supporters of the event — like Virginia Beach Resort Administrator Mike Eason.
We also welcomed 25 “honor jumpers” who wore patches in memorium for the fallen and then given to Gold Star families and families of the fallen. Some of those people jumped multiple times over the weekend. These licensed skydivers not only got to practice their passion for jumping and landing on the beach, but also were honored and humbled to reflect on the lives that were lost for this nation.
We were also happy to provide flag jumps before the concert start on Friday evening; we jumped our American flag, the POW flag, the Danish flag, and the Union Jack. Such an awesome sight to see the flags floating through the sky and hearing the cheers of the crowd after the National Anthem was sung!
Make sure to join us next year, as we hope to see this event grow larger and allow for more Wounded Warriors, and maybe even YOU, to jump on to the beach!