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98-year-old D-Day veteran’s parachute jump takes him closer to milestone moment

American Tom Rice wants to leap out of a plane aged 100.
American Tom Rice wants to leap out of a plane aged 100. American Tom Rice wants to leap out of a plane aged 100.

A 98-year-old D-Day veteran is nudging closer to his goal of leaping out of planes aged 100.

American Tom Rice, who caused a sensation in June by parachuting into Normandy for the 75th anniversary of the 1944 D-Day landings, was at it again on Thursday.

This time, his landing zone was in the Netherlands.

Mr Rice, strapped to a younger parachutist who steered the canopy, jumped as part of commemorations for massive airborne landings in September 1944.

He described their jump as “perfect” and said: “I’m going to do it until I’m 100.”

Mr Rice jumped with the US Army’s 101st Airborne Division on D-Day.

His latest jump, with hundreds of other parachutists, was to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Operation Market Garden, a 1944 land and airborne thrust through the Netherlands.