As Ed Marshall stood in the doorway of a plane over Cayuga, Ont., preparing to parachute out, the 100-year-old said he had a fleeting thought.
“I don’t really want to do this,” he recalled thinking while halfway through the door. “But by that time, it [was] too late.”
Marshall’s jump on July 12 ended well though — from an altitude of about 3,810 metres, he landed safely on his feet and exceeded his goal of raising $100,000 for the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto.
It had been 79 years since Marshall’s last jump.
He trained as a paratrooper with the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion during the Second World War and is the oldest living paratrooper from his battalion, previously completing low-altitude training jumps to prepare for deployment on the battlefield.
His goal for this summer’s jump was to raise $100,000 — or $1,000 for each birthday.
“I figured if I was a hundred, I had a lot more chance of raising donations than I would if I was let’s say 90,” Marshall told CBC.
“My theory [has] kind of proved itself because we have, I think, pretty close to that $100,000 donation.”
While training for the war, Marshall said, his jumps were about 180 metres or less as the goal was to get to the ground fast and avoid detection. But this time, Marshall jumped from much higher so he could enjoy the freefall.
He had the help of former army paratrooper and skydiving instructor Adam Winnicki, who accompanied him on the jump — and on him, a photo of himself with his late wife Molly, who died in 2020.
“He didn’t just want to have the thrill of a parachute jump — he wanted to do something good for society,” said Bailey Fullan, Marshall’s grandson.
Fullan said his grandfather did the jump because he has a great connection with young people and it was his idea to raise money for SickKids.
He noted Marshall now has six great-grandchildren, including a great-granddaughter born on the day of the event.
Leaving people ‘in awe’
Marshall’s family had reached out to Winnicki about facilitating the jump. Winnicki agreed, adding he’d “do anything for another airborne brother.”
Fullan said they wanted to aim high and he never thought they’d hit that $100,000 goal. As of Monday, he had raised over $102,000.
Niyousha Nejatpour, associate director of community partnerships with SickKids, was at the jump. She was “very emotional” when Marshall completed it and “in awe of his courage,” she said.
“I think it means everything for SickKids. When Ed first reached out, I think we were all kind of in awe of a hundred-year-old wanting to do a skydiving event.”
Nejatpour said the money is slated to go to the hospital’s unrestricted fund, which will support high-priority needs at SickKids.
Winnicki said Marshall showed no nerves and he was “a true paratrooper.”
Despite that, Marshall said, he doesn’t plan to do it again.
“Yeah, I did it. I done it… that’s what I wanted to do and I done it,” he said.