Jurvis LaSalle takes part in skydive training at Fort Bragg.

June 6 marks the 75th anniversary of one of the pivotal points in World War II, the first day of the invasion of Normandy by 106,000 Allied troops, preceded by 24,000 troops who parachuted in or came by glider.

One Teche Area native is proud to be among a group of 250 or so men and women who will take part in a two-day commemoration of D-Day’s 75th anniversary on June 4 and 5.

Jurvis LaSalle, 60, a 1976 St. Martinville Senior High School graduate, enlisted in the United States Army after high school and was a mechanic and paratrooper for the 82nd Airborne Division. The 82nd also took part in the D-Day invasion.

Being a part of the anniversary jump is a thrill for LaSalle, who had 49 jumps by the time he got out of the service and said he jumped at every opportunity. He still enjoys skydiving.

“If you were to interview anybody who was Airborne, they’re gonna tell you that was the best part of their job,” he said. “I loved wrenching, I loved fixing things, just like I still do today, but I loved jumping. That was the best part of my job, believe it or not.”

LaSalle said he saw a Facebook post about the Daks Over Normandy event commemorating D-Day.

“Somebody had posted it and I saw it, and I said, ‘Wow, that’s going to be something that’s going to be incredible to do,’” he said. “Sure enough, it is.”

Military service

LaSalle, the son of the late Paul LaSalle and Stella Abatte LaSalle, spent three years in active duty and three years in the reserves after joining the army.

His mother’s family is from the area where Acadiana Regional Airport is located. He’s proud of his family’s military heritage — both of his parents’ fathers fought in the Civil War, and another ancestor, buried in St. Martinville, fought in the American Revolution, he said.

LaSalle said he finished high school, basic training and paratrooper training all at age 17. He performed so well in basic training that he was asked to go to jump school, leading to his paratrooper training.

LaSalle and current wife Kathleen live in Connecticut, and he works at a Chevy dealership in Norwich. He noted that Chevrolet manufactured the engines used in more of the B-24 Liberator bombers and Douglas C-47 Skytrain military transport planes (also known as Dakotas, or Daks).

“I was a track and wheel mechanic,” LaSalle said. “To this day I still work at a Chevrolet dealership.”

While serving, LaSalle met his first wife, Corrinne E. Cote, who was one of the first five women who were allowed to serve join the 82nd in 1978. Cote, in fact, was the first to receive official orders, though another is credited for being the first to serve. The order allowing women to serve in the 82nd Airborne was made on Jan. 1, 1978, and Cote received her orders on Jan. 4 that year.

“That’s how I met my first wife,” LaSalle said. “I asked her if she wanted to go jump, and she said, ‘Yeah.’”

The two had three children — Jay Jr., Cassandra and Justina — and became the first “All-American Family” of the 82nd, Jay LaSalle said.

D-Day marked

Next week’s jump — a mass practice jump on June 4 in England followed by the June 5 jump over France — features 48 DC-3, C-47 and C-53 planes. On June 5, all of the Daks (C-47s), up to 20, will fly in formation from Duxford Airfield in the United Kingdom across the English Channel to historic drop sites in Normandy.

“That’s an actual airstrip that they took off from on D-Day, so that’s going to be our practice jump on the fourth, and on the fifth, we’re going to take off, cross the English Channel and drop into Normandy,” LaSalle said.

Participants provide their own period uniforms and gear, he said, including parachute. LaSalle said he had to go to Dunellon, Florida, to go back to jump school to qualify for jumping with a round parachute.

“For the past year I have watched Jay build his wardrobe as everyone has to be in World War II uniforms,” Kathleen LaSalle said in an email. “He purchased his parachute and reserve and went to Florida for training at X35 in Dunellon, Florida, this past February.”

The parachutes are round, but modern, steerable ones. The original parachutes in World War II were non-steerable, he said.

“Now I’m all set, I’ve got everything,” he said. “Everything they want me to have, I have. I’m ready to go.”

Jay and Kathleen LaSalle left Monday for England, bringing among other things a collection of flags he will display after landing in Normandy. LaSalle said he’s bringing an American flag, a Christian flag, a U.S. Army flag, an 82nd Airborne flag, a San Francisco Giants flag and an LSU flag.

“Jay has such a deep respect for veterans, from all wars, but especially World War II vets,” Kathleen LaSalle said. “He has a flag that has a collection of veterans’ signatures and dates of service, and he is looking forward to adding more WWII signatures while in Normandy.”

He also will have first wife Corrinne’s dog tags with him. He asked her if she wanted to go on the jump, but she declined.

LaSalle said the flags will be in a kit attached to his harness for the jump.

“Once I land I’m going to get out of my harness, and I’ll kiss the ground, take a knee, and then I’ll start displaying my flags,” he said.