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The smells of festival food fill the air as he climbs over enormous static aircraft displays. Pausing in his exploration, Landon, a 4-year-old New Jersey boy, looks up and sees them; plummeting from the sky as trails of smoke follow behind them creating red-stained spirals in the midst of the clouds.
They formed diamonds and stars in the sky with their free-falling bodies before breaking off from each other. Landon watched with wide eyes, the bright yellow parachutes explode out of their backs with a black “Go Army” flag flowing behind one of the tiny humans. He wondered who they were:
They are the U.S. Army Golden Knights.
Watching the Soldiers hit the ground, Molly Biggs, Landon’s mother, watched as her son developed a passion unlike any other: a newfound dream to become a professional parachute jumper on the Golden Knights team.
“The first time I saw them, they did a lot of tricks and I liked it a lot,” said Landon.
Coming from a military family, Biggs told Landon about her father serving in the Air Force, which kicked off his aspiration to become a pilot.
With hearts full of patriotism and a military mindset, this young family of six have been traveling the Northeast, following the U.S. Strategic Army Corp Sport Parachute Team, the “Golden Knights,” to watch the intense, high-speed demonstrations they perform.
By following the Soldiers around, Biggs wanted to show her three sons what their family has been a part of while serving in the military.
With his new dream in mind, Landon was performing his own “demonstrations.” Using the edge of the couch as the ledge of the C-31A Troopships open door, he jumps, feeling the wind on his face. He hits his target perfectly -- landing on his living room floor.
“We got home that night and Landon was jumping off of everything pretending he was with the [Golden Knights],” said Biggs. “He’s been obsessed ever since.”
Landon’s fixation sky rocketed when he met the Golden Knights Team at the 2014 Millville, New Jersey air show just a couple of months later.
He walked up to the signing booth star struck, hoping for their autographs.
“I wanted to fly planes until I met the Golden Knights,” said Landon. “Now I want to jump and fall from the sky.”
Biggs said after meeting the Golden Knights, Landon wanted to be one for the following Halloween. All she had that resembled a flight suit was black hoodie. She put an Army patch on it and called him a Golden Knight.
After relentlessly searching, Biggs found a flight suit that looked just like the Golden Knights.
Noticing 4-year-old Landon running around the Millville air show in his flight suit, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jennifer Espinosa, a Golden Knights team member, gave them an airborne patch to put on the tiny suit – his uniform was complete.
Now having a suit that looks just like the ones the Golden Knights wear, Landon’s dreams have come one step closer to coming true.
“He’s been a Golden Knight every Halloween since,” said Biggs.
Now seven, Landon has passed his original flight suit on to his 4-year-old brother and has a new suit that matches. Now a two-man team, Landon and his brother play pretend, turning the heads of their audience across the flightline as they hit the target on their living room floor.
| Date Taken: | 05.08.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 05.08.2018 09:39 |
| Story ID: | 276111 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, NJ, US |
| Web Views: | 32 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, A little boy’s dream to become a golden star, by SSgt Ariel Owings, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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