This article was previously published by Mickey Markoff on his additional website . It is one thing to read history in the books, and it is another thing to make it. Of course, for many, when they are simply living their lives, it can be hard to know that one is writing a new chapter. For those brave souls in the U.S. army in 1940, however, they were well aware they were making history . August 16, 1940 was a proud day in the United States, and marked the first official U.S. Army parachute jump. This was a humble beginning of the combination between aerial and ground combat forces that laid the groundwork for countless other to follow in their footsteps, or leaps into the unknown. Although the 1940s marked a monumental day in aviation, it wasn’t until decades later that the event was memorialized and recognized formally. National Airborne Day was designated by the U.S. Congress and created by George W. Bush to honor those airborne forces who broke new ground on August 16, 1940. Lea