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Show Cauni Be Fit as a X t The man who survived the most amazing parachute fall in history soys yes; and he says it io bice teen-ager- s, ""XTOU'RE LUCKY yu,re n . A flight surgeon told me that five years ago after'l became the' first (and, as far as I know, the only) man to survive a nine-mil- e drop through in air so thin it literally temperatures of could boil your bloodand then ended up riding out a wild thunderstorm that buffeted me around ball. That whole plunge took like a table-tenn- is 40 minutes and left me bruised, battered, and bloody but alive. It started with me flying a Marine F8U Crusader jet near Norfolk, Va. My engine conked out after I had climbed to 47,000 feet to get over a thunderstorm. My emergency power, which should have brought me down to a level where I could safely eject, also failed. & I had the choice of being trapped in a ship 1 which soon would tumble into a deryishlike spin or eject at an altitude in which no man had survived. And I didn't even have a pressure suit on, ow the Marines Show You the Way to Physical Fitness . . . of isometric and isotonic exercises for the whole family hat boon devolopod by It. Col. W. H. Rankin, USMC (rot.), based on his experiences in conditioning Marino recruits. These simple principles for slimming down and staying fit will help you, develop strength and endurance and they require only 10 minutes a day at home or office! Contains' an excellent section for women. A series "BE FIT AS A MARINE" YOURS FOR ONLY $1 postpaid Money-Bac- k If you Guarantee: are not completely satisfied Be FIT with this book, you may return it within two. weeks for full refund. JU.tM.UU.Xl jr to i Ftcily Witkly Riadtr Mail Corairstoni Library, Rockiftllir CtBttr York 20, M. Smiet Inc. w! u MM high-altitu- . de almost did. My abdomen bloated grotesquely ; I swelled up like a balloon caricature at a parade. I didn't realize it immediately, but blood vessels in my eyes, ears, nose, and mouth ruptured. I zoomed and spun in a kaleidoscope of colors. My emergency oxygen mask attached to my parachute banged my face. I needed oxygen desperately, but the G- -f orces pinioned my arms so that I couldn't reach out. As I dived farther, though, pressure eased, and I pushed the mask to my face. I noticed that my watch said 6:04 or 6:05. I should be down to 10,000 feet by now, the altitude at which my chute would open automaticallWhyhadn'Fit V Should I chance opening it myself? If I were top high, however, I might freeze to death. Then I was pelted by hailstones and had my answer: they told me I was above the freezing point of rain. I waited and soon my parachute burst open, and my dizzying plunge toward earth was overr Or so I thought. Instead, I drifted into the'center of the thunderstorm. It was a cauldron of boiling black clouds, charged by blinding sheets of lightning. Claps of thunder vibrated my sense and left me stunned. I was hammered by waves of rain, and I held my breath fearing I would drown. I soared up, swooped down, swung in sickening arcs. Once I up into my chute and thought : The chute will fold . . .7 will go down with it as a ripping white tail. But it kept its fullness and brought me out of the clouds and over a thicket of evergreens. I a oflljl?nOlJPjl ha vis0113 spearlike tree trunkT me on I drew my body into a protective ball and closed my eyes. There was a breath-snatchin- g jerk, and I was safely swinging from a treetop like a pendulum. I cut myself down and limped off for help. It was 6:40. v " being-impale- d - (Namet (Address) (City) i , Y. for which please send me postpaid $1 each. (No stamps or C.O.D. copies of "Be fit as a Marine" checks make to Family Weekly Reader Service.) payable orders, please; Enclosed find the touch of the nylon curtain which protects a pilot's face against wind blast as he is thrown from his plane at great speed, and then took the kick in the seat that propelled me into the heavens figuratively or literally, didn't know. My next sensation was of burning but the burning you feel when you touch dry ice. I suffered frostbite almost instantly, I suppose, because my extremities quickly turned numb; A flyer's nightmare is having his body "explode" in rarified atmosphere. Mine was-blow- 630 Fifth Avinia Maw Author of "The Man Who Rodo the Thunder" ht vived that parachute jump otherwise." Let By Lt. CoL W. H. Rankin, USMC (ret.) flying. togs. just my summer-weigBut at 6 p.m. I pulled the ejection handles, felt con-J- L dition. You wouldn't have sur- 70-bel- workers, and housewives ..... (Zone). I 14 (State) I Family Weekly, December IS, 1964. and "Be Fit as a Marin" I mention this story temphasize the importance of good physical condition. If you are like most people, you will reply: "But I don't intend to parachute nine miles under any conditions." Well, my experiences continued as a Marine, and they became much more applicable to every teen-age- r, housewife, and worker. Two years later I was assigned to physical training of recruits in San Diego. Only the healthiest young men pass a Marine physical examination, and I thought I would have practically no trouble getting them in shape. The fact was I almost didn't get a chance with many. They couldn't pass the most elementary fitness tests. Healthy? Yes. But physically fit? Absolutely not! I was forced to program a basic conditioning course for these healthy young Americans just so they could start a regular fitness program, one which, incidentally, most healthy school children should pass. Next I began lecturing civilian groups on what learned from training Marine recruits. I found housewives and their husbands and children7 interested " in physical fitness." But . they di dn'tr"have thr time toxercise-a- s Mar ines-d- o' Or they didn't "have the equipment." The fact is that with isometric exercise you need as little as 10 minutes a day and no equipment. (Isometrics, incidentally, are exercises Gemini astronauts will use to keep in condition What-of weightlessness people don't have is the motivation. Like some of the youths who come into the Corps, they believe that because they're healthy or at least know of no illnesses they have no need of exeruring-lonjr-per- iods cise, good nutrition, or proper rest. Yet physicians have told the President's Council on Physical Fitness that lack of these essentials contributes to poof digestion, nervousness, and fatigue. This lack takes the zest out of life and eventually may lead to serious health problems such as cardiovascular disorders. True, for a Marine jet pilot or recruit, physical fitness is a matter of life and death. But for anybody to say, "I'm not going to jump out of a jet - a -- jungle isdodging. plane rormarch-throug- h facts. You function better in an office, schoolg room, or home when you have af eel of and, in the long run, fitness for everybody becomes a proposition. What better -motivation could there be than that ?- well-bein- life-and-de- . ath |