Who packs your parachute?-Truth!

Who Packs Your Parachute?-Truth!

Summary of the eRumor:
This claims to be the story of Navy Pilot Charles Plum who was shot down in Vietnam and spent six years as a prisoner of war. It describes a chance encounter with another Vietnam vet who recognized Plum. Plum asked the man how he knew who he was, and the man replied that he had been the one who packed the parachute that had saved Plum's life. Plum got to thank him and comment on the fact that if the parachute packer had not done his job right, Plum would not be alive. After that, Plum couldn't get the man out of his mind and used the story as an inspirational challenge about "who packs the parachutes in your life?" Who do we have who provide some of what we need each day?

The Truth:
TruthOrFiction.com found Captain Charles Plum, who is now a popular motivational speaker, and asked him whether this story was true. Captain Plum assured us that it was. He has had a website but it appears to be down.

Last updated 12/30/01

A real example of the story as it has been circulated:

<< THE PARACHUTE
Charles Plum, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, was a jet fighter pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected & parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured & spent six years in a Communist prison.
He survived that ordeal & now lectures about lessons learned from that experience.

One day, when Plumb & his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up & said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!"
"How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb.

"I packed your parachute," the man replied. Plumb gasped in surprise & gratitude. The man pumped his hand & said, "I guess it worked!"
Plumb assured him, "It sure did-if your 'chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today."

Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, 'I kept wondering what he might have looked like in a Navy uniform-a Dixie cup hat, a bib in the back, and bell bottom trousers. I wondered how many times I might have passed him on the Kitty Hawk. I wondered how many times I might have seen him & not even said good morning, how are you or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot & he was just a sailor.
Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent on a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship carefully weaving the shrouds & folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn't know. Now, Plumb asks his audience, 'Who's packing your parachute?' Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day. Plumb also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory-he needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, & his spiritual parachute."

He called on all these supports before reaching safety. His experience reminds us all to prepare ourselves to weather whatever storms lie ahead.