Waiting for a plane at Pochentong Airport’s VIP terminal on Monday, the 32 tourists had the relaxed, happy look of people who had enjoyed a great time.
Not that many tourists, after all, get to parachute over Angkor Wat. “It was tremendous,” said Frank Osanka, a former US Marine who led this year’s Friendship Airborne Tours Inc paratrooper tour of Cambodia.
Osanka’s tours attract former paratroopers from all over the world, including many who fought in Southeast Asia during the 1960s and 1970s.
The tours combine jumps in various countries with donations to local paratrooper units and schools, providing retired soldiers with a chance to connect with the people they fought against so many years ago.
This year, Osanka presented the Cambodian government with $14,500 to buy 15 parachutes for the RCAF Special Parachute Brigade 911. In return, Prime Minister Hun Sen awarded Osanka the National Building Gold Medal.
“These goodwill jumps started in 1994, and we’ve been all over Southeast Asia,” said Osanka, who was on his fifth visit to Cambodia.
This year’s tour included jumpers from the US, the United Kingdom, Australia, France and Mongolia, he said.
