Army & Air Force veteran jumps out of plane for his 100th birthday celebration

World War II Army and Air Force veteran, Ernie Columbus was born on February 8th, 1920.

He enlisted in the Army National Guard in 1939 and was called to active duty in February 1941, staying in-unit until the war was over. 

“All I knew was that we were going to be fighting because war was declared the next day,” Columbus said. 

Now, Columbus is 100 years old, and he wants to celebrate by doing something extreme – jumping out of a plane from more than 10,000 feet in the air. 

“Well, I’ll tell ya. What happened was, I have a friend, he’s 103 now, and he was gonna drop out of the airplane when he was 100 – I decided I wanted to do the same thing. I’m gonna be dropping out of the airplane.”

“I figured I ought to do something to commemorate my 100 years of life,” he added. 

Check out the video on this veteran and his 100th birthday celebration, below.