World War II veteran becomes world's oldest skydiver

Verdun Hayes.
(Image credit: YouTube.com/ODN)

A D-Day veteran jumped out of an airplane and into the record books on Saturday, becoming the world's oldest skydiver.

When he completed his tandem sky dive, Verdun Hayes was 101 and 38 days old; Canadian Armand Gendreau set the previous record in June 2013 at age 101 and 3 days. Hayes, a great-grandfather, first wanted to try skydiving at age 90, but held off until he turned 100, breaking the British record for oldest skydiver. He was joined on Saturday by 10 members of his family, including 16-year-old great-grandson Stanley, 21-year-old great-granddaughter Ellie, 50-year-old grandson Roger, and 74-year-old son Bryan; they raised money for the Royal British Legion. When he landed, Hayes cheered, "Hooray!" and said he was feeling "absolutely over the moon." Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.