A 2003 Franklinton High School graduate marked the 80th anniversary of D-Day with a parachute jump in Normandy, France.
Nicole Finch, who now lives in Louisville, Kentucky, jumped from a World War II C-47 near where the actual D-Day airborne troops jumped on June 7, 1944 --- 80 years ago.
More than two years ago she learned about the planned jump and she definitely wanted to participate. Her father is a 25-year veteran of the Army National Guard, and Nicole had heard countless times as a child how critically important D-Day was.
She was on a waiting list for almost two years before being accepted for the jump. She traveled to Oklahoma last fall to participate in enough practice jumps to qualify for the real thing on the D-Day anniversary.
In addition to jumping from a World War II era plane, she and her fellow jumpers also used equipment and parachutes that were correct for the 1944 era.
Nicole’s jump at Normandy made plenty of waves back home, with lots of media coverage in Louisville. For her, it was the event of a lifetime.
When she’s not jumping from an airplane, Nicole Finch is a horse person. She works in marketing at a major breeding farm in Louisville, near Churchill Downs. In addition, she runs her own business as a designer of hats to be worn at the Kentucky Derby.
