Ferguson, John P
Description
.John Ferguson describes helping to set up the smokejumper program in McCall, Idaho, after his 1942 training at the Nine Mile Ranger Station in Montana and in Missoula, Montana. He recalls how he was on the first fire jump for Region 4. Ferguson discusses training jumps and fire jumps, equipment modifications, and changes in the cargo dropping system. He talks about training doctors to jump. Ferguson describes the government’s use of conscientious objectors to serve as smokejumpers during World War Two, the training of African American jumpers, the first fire death of a smokejumper in 1946, and the 1949 Mann Gulch Fire.
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