THE PJI's WHERE ARE THEY NOW Part 4

Richard Gledhill. (Dick)

This photograph is of # 26 basic Free Fall course and it shows the two PJI's responsible for teaching them the intracies of military HALO parachuting. The two PJI's are seated in the middle and Dick Gledhill is on the left with Carlos Gomez on the right. Unfortunately I do not have the names of the SAS soldiers on this course

This photograph of a much more mature Dick Gledhill was taken in 2008 at the PJI reunion in Bussilton Western Australia. Dick is shown here having just completed a jump from 14000ft  carrying his parachute back to the Bussilton Sky Dive club where he will repack it for the next jump. A great time was had by all at this wonderful get together.

Dick was born in Kenya and, as was usual in those days, went to school in the UK. Tricky Dick, as I called him, had a unique trick when teaching the soldiers of the Rhodesian African Rifles. When instructing on landing technique, he’d stick a piece of paper between each soldier’s knees. If the soldier dropped the note Dick would demand $5 every time they dropped it but if they kept the note stuck between their knees Tricky Dick would not give them $5. This was all done in jest and the troops enjoyed the banter created between the PJI and his men. After completing his schooling in the UK, Dick trained as a commercial diver and worked off the English coast. After a trip to Australia, Dick joined the Australian Army where he served for three years in 2nd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment. He later joined the Queensland Fire Service and trained as a regular firefighter. But Africa kept calling, and in the mid 1970s he joined the Rhodesian Light Infantry. During his fire-fighting days, before joining the RLI, Dick joined a skydive club and was a keen parachutist. The call went out to the Army for volunteers to become PJIs and Dick put his hand up. After training he joined the staff of the Rhodesian Air Force Parachute Training School as a Sergeant Parachute Jumping Instructor where he served until 1980. After the Zimbabwe independence Dick returned to Australia where he rejoined the Queensland Fire Service and continued his career as a professional fire fighter. He also continued skydiving and joined the PJI reunion in 2008 at Busselton in Western Australia. Dick is married to Heidi and they live in Townsville, North Queensland. Dick has written a number of books one of which is titled One Commando and is a novel based on his experience as a RLI Soldier and as a PJI.

John Early






















This is a photograph of number 62 basic static line course and shows the course instructors seated in front from LtoR Sgt John Early (wearing dark glasses), Flt/Lt frank Hales Training Officer/Chief Instructor, Sgt Mike Wiltshire, Sgt Paul Hogan.

This is a photograph of SAS Free Fall HALO course number 18 and Sgt John Early PJI wearing his trademark dark glasses is seen standing next to Flt/Lt Frank Hales DMM PJI the Training Officer/Chief Instructor.


We had the good fortune to have two Americans join the Parachute Training School at the height of the Bush War. John Early just came into the PTS hangar one day and asked if we were looking for jump masters. I did not know how to take that remark. Did he want to advise us on parachuting, or did he want to join us to learn our techniques? As it turned out John claimed to be a jump master and thought we’d just accept his qualification and welcome him into our Parachute Training School. I think he was a little taken aback when we told him he’d have to complete both a basic static line course and a PJI course before we would let him loose on our soldiers. As he subsequently proved, John was very much up to the task, soon qualified as a PJI, and was presented with the Rhodesian Air Force PJI Brevet. He was also an above average HALO parachutist. Once his parachute deployed with malfunction, ( not a packing error). I was impressed as he coolly checked his canopy, then decided to cut away and operate his reserve parachute which he rode down to the DZ as if this was a daily occurrence. John stayed with the PTS for a short time and always showed great interest in our many operational parachute drops. He also always volunteered to fly on our HALO drops. There was a strict ‘need-to-know’ policy in PTS when it came to operations and his persistent questioning raised suspicions. Before it became a serious issue John transferred to the Selous Scouts. He was a Sgt PJI in the Parachute Training School but was soon commissioned as a Captain in the Selous Scouts. I later found out he was also a pilot, and after our conflict, flew for the United Nations into various war torn and famine affected countries around the world. I think he may have been a member of the CIA but who knows, or, at this time, even cares? Either way he was a good bloke and a fine PJI. Another curious thing about John Early was that he always wore dark glasses in every photograph he was in, day or night. A little suspicious don’t you think? John is still flying at age 73, and is now the Chief Pilot/Captain for Pen Turbo Aviation Inc and a pilot at Leading Edge Aviation. He lives with his wife in Placitas, New Mexico. It just proves, most people stop at 60 or so, but PJIs just keep on going. Well done John keep flying.



Chris Pessara

This photograph is of Basic Static Line course numbewr 66 with the PTS staff kneeling in front and Sgt Chris Pessara
seated in front of Frank Hales with his feet crossed. Chris is obviously about to jump as the drifter for number 66 Basic static line course because he is wearing a static line SAVIAC parachute and is holding his Bone Dome.


 Our other American PJI Chris Pessara was a big man who had been a Cop in Houston Texas. He also came to the Parachute Training School asking if he could join our staff. Chris had seen service, not only with the Police in Houston but he had done a stint with the French Foreign Leigon and was fluent in French. Whenever a big operation was taking place the troops involved would gather in the Parachute Training School for briefing and general pre jump training. Chris would be seen with an SAS soldier who had also been in the Legion by the name of Wolfgang Huck talking away in French. They were great buddies when they discovered they had both served in the Legion. Some of the stories Chris had about his time in the Houston Police made our war seem to be a mild back yard brawl. He mentioned an occasion when a motor cycle Policeman was just riding down a main street in the middle of Houston when a van pulled up along side  the cop. The van door was slid open and a shotgun fired at point blank range killing the policeman instantly. The van door was closed and the van carried on as if nothing had happened. The perpetrator of this crime was never caught. Chris stated that in many ways being a cop in Houston was more dangerous than being a soldier in Rhodesia.