“Your rigs are in my car. The toggles are French. You’ll figure it out.”

Vintage Bill Markham.

No long explanation. No hand-holding. Just complete confidence that once you stepped toward the door, you would find your way.

Welcome Gentlemen

Bill was the first person I met when I joined the Round Canopy Parachute Team. It did not take him long to understand what Reflekta might become — not simply a way to tell stories, but a way to preserve the lives, voices, faith, humor, courage, and hard-earned wisdom of men like him.

The next time I truly understood Bill was at my Airborne wings ceremony. Most of the company welcomed me the traditional way, one punch at a time, driving those wings into my chest.

Not Bill.

He grabbed a steel pot helmet, turned it around backward, and gave me one unforgettable whack.

It hurt. It made me laugh. And it was unmistakably Bill.

Bill welcomed me into the RCPT-USA family and gave me my Blood Wings, earned beneath a static-line parachute. That is something I will carry for the rest of my life with pride, gratitude, and a smile.

He leads with humility, faith, conviction, and a kind of quiet strength that does not need to announce itself. Bill has always seemed to understand that history is not something you place on a shelf. You live it. You jump it. You honor it. Then you hand it to the next generation.

If you have ever stood beside him in Normandy, you know exactly what I mean.

This is a moment to pause, to be still, and to say out loud what so many of us carry quietly.

Thank You

Bill has touched thousands of lives, undoubtedly many more than any of us will ever fully know. He stopped for people. He chose what he believed was right. He gave what he could. He moved the mission forward.

In my case, that mission began with two French rigs in the back of his car at headquarters, in a field in France.

That is the kind of man Bill is.

His legacy is written not only in the jumps he has made, but in the people he has shaped, encouraged, challenged, and welcomed along the way.

Thank you, Bill, for all you have done for me, for Wells, for Reflekta, and for the entire RCPT community.

Airborne

I have come to understand something Bill once said at the Beuzeville-sur-Mer drop zone:

God has a special place in His heart for the Airborne.

I believe Bill does too.

Every jump is an act of remembrance. A salute to those who went before us. An affirmation of trust — in our equipment, our training, our history, and each other. That is what Reflekta exists to preserve. Not only for soldiers, but for all of us. Because someone, someday, will need to hear the voice, the story, the laugh, the faith, and the truth of someone they love. Bill, may God continue to bless you as you have blessed so many of us.

And every time I step toward an open aircraft door, I know exactly what I will hear:

“Rigs are in my car. The toggles are French. You’ll figure it out.”