Parachuting for Gold in Old Mexico

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We got a book in the mail the other day and the title grabbed our attention. “Parachuting for Gold in Old Mexico” is a memoir by a guy named Jim Hall. He was the son of a Pennsylvania coal miner during The Great Depression. And he was headed for the mines, too. Then World War II broke out and Hall joined the Army. And he learned to parachute. After the war, he combined his skills to create a new profession: he became a parachuting mining engineer -- something there was a market for in rural Mexico in the 1950s. Hall lives in Aurora now, and he’s retired from the Colorado Air National Guard. He shared his story with CPR’s Zachary Barr.

[Photo: Zachary Barr]