As he was free-falling through the air during a Special Forces training exercise, John Hart told the Lord he’d serve him — especially since his parachute had failed to open and he fouled up his reserve chute.
That was in 1975. A few months ago, Hart was talking about the incident at a Bible study in the independent living facility where he resides outside Collegedale, Tennessee. A new resident, John Parrott of Cohutta, heard the testimony and felt it needed to be shared. Parrott knows Vietnam veteran David Rose of Cohutta, whose story was published by the Dalton Daily Citizen last December.
Hart, a native of Tampa, Florida, went to work at age 9 as a “soda jerk and delivery boy.”
Later, he graduated from Hillsborough High School after taking part in ROTC (Reserve Officers’ Training Corps).
He was asked what drew him to the scholastic military program.
“That’s all I ever wanted,” he replied. “I grew up in a dysfunctional family; it was bad, and the only thing I could relate myself to was the military. I loved everything about the military; as a teenager I started following what was going on in the Korean War.”
When Hart transitioned into the Army from ROTC, he applied to become an Airborne Ranger.
“I liked to punish myself. I went to the Rangers and then Special Forces, so I was a glutton for punishment. I get an adrenaline rush; I’ve still got it but I can’t use it anymore!” he said with a laugh. “I was born with red, white and blue in me.”
Eight seconds total
The training exercise, in advance of a top-secret mission, called for a 1,000-foot jump.
“It was at midnight,” Hart recalled. “As soon as you jump you start counting, 1,001 … 1,002 … 1,003, and at 1,003 you can feel the chute open. At 1,004 you look up and check to make sure it’s open. That’s where I found out I had a problem, a serious problem because you’ve only got four more seconds before you hit the ground. Eight seconds total.”
Special Forces missions were secretive, and his family “never knew what I did.”
“I had a ‘Mae West’ backup chute — and a suspension line going across the (parachute) canopy. But by the time I saw I’m not going to fix this thing, I’m already into the trees,” he detailed. “I heard something like a weapon being discharged, and it was the sound of my back breaking. All the limbs came down on top of me; I don’t know what their diameter was but I was told one of the limbs was of pretty big size. That would explain the damage to my legs and my feet.
“At this point I had not lost consciousness and I was screaming in pain, making enough noise for anyone to find me.”
Hart passed out and was carried down the mountain on a makeshift stretcher his fellow soldiers fashioned out of the door of a nearby cabin.
“I didn’t wake up until the helicopter was landing at a field hospital,” he said. “My legs were broken, my right ankle was shattered and my left foot was messed up as well. Both shoulders got screwed up. They had to take off part of one shoulder, and one of my clavicles is now under my neck, it’s still there. And my back was broke — I kept a back brace on for 18 months.”
Hart is able to reveal he was overseas when the training accident occurred. Three days later he arrived at a military hospital in his hometown of Tampa after the first stateside stop in Fort Devens, Massachusetts. He was either kept under care in a hospital or rehab facility, or went before medical review boards, until 1978 when he got a medical discharge with 100% disability.
Replace Billy Graham?
Hart’s wife at the time, Linda, had “come to Christ” five years before and was praying he’d also make that decision.
“She prayed and asked the Lord to do whatever he had to do to get my attention,” he shared. “She said God asked her, ‘Even unto death?’ and she said, ‘Even unto death.’ That’s what she told me.”
After his own conversion, a prophecy was spoken over him that he was to become “a servant of the Word.” Thinking that meant a pastoral calling, Hart attended a nondenominational ministry school. However, after five years of frustration behind the pulpit, he stepped back and took another look.
“I was going to replace Billy Graham,” he said. “But that was five years of hell, really, because he did not call me to be a pastor. He shut my mouth and I couldn’t speak. Literally. I had prepared and rehearsed a message these people needed to hear. The Lord said, ‘No, not that message but the one I speak to you.’ Then I said no, and he straightened me out real quick by shutting my mouth — I could not speak until I got back home to the parsonage. Then I understood what being the servant of the Lord meant — to be an example, of people seeing Jesus in me. That’s not preaching, but it is preaching. Sometimes you have to use words. I went where he wanted me to go, and I spoke to whom he wanted me to speak to say what he wanted me to say.”
Since Hart already had in 20 years before he was discharged from the Army, he transitioned into a career with the Florida Department of Labor working in the area of employment security for disabled veterans. It included helping them get an education and training to find jobs.
Continuing to minister
Linda passed away in 2016 after they had been married 56 years. Hart feels like his ministry is continuing where he now lives with his wife, Cathy.
“We’ve only been married two years, and this is the best guy I’ve ever met,” she said. “I don’t think you’ll find any two people happier than we are. We pray together every night, and just love the Lord. And I have a ministry of praying for people in the facility. So it’s pretty neat.”
John Parrott — whose wife is also named Cathy — said John Hart addressed a larger group at the assisted living center recently “and shared his testimony very effectively.” It’s opened up an opportunity to speak at a local American Legion.
“John (Hart) has been an inspiration since day one when I first met him,” he said. “He and Cathy were both so jovial when introducing us to the facility here. We’ve become good friends since then, and his testimony has just really thrilled me, that the Lord worked in such miraculous ways in his life.”
Hart believes his travails have served a purpose.
“I was in situations where I got out basically without a scratch until this little (parachute) jump — I was never hit by a bullet, never hit by shrapnel, I was never hit by anything — and I never thought about it,” he said. “What I didn’t realize was that God had his hand on me for a purpose. It’s hard for people to believe that the Lord will talk to you, but he made things very clear to me before I hit that ground that he had something for me, although he didn’t tell me what it was other than serving him. That was the main thing. God has made a better man out of me, that’s for sure.”