[1] Sung to the tune of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic", the song tells of a fatal training jump of a rookie paratrooper whose parachute fails to deploy, resulting in him falling to his death.
He becomes entangled in the parachute's canopy and risers, falls uncontrollably, and dies upon impact with the ground.
It is known as "Mancha Roja" (Spanish for "Red Stain") in airborne units from multiple Latin American countries.
: A Screaming Eagle at Normandy, and in the Viet Nam War novel Gardens of Stone by Nicholas Proffitt.
World War II veteran Vincent Speranza was recorded singing the chant in 2019; the video has more than one million views on YouTube as of December 2023.