Like I said, he was famous, so he has a Wikipedia page, but it does not contain that detail.
His name is Brig Gen Robert L. Cardenas and he died about two years ago.
You can question that detail since it isn't in his Wikipedia page, but I heard him say that exact detail twice. Once in an interview with me and again on a stage in front of 700 military officers. They were all in awe of him . . . and not just for the fall and survival, but also for the rest of his career.