veterans day remembered
Nov. 11th, 2008 11:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
slipstreamsurfrHigh Flight
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
— John Gillespie Magee, Jr
---
John Magee was an American citizen who, when he was 18, crossed the border into Canada in order to enlist in the Canadian Air Force. The US was not officially part of the war yet. On June 30, 1941 he was posted to RCAF 412 Fighter Squadron at Digby England flying the Supermarine Spitfire.
On September 3rd the same year he wrote the above poem after a high altitude test flight to 30,000 feet testing the newer model of the Spitfire V. As he orbited and climbed upward, he was struck with the inspiration of a poem "To touch the face of God."
Three months later, on December 11, 1941 he was killed over the villiage of Roxholm when the Spitfire V he was flying collided with an Oxford Trainer from Cranwell Airfield. He was only 19 years old.
In his short career he flew figher sweeps over France and air defence over England during the Battle of Britain, rising to the rank of Pilot Officer.
He was but one of thousands of pilots who have flown in various wars in service to their countries.
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
— John Gillespie Magee, Jr
---
John Magee was an American citizen who, when he was 18, crossed the border into Canada in order to enlist in the Canadian Air Force. The US was not officially part of the war yet. On June 30, 1941 he was posted to RCAF 412 Fighter Squadron at Digby England flying the Supermarine Spitfire.
On September 3rd the same year he wrote the above poem after a high altitude test flight to 30,000 feet testing the newer model of the Spitfire V. As he orbited and climbed upward, he was struck with the inspiration of a poem "To touch the face of God."
Three months later, on December 11, 1941 he was killed over the villiage of Roxholm when the Spitfire V he was flying collided with an Oxford Trainer from Cranwell Airfield. He was only 19 years old.
In his short career he flew figher sweeps over France and air defence over England during the Battle of Britain, rising to the rank of Pilot Officer.
He was but one of thousands of pilots who have flown in various wars in service to their countries.