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 John Gillespie Magee, Jr. - Distinguished Flying Cross Wall of Honor - Palm Springs, California Posted by:  BruceS
N 33° 49.962 W 116° 30.272
11S E 545845 N 3743716
Part of sonnet "High Flight" by John Gillespie Magee, Jr. quoted as part of memorial honoring recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Waymark Code: WM913F
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 06/11/2010
Views: 10
John Gillespie Magee, Jr. was an Anglo-American aviator who was serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force prior to the United States entering World War II. He was killed in a mid-air collision over England on December 11, 1941. He is most remembered for his poem 'High Flight' which he wrote a few months before his death.
The portion of the poem quoted is:
"Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings...
The high untrespassed sanctity of space.
Put out my hand and touched the face of God."
The complete poem is:
High 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 nor even 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.
Address:
Palm Springs Air Museum
745 North Gene Autry Trail
Palm Springs, CA
Website: [Web Link]
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