THE CREW LOUNGE REMEMBERS
ONE OF OUR OWN
|
FLIGHT ATTENDANT DEBORAH JACOBS WELSH
UNITED AIRLINES FLIGHT 93
SEPTEMBER 11, 2001
|
The beautiful tribute above was created by Debbie's
husband, Patrick. I'd like to share it with all of you.
Debbie started her flying career with Eastern
Airlines on July 20, 1972.
|
Had you noticed? That was her 20th
birthday. On that day she received a gift of "WINGS" from EAL, a
gift of "FLIGHT"
from God and a life-long gift of friendship.
|
http://www.afanet.org/deborahwelsh.htm
High Flight
By John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
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 delerious blue
I’ve topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or 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.
|
This poem was
penned by P/O John Gillespie Magee Jr, in September 1941. P/O Magee was
killed during active service with the RCAF on December 11, 1941.
He was an American
citizen born in Shanghai of missionary parents and educated in Britain's
famed Rugby School. He entered the US in 1939 and at the age of 18
won a scholarship to Yale University. Instead of the scholarship,
he decided to aid the cause of freedom and enlisted in the
Royal Canadian Air Force in September 1940. He went to England to
fly Spitfires. After qualifying, he was piloting one on a test flight
into the stratosphere at 30,000 feet when he got the inspiration for "High
Flight." He was just nineteen years old when he died.
Three months before his death he composed the sonnet "High Flight" which
he wrote on the back of a letter addressed to his mother. The poem
was chosen as the official poem of the RAF and the RCAF and posted in pilot
training centres throughout the Commonwealth. High Flight is
one of the best known Canadian poems.
|
E-Mail us at:
|
