Well on Independence Day, I celebrated by going for an early run in the "mountains" of western Massachusetts. I decided to do my hill workout on Mt Holyoke in Skinner Park in the town of Hadley. It is a beautiful park and it brought back some fond memories of younger days (more on that later).
At the summit I took some pictures of the sights (see my web site for those) and found a monument that I leanred something from. It was a monument dedicated to the aviators who lost their lives in WWII and in particular to the crew of a B24-J (bomber) which crashed into Mt Holyoke after taking off from Westover AFB in Chicopee, MA (where I grew up). On the monument was a quote that as I read it I thought... "Hey that's President Reagan's quote from when the Challenger exploded back in 1986!" I was surprised to see the credit below it to a man named J G Magee, Jr. I took a picture of it since my memory stinks, and when I got home I looked up JG Magee to find out that President Reagan's eloquent speech memorializing the Challenger victims was comprised of numerous excerpts from a quote that is legendary among aviators called "High Flight" by John Gillespie Magee, Jr. Now I'm sure President Reagan gave the appropriate credit way back when but I never noticed it and always thought it originated in that speech. "High Flight: is apparently legendary with pilots because "it has been found by many to give unique and felicitous expression to the emotions aroused by the act of piloting an aircraft." It is a very lofty verse and I enjoyed reading it in its entirety.
Quite appropriate learning on Independence Day... yes Mr Magee was British, but as a salute to all of our service men and women who fight to make sure that we had freedom and retain that right to freedom, it was a great piece of knowledge to garner.
Happy 232nd Birthday USA!
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