"Hub & Diane Plott" wrote in message
...
High Flight
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, delirious burning 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.

Godspeed!
Hub

I doubt that Magee could have conceived his poem being used in honor of a
man that truly left the earth. I don't know if Wally Schirra actually
"touched the face of God", but I know he received a hero's welcome to
heaven. He, and the rest of the early astronauts were the faces of dreams
to the world. Today's society takes space flight for granted. It's barely
newsworthy when a shuttle flies anymore. The space program of the 60's
brought us heroes like Schirra that will live in the minds and hearts of
those that grew up with the legends.
Rob