Wishing all a memorable Memorial Day as we reflect upon the lives of those who gave so much to us in life and who continue to inspire us. This Sunday morning the offered lesson was from a talk by a former airlines pilot. He prefaced his remarks by making reference to Orville and Wilbur Wright's father's first airplane flight as he called out to his son, "Higher, higher." He continued, "I know something of what the Wrights felt. I too have 'slipped the surly bonds of Earth and danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings.'"
The reference to that brief refrain brought back memories of hearing those same words on the late night TV sign offs that were once a part of the television experience back in the 1960s and 1970s. Each night one would see on the TV screen fighter jets in flight accompanied by a reading of the poem "HIgh Flight" before the night's programming would come to an end. Here first is a link to that "sign off."
It is followed by a link to a just created YouTube Playlist titled, "A Tribute to those who Serve and Have Served" that I have just assembled from a sequence of my own videos that I have just posted to my YouTube Channel for this Memorial Day. In the first two video clips I have attempted to replicate the jets seen flying in the archived "Sign Off."
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx3WueJWlb4
A TRIBUTE TO THOSE WHO SERVE AND HAVE SERVED
In 1941 a World War II pilot penned a poem in a letter to his parents which has come to be known as "High Flight." The letter arrived a week after he was killed in action. In the closing line of that poem he wrote, "... I've trod the high untrespassed sanctity of space, put out my hand, and touched the face of God."
As a youth in the 60s and 70s I well recall on the late night television signing off sequence, hearing those words of that poem as it was read along with views of fighter jets veering into space.
This Playlist pays homage to that airman as representative of the many Veterans who have served their country. First are two clips of fighter jets in the skies followed by a bugle call playing Taps at a National Cemetery in Alaska. It concludes with a winter view of that cemetery as it is surrounded by the beauty of frosted trees and brightened by a crossed star of sunlight.
First Video in below linked Playlist:
After a Four Year absence, an Aerial Demonstration Team returned to perform in Alaska at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson. Watch as this quartet of United States Air Force Thunderbirds propel upward in formation into the Alaska Sky in their most recent return on July 31, 2022.
Second Video in below linked Playlist:
Returned to Alaska one of the USAF Flight Demonstration Team members pilots his F-16 Fighter Jet horizontally just over the heads of the gathered spectators attending the first, and most recent, Arctic Thunder Open House since 2018 held at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson in Alaska.
Third Video in below linked Playlist:
On an early January mid-winter day a World War II Veteran is remembered and honored at the Fort Richardson National Cemetery in Alaska. The Flag is lifted and the bugler plays Taps.
Fourth Video in below linked Playlist:
The final resting place for many who served their country (including my own father) and now established as a National Cemetery since 1984, Fort Richardson National Cemetery is viewed here in its winter serenity. As the camera pans the snow topped head stones a crossed star of light appears as if offering an expression of thanks for the service of those interred here. (Among others buried here is President Teddy Roosevelt's son Kermit who was a Major in the Army during World War II.)
And here is the link to the Playlist. Click on the hyperlink rather than the screen shot to see the full Playlist. Otherwise you will just see the first video in the Playlist.
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