Dean's World

Today is Remembrance Day in Canada, which is basically the same as Veteran's Day in the US.

It has become fashionable in recent decades to denigrate the Canadian military, but in truth the Canadians were for a very long time known as some of the fiercest and most dangerous fighters in the West. They were sometimes small in number but in World War I and World War II the Canadians often proved themselves some of the most dangerous and valiant warriors the world had ever known.

Michael Demmons remembers.

I salute the brave and valiant Canadian veterans.

(I will quite seriously kick the ass of any Dean's World commenter who makes so much as a small joke about it by the way.)

Update:

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 untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee
Number 412 fighter squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force
Died in the air on 11 December 1941 at the age of 19

Related Posts (on one page):

Remembrance Day Canada
Veteran's Day

(link)

Michael Demmons (mail) (www):

I will quite seriously kick the ass of any Dean's World commenter who makes so much as a small joke about it by the way

Just don't call upon the Canadian military to help you out with that these days!!!

11.11.2006 7:51am

Mike (mail):

I don't disparage Canadian valor.
Vimy Ridge.
Dieppe.
Juno Beach.
The Dutch still remember the Canadians very fondly.

And my grandfather was R.F.C. during the Great War. He was Canadian and later immigrated to the U.S.

11.11.2006 9:36am

Stace:

Very nice post, Michael. I'm grateful for the Canadians' past service, and for their current service in Afghanistan.

I've heard US military people say that today's Canadian servicemen and women are still extremely capable and professional, but they've been underfunded and poorly equipped by their politicians. I hope that Harper is moving to improve this situation.

11.11.2006 9:59am

Heather (mail) (www):

How many people here remember the movie "The Great Escape?" I'm proud to say that I am related (probably 4th or 5th removed or so) to someone who was actually a part of the real thing. His name was Darrell Emerson Larlee and you can read his story here. I was immensely pleased when his grandson gave me permission to publish his story on my genealogy site.

Now that is valor.

11.11.2006 10:19am

I made a mistake and deleted that story!!! If you are interested in reading it, try this link instead.

11.11.2006 11:47am

Arnold Harris (mail):

John Gillespie Magee was actually an American who had joined the service of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) long before the USA got into the war in Europe just one day after his death in a training accident at an airfield in England. His poem, High Flight, has risen to all but legendary and ubiquitous usage by aviators and even astronauts of all countries. May the memory of his service to the fight for freedom never be forgotten.

Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI

11.11.2006 12:50pm

Linda Frazier (mail):

My ex was in the Air Force when we married in January of 1976. We were stationed in New Mexico, and for the first four years of our marriage, the television stations all signed off at night with a video of air flight (random scenes of the land, clouds, etc.) and the poem High Flight was recited. I can still hear the narrator's voice, mellow and deep. The poem brought goose bumps every time - something to do with patriotism combined with homesickness (and all those studly young men in uniforms everywhere didn't hurt, either).

Thanks for printing the full poem. Brought me a smile.

For all those younger readers, yes, many of the television stations signed off each night - none of that 24 hour stuff.

Linda

11.11.2006 1:53pm

Linda, I remember one of the television stations in Sacramento, California, KCRA, used to sign off on Sunday nights with a rendering of High Flight. Reading the poem brought back those pictures. I'll bet it was the same one with the deep voice.

11.11.2006 4:37pm

Now you both know something about the young American who invoked those great words, and now lives forever in the memory not only of Canada, whose flag he served, but the whole english-speaking world.

Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI

11.11.2006 6:23pm

MaryJ:

Beautiful poem. I thank Canada for their service and all that served. The memories of the televsion going off at night and that poem being read is etched in my mind.

11.11.2006 6:52pm

Stace: That's very true. Canada has a wonderful military just waiting tp be funded. While the CDN Forces don't get called on too much to be a defense force, they are amazing when it comes to peacekeeping missions and are very much respected in that regard. Unfortunately, they've been reduced to rubble because of the funding situation.

They are very much a respectable group, and deserve a healthy budget. I hope, as you, that they get the funding they deserve to be the proud folks they can be.

Canada is often vaunted as being a country that has a budget surplus to be envious of. But the fact remains that they've cut so much from the military and other things that that's why. They should be thankful that they have a powerful country to the South. It's a large reason they've been able to skeletonize our military - once a great group of people.

11.11.2006 9:04pm

mariner:

I remember that video.

The memory of it still brings tears to my eyes. I believe "High Flight" is one of the most beautiful poems in the English language.

The Air Force used it as a recruiting commercial in the late 60s and early 70s.

Any ideas how one might obtain a copy of the video?

11.11.2006 9:08pm