As a follow-up to a previous blog from June 2019 ~
“The Lost Voices of WWII RAF/RCAF Greenwood” ~
I was delighted to be invited to the Decoration of the Graves ceremony at Old Holy Trinity Church in
Middleton, Nova Scotia. This is the location of twenty-four Commonwealth War
Graves Commission (CWGC) graves from WWII and three other post-war graves.
The Decoration of the Graves Service is an annual
event held since 1942. It was initiated in response to a letter to the Imperial
Order Daughters of the Empire (IODE) Rosemary Chapter in Middleton, from Annie
Badham, of Kilgetty, Pembrokeshire, Wales, the grieving mother of Aircraftsman
2nd Class Ivor George Badham who died 21 May 1942 ~ she asked if someone could please lay flowers on her son’s grave and continue to care for it.
Due to the Covid-19 situation, this year’s event
was scaled down with certain precautions having to be observed.
In the presence of IODE Rosemary Chapter President
Shelley Reycraft, Rev. Canon Lynn Uzans, Mayor Sylvester Aikinson,
representatives of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 001, personnel from 14 Wing
(Greenwood) including Colonel Brendan Cook, MSM, CD and Chief Warrant Officer
Daniel Campbell, MMM, CD, Bugler Sgt. Jordan Cuming and Piper Cindy MacLeod ~ I
was invited to do the Roll of Honour and recite the poem “High Flight”.
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| Samuel Easton Somerville, son of Samuel and Jean Somerville, of Glasgow, Scotland |
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| Roger Leon Corcoran, son of William Roger and Clarice Patience Corcoran, of Whakatane, Auckland, New Zealand |
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| Edward Charles John Collins, son of John Lionel Stanley and Myrtle Emily Collins, of Clermont, Queensland, Australia |
After the ceremony at Old Holy Trinity Church in
Middleton, I went with Dianne Hankinson LeGard, to place a rose at each of the
CWGC graves at St Lawrence Roman Catholic Cemetery, in nearby Kingston, Nova
Scotia
The poignant and uplifting poem “High Flight” was
written by Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee Jnr., who was born 9 June 1922 in
Shanghai, China, to an American father and British mother, who both worked in
that country as Anglican missionaries.
In 1929, he began his education at the American
School in Nanking. Two years later, he moved with his mother to Britain where
he continued his education first at St. Clare's near Walmer, Kent and then
later at the famed Rugby School in Warwickshire, where in 1938, he won the
school's poetry prize.
In 1939 he moved to the USA and attended Avon Old
Farms School in Connecticut. Later he earned a scholarship to Yale University,
but decided not to enroll, choosing instead to enlist in the Royal Canadian Air
Force in October of that year.
After his flight training at St Catherines,
Ontario, where he passed his Wings Test in June ‘41, John now a commissioned
pilot officer was sent to Britain and was posted to RAF Llandow in Wales.
On 3 September, 1941, he flew a high-altitude test
flight at 30,000 feet in a new Mk V Spitfire. Overwhelmed by the flight, he was
immediately inspired to put his experience into words.So, upon landing, he went straight to his quarters
and on the back of a letter to his parents in Washington DC, he wrote the now
famous poem “High Flight”.
He was later assigned to RCAF 412 Fighter
Squadron, at RAF Digby in Lincolnshire, from where he flew a number of sorties
over occupied France.
On 11 December 1941, during his tenth week of
active service, Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee Jnr. was killed in a mid-air
collision during a training flight ~ he was only 19 years old. John is buried
at Scopwick Church Burial Ground, Lincolnshire, England.
Over the decades, John’s poem “High Flight” has
been used widely by many ~ the words have formed verses of songs, it has been
quoted by astronauts in outer space, been used in speeches by US Presidents and
often mentioned at events like this. Today it is the official poem of both the
Royal Canadian Air Force and the Royal Air Force.
High
Flight
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 wind-swept 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.
Roll of
Honour
Old Holy Trinity Cemetery, Middleton, NS
Leading Aircraftman George Robert Pacey RAFVR
Pilot Officer
Leonard Herbert Teer RAFVR
Flying Officer
Rex James Wallis RNZAF
Pilot Officer
Trevor Alfred Pittock RAF
Pilot Officer
Allan James Rutherford RAAF
Flying Officer
John Charles William Bruce RAFVR
Aircraftman 1st Class Samuel Easton Somerville RAFVR
Sergeant
Arnold Longstaff RAF
Sergeant
Henry Lionel John Wilkins RAF
Corporal
Herbert Bentley RAFVR
Pilot Officer
Claude Wynter Arthur Blick RAAF
Flight Sergeant (Pilot) Jack Nettleton Hopkinson RAFVR
Aircraftman 2nd Class Albert John Botcher RAFVR
Aircraftman 2nd Class Ivor George Badham RAFVR
Sergeant
Harry B. Turner RCAF
Flying Officer
Edward C. W. Hutt RCAF
Flight Lieutenant
Percy Byng-Hall RAF
Warrant Officer
Harold Braumont Uren RAAF
Flying Officer
Jack Norman Reedie RAAF
Flying Officer
Roger Leon Corcoran RNZAF
Sergeant
Douglas Charles Andre Gillespie
RNZAF
Flight Sergeant
Regnald Bellhouse RAAF
Flying Officer
Edward Charles John Collins RAAF
Flying Officer
William Thomas Slaughter RAAF
Sergeant (Pilot) Kenneth George Fuge Harvey RAFVR
Pilot Officer
James Gerald Brown RAFVR
Pilot Officer
Maurice Albert William Henley
RAFVR
St Lawrence Roman Catholic Cemetery, Kingston, NS
Pilot Officer
(Belgian National) Albert Marie Louis Adhemar
De Steenhault De Waerbeek RAFVR
Pilot Officer
Francis Clive Gaha RAAF
Squadron Leader
Louis Alexander George Howard
RAF
Flying Officer Hugh Edward McCann RAFVR
Flying Officer
Patrick Flood O'Hanlon RAFVR
Flying Officer
John Dermot Walsh RNZAF
Warrant Officer
C. R. Arsenault RCAF
