Mr. and Mrs. So and So we regret to inform you

The title of this post are the words that several families heard on the 28th of this month. Early in the evening on the 28th of July a C-17 taking off from Elmendorf AFB in Alaska crashed. All four airman on board were killed.

Shortly after that their families would hear those words uttered as they were being told of the tragic mishap. I know what that scene is like. I lost several friends on August 29th, 1990. They were flying a mission for Desert Shield during the preparation for the first invasion of Iraq in an attempt to liberate Kuwait. They died and the families they left behind were absolutely devastated. I remember crying to my dad on the phone at the loss of my mentor and friend. The very person who got me to be an engineer was on his retirement flight and his best friend went with him. Both died together.

Whenever I would pass the memorial outside the squadron I couldn't help but think that it can happen to any of us at anytime. Even flying combat missions crews get the invincibility shield, which is folly. What we do even in peacetime is dangerous. The reason aircraft don't crash more often is that we train constantly for just such a thing and we have luck on our side.

These four men died doing what they loved. They were practicing for an upcoming airshow, which I think sucks. Me, I'd rather go out while conducting an airdrop at a forward operating base under heavy attack. At least I'd get those guys the supplies they needed.

No matter. When you read this post I'd ask that you reflect on all the men and women who get up everyday in all walks of life who put their lives on the line for all of us and give silent thanks for their service, whether it be military serving in combat or police officers patrolling your neighborhoods. And for those that believe in prayer say one for the families of the C-17 crew because they have a long and sad road ahead and they need all the support they can get.

In the words of John Gillespie Magee:

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 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

No 412 squadron, RCAF

Killed 11 December 1941