US Air Force Birthday

Sep 18

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Happy Birthday to all our Flyboys!!

Pacific Paratrooper

Thunderbird pilots w/ their planes Thunderbird pilots w/ their planes

The official birthday for the US Air Force is 18 September 1947 as enacted under the National Security Act of 1947.

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See the video for the US Air Force 67th Birthday right  Here!

HIGH FLIGHT

by: 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.
Hovering there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flug
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delicious 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…

View original post 147 more words

About GP

Everett Smith served with the Headquarters Company, 187th Regiment, 11th A/B Division during WWII. This site is in tribute to my father, "Smitty." GP is a member of the 11th Airborne Association. Member # 4511 and extremely proud of that fact!

Posted on September 18, 2015, in Current News and tagged , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. 37 Comments.

  1. Mustang.Koji | October 21, 2015 at 7:18 PM

    Interestingly, the USAAF announced the commencement of a ramped up bombing campaign against Japan on this day in 1944…

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  2. Heartafire | September 25, 2015 at 2:19 PM

    an air Force brat, I love this!

    Liked by 1 person

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  3. quirkywritingcorner | September 22, 2015 at 2:03 PM

    My brother was in the Air Force. I loved the photo of the guy “testing” the equipment. That was hysterical.

    Liked by 1 person

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  4. imagesbytdashfield | September 21, 2015 at 3:26 PM

    My brother was in the Air Force and served in Viet Nam for a bit.

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  5. Gypsy Bev | September 18, 2015 at 9:54 PM

    My cousin serves in the Air Force today, working in their drone control tower. How times have changed. So proud to have him serve his country.

    Liked by 1 person

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  6. valeriedavies | September 18, 2015 at 8:41 PM

    One of my favourite war poems. Never fails to move me. The poet was half American half English and went to famous Rugby School, which much loved World War One poet Rupert Brooke attended, where the game of rugby was invented, and where the famous book ‘Tom Brown’s School Days’ was set.

    John Gillespie Magee wrote a very moving poem to Rupert Brooke, who like him, died young on his way to Gallipoli – Magee died at nineteen in a mid air crash over England….

    Ronald Reagan quoted from this poem in his speech after the Challenger disaster and I was so impressed, until I discovered that he hadn’t actually written the speech !

    What a delight to see your visits to my blog… gives me a real buzz, thank you !!!!

    Liked by 1 person

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    • GP Cox | September 19, 2015 at 5:22 AM

      Thank you so much for this added information, Valerie, it seems to complete the poem by knowing some history. Our presidents all have speech writers, but the speech is read and edited by them before the speech is read aloud in public. Your blog is a delight to visit, no problem there – you should be proud.

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  7. Curt Mekemson | September 18, 2015 at 7:43 PM

    The poem made me think of Peggy’s paragliding this summer. 🙂 Happy Birthday Air Force. –Curt

    Liked by 1 person

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  8. Andrew Reynolds | September 18, 2015 at 12:37 PM

    Happy birthday!!! Now I get to sing my favorite song all day: https://youtu.be/Vl3I-fYYaoA

    “Off we go into the wild blue yonder…”

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  9. beetleypete | September 18, 2015 at 9:16 AM

    The USAF is a lot younger than I thought. Congratulations to them. We have had many old aircraft in the air here this past week, celebrating the Battle of Britain.
    Best wishes, Pete.

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  10. swabby429 | September 18, 2015 at 7:57 AM

    I’m passing this along to my maternal uncle. He served in the USAF during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Sept. 18th is always a big deal for him.

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  11. Dan Bjarnason | September 18, 2015 at 7:50 AM

    Everyone knows of the American flyers who joined the RAF and fought in the Battle of Britain. Less well known are the Americans who headed North, crossed into canada and joined the RCAF. John Magee, the poet who wrote High Flight, was one of them. He had just earned a scholarship at Yale but instead chose to fight Hitler. He was killed while flying his spitfire in 1941 and is buried near his airbase in Lincolnshire, England. His coffin was carried by his Canadian squadron mates.

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  12. kayreusser | September 18, 2015 at 7:44 AM

    Good morning!

    Thanks for this reminder! I posted about it today on my blog as you’ll see since you subscribe. I appreciate your posts and have passed them on to others.

    I’m preparing for a big week! We have an annual Street Fair so my husband & I are renting a booth to advertise/ sell my World War II book. We’re dropping the price—hopefully we’ll sell many to pay for our rental fee! 🙂

    Happy Weekend

    Kayleen Reusser

    http://www.KayleenR.com

    Author of World War II Legacies:

    Stories of Northeast Indiana Veterans

    Preserving our past, present, and future

    Liked by 1 person

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  13. feralc4t | September 18, 2015 at 7:30 AM

    It just took me back to a military air show at Mildenhall (UK) when it was a USAF base, (I was just a kid of fourteen) You don’t realise just how big a Galaxy is until you walk through one 😀
    And then coming back from a job on the other side of the country (Tuesday), there was a Spit in a private airfield..

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  14. feralc4t | September 18, 2015 at 6:56 AM

    I have walked through a Galaxy, It took a while, saw a Spitfire on Tuesday, It made me smile. Kudos to the airforce!

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