# John Gillespie Magee, Jr. the author of the poem "High Flight" died at 19! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 1, 2015, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gillespie-magee-jr-the-author-of-the-poem-high-flight-died-at-19/736303 "2015-11-01T00:58:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gillespie-magee-jr-the-author-of-the-poem-high-flight-died-at-19/736303/1 "2015-11-01T00:58:44Z")
If you are older than 40 you may remember [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGj6deaINxM)or [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=205GjxSNwds)which TV stations in the 60’s and 70’s used to close out the day. [Here is his wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gillespie_Magee,_Jr.). He died at 19! This was surprising as I thought for sure this would be some old retired man poet. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gillespie-magee-jr-the-author-of-the-poem-high-flight-died-at-19/736303/2 "2015-11-01T01:38:51Z")
I knew that. When I first was introduced to the poem in HS, we talked about how the poet was a casualty of WWI and very young and I think we talked about the waste of WWI. StG ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gillespie-magee-jr-the-author-of-the-poem-high-flight-died-at-19/736303/3 "2015-11-01T03:56:58Z")
I did not know that. I guess the takeaway, for all the young aviators out there, is that God don’t like His face being touched. ETA: I’m sorry, I really am. I tried to resist, but I just _couldn’t_. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gillespie-magee-jr-the-author-of-the-poem-high-flight-died-at-19/736303/4 "2015-11-02T21:15:08Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > I knew that. When I first was introduced to the poem in HS, we talked about how the poet was a casualty of WWI and very young and I think we talked about the waste of WWI. He died in 1941, not 1914. That was the second year of WWII, long after WWI. What surprises me is that he died in an accident. I always thought he was killed in combat. Ignorance fought! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gillespie-magee-jr-the-author-of-the-poem-high-flight-died-at-19/736303/5 "2015-11-02T21:28:07Z")
I also thought he was Canadian, but nope. He was an American who volunteered for service in the RCAF while the United States was still neutral. ---
**Author:** ![Barrett\_Bonden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5e9695/32.png) [@Barrett\_Bonden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrett_Bonden)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gillespie-magee-jr-the-author-of-the-poem-high-flight-died-at-19/736303/6 "2015-11-02T21:35:27Z")
> [@astro](#): > > If you are older than 40 you may remember [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGj6deaINxM)or [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=205GjxSNwds)which TV stations in the 60’s and 70’s used to close out the day. > > [Here is his wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gillespie_Magee,_Jr.). He died at 19! This was surprising as I thought for sure this would be some old retired man poet. I’m not old enough to recall those sign-outs, but I recognize some of the words from President Reagan’s [address to the nation](http://history.nasa.gov/reagan12886.html) following the Challenger explosion. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gillespie-magee-jr-the-author-of-the-poem-high-flight-died-at-19/736303/7 "2015-11-02T21:43:49Z")
> [@Barrett\_Bonden](#): > > I’m not old enough to recall those sign-outs, but I recognize some of the words from President Reagan’s [address to the nation](http://history.nasa.gov/reagan12886.html) following the Challenger explosion. Reagan was criticized at the time for referring to Magee as American instead of Canadian. Turns out he was right after all. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gillespie-magee-jr-the-author-of-the-poem-high-flight-died-at-19/736303/8 "2015-11-02T21:44:33Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I also thought he was Canadian, but nope. He was an American who volunteered for service in the RCAF while the United States was still neutral. Thinking of John McCrae (“In Flanders’ Fields,” arguably the most famous WWI poem) who died in WWI? He also died of non-combat causes (pneumonia), but wasn’t particularly young. I did not know that the Nanking guy was Magee’s father. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gillespie-magee-jr-the-author-of-the-poem-high-flight-died-at-19/736303/9 "2015-11-02T21:49:01Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > He died in 1941, not 1914. That was the second year of WWII, long after WWI. Correction: I see he died 11 December 1941. That would make it, what, just over three months into its third year. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gillespie-magee-jr-the-author-of-the-poem-high-flight-died-at-19/736303/10 "2015-11-02T21:50:51Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Thinking of John McCrae (“In Flanders’ Fields,” arguably the most famous WWI poem) who died in WWI? He also died of non-combat causes (pneumonia), but wasn’t particularly young. Who, me? 😕 No, but StG may have been. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gillespie-magee-jr-the-author-of-the-poem-high-flight-died-at-19/736303/11 "2015-11-02T22:40:11Z")
LOW FLIGHT Oh, I’ve slipped the surly bonds of earth And hovered out of ground effect on semi-rigid blades; Earthward I’ve auto’ed and met the rising brush of non-paved terrain And done a thousand things you would never care to Skidded and dropped and flared Low in the heat soaked roar. Confined there, I’ve chased the earthbound traffic And lost the race to insignificant headwinds; Forward and up a little in ground effect I’ve topped the General’s hedge with drooping turns Where never Skyhawk or even Phantom flew. Shaking and pulling collective, I’ve lumbered The low untresspassed halls of victor airways, Put out my hand and touched a tree. —Anonymous A poem for helicopter pilots. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2015, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gillespie-magee-jr-the-author-of-the-poem-high-flight-died-at-19/736303/12 "2015-11-03T04:40:57Z")
Joyce “Trees” Kilmer was also killed in WWI: > **[Joyce Kilmer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce_Kilmer)** > > Alfred Joyce Kilmer (December 6, 1886 – July 30, 1918) was an American writer and poet mainly remembered for a short poem titled "Trees" (1913), which was published in the collection Trees and Other Poems in 1914. Though a prolific poet whose works celebrated the common beauty of the natural world as well as his Roman Catholic religious faith, Kilmer was also a journalist, literary critic, lecturer, and editor. At the time of his deployment to Europe during World War I, Kilmer was considered t... ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2015, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-gillespie-magee-jr-the-author-of-the-poem-high-flight-died-at-19/736303/13 "2015-11-03T04:43:48Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > I knew that. Yep. > [@terentii](#): > > What surprises me is that he died in an accident. Knew that too.