2nd Lt Travis Wilkie

[brewmeist]

USAFA made the announcement that 2nd Lt Wilkie was one of the airmen who died in the T-38 crash. He was a 2018 graduate. As a father of a USNA midshipman, I just want to say that events like this make it real. All of these extraordinary people are on the same team. Prayers to him and his family.

 

[justdoit19]

Very sad indeed. So young. Here is a nice write up about him. Prayers for all.

Former baseball standout Travis Wilkie killed in training accident - Air Force Academy Athletics

Air Force second lieutenant Travis Wilkie , a 2018 graduate of the Air Force Academy, was killed in a training accident Thursday, Nov. 21, at Vance Air Force...

goairforcefalcons.com

 

[ringczar23]

 

[SaltiDawg]

He was a 2018 graduate.

This is always so hard on all concerned when a Classmate, family member, or fellow service man is killed.

I hope Lt Wilkie's family can take some solace in the fact that their son and family member was doing something he worked hard at was obviously well respected by his peers. Something we all strive for!

In the Navy we would say, "Sailor, rest your oar. We have the watch."

I hope the Air Force has a similarly comforting farewell.

 

[Tx2AFA]

@SaltiDawg for us it’s the third verse of the AF song. Or can be shortened to the first three words, “Here’s a toast...”

 

[TexasAggie204]

My Uncle (and hero growing up) was a B-24 Co Pilot who flew 30 combat missions with the 8th Air Force over Germany / Enemy Territory in WW2. When he died, his eldest son read this poem at his funeral:

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.

I've never forgotten it, (or him for that matter).

RIP fellow airman.

 

[SaltiDawg]

I've never forgotten it, (or him for that matter).

RIP fellow airman.

"Portions Of This Lovely Poem Appear On The Headstones
Of Many Interred In Arlington National Cemetery,
Patricularly Aviators And Astronauts"

 

[flieger83]

That poem was written by a British Flying Officer while he was training in the Supermarine Spitfire if I remember my doolie knowledge correctly. Sadly, he was killed in a flying accident in England during WWII.

His name was P/O John Gillespie Magee Jr. and the poem is called "High Flight."

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83