It is always very sad when a military person dies, whether in war or in peace. In my 12 years in the military, I had some friends and co-workers die during the performance of their duties. It shocks you when this happens and touches you forever.

On Friday afternoon, here in Montana at Malmstrom AFB, a Canadian Forces pilot was killed when his jet crashed during rehearsal for weekend performances at Malmstrom’s open house. Capt. Shawn McCaughey was 31 and was due to be married next month. He was a member of the Snowbirds Aerial Demonstration Team.

My condolences go out to Captain Shawn McCaughey’s family and friends during this difficult time. He was doing the job that he loved to do and, as a goodwill ambassador, he touched many lives with his professionalism and dedication. He will be sorely missed.

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.

-John Gillespie Magee Jr.

In December 1941, Pilot Officer John Magee, a 19 year old American serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force in England, was killed when his Spitfire collided with another aircraft inside a cloud. Several months before his death, he composed his immortal sonnet “High Flight”, a copy of which he fortunately mailed to his parents in the United States.