Memorial
Royal Canadian Air Force
Current Location
memorial is no. 344 in Green Zone, off Millennium Avenue and close to the Armed Forces Memorial, National Memorial Arboretum, Croxall Road, Alrewas, Lichfield, Staffordshire, De13 7AR, England
OS Grid Reference
SK 18562 14544
Names listed on this memorial
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© WMR-73270
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- Type of Memorial
- Stone of remembrance
- WMR Reference Number
- 73270
- Description
- A stone of remembrance consisting of three large blocks of granite, with a pink granite section between two blocks of grey granite, and topped by a sculpture of a Maple leaf. The stone has commemorative panels of polished black granite with gold-lettered inscriptions in English and French on each face. The stone is fixed to a grey stone base in the form of a Maple leaf in the centre of a circular gravel bed. The gravel bed is bordered by a circle of grey granite sections each of which has the name of a Canadian province engraved in gold lettering. The memorial is within a grassed area with wooden benches. There are small pink granite Maple leaf stones set within the grass with individual commemorations.
- Inscription
- [6 o'clock and 12 o'clock]: [Insignia]/ [English and French versions]: ITS ORIGINS SPRINGING FROM CANADIAN AIR AND GROUND CREW/ WHO SERVED WITH THE RFC AND RAF/ IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR/ THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE ROSE TO BECOME THE/ FOURTH LARGEST ALLIED AIR FORCE BY THE END OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR./ RCAF PERSONNEL AND AIRCRAFT SERVED IN ALL THEATRES OF OPERATION/ DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR. SIGNIFICANT/ AMONGST THE MANY CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE RCAF/ WERE THE MORE THAN 131,000 COMMONWEALTH TROOPS/ WHO TRAINED IN CANADA UNDER THE/ BRITISH COMMONWEATH AIR TRAINING PLAN AND THE 40,000/ WHO SERVED IN BOMBER COMMAND'S RAF SQUADRONS -/ ESPECIALLY THE CANADIAN-MANNED NO. 6 BOMBER GROUP./ THE POST-WAR RCAF PROVIDED FRONTLINE SUPPORT TO/ NORTH AMERICAN AEROSPACE DEFENSE COMMAND (NORAD), NATO/ AND UN COMMITMENTS - OBLIGATIONS THAT CANADA CONTINUES TO HONOUR./ AFTER AMALGAMATING WITH THE CANADIAN ARMY/ AND THE ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY, THE RCAF OFFICALLY BECAME/ THE AIR ELEMENT OF THE CANADIAN ARMED FORCES./ SINCE THE SECOND WORLD WAR, CANADIAN AIR FORCE/ PERSONNEL HAVE SERVED COMBAT MISSIONS IN THE/ PERSIAN GULF, KOSOVO, AFGHANISTAN, BOSNIA AND LIBYA, AND/ ASSISTED WITH HUMANITARIAN AIRLIFT MISSIONS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD./ TODAY CANADA'S AIR FORCE CONTINUES THE PROUD TRADITION/ ESTABLISHED BY THE RCAF BY CONTRIBUTING TO ESSENTIAL/ COMBAT OPERATIONS IN AREAS OF CONFLICT AS WELL AS SUPPORTING MAJOR/ INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN AND PEACEKEEPING ACTIVITIES./ PER ARDUA AD ASTRA/ [9 o'clock and 3 o'clock]/ [Insignia]/[English and French versions]/ 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 WING 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./ PILOT OFFICER JOHN GILLESPIE MAGEE/ 412 SQUADRON RCAF/ DIED 11 DECEMBER 1941