A Heart, a Cross, a Flag (Peggy Noonan)

Wall Street Journal ^ | 9/6/02 | Peggy Noonan

[redhead]

"I just caught an interview with Peggy Noonan on EWTN. According to Peggy, 90% of those who gave their lives were catholic.

Say what you will against the Catholic Church, but no other religion fosters this same sense of duty and honor in service to others. This applies to the military, as well. 90% gave their lives, selflishly, so that others might live. 90%!

This little factoid makes my heart swell with pride. God bless each and every one of these souls. May they enjoy forever the Beatific Vision. Bittersweet joy here...

[RobbyS]

Off the top of my head. but I seem to recall that 40% of the men in combat arms during WWII were RC. This in a day when 20% of the general population was Catholic.

[ArGee]

Remember the line: "and slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God" from the Noonan speech given by RR on the Challenger.

That's from a poem called "High Flight" which is the official poem of the USAF.

I don't remember the name of the author.

It begins something like:

Oh, I have slipped the surley bonds of earth
and danced the sky on laughter silvered wings
Sunward I've climbed
and done a thousand things you have not dreamed of.

Shalom.

[Pokey78]

A belated pinging of Peggy Noonan's list.

[glock rocks]

bump for everyone's mom, Peggy Noonan.

[BlessedAmerican]

My feelings, her words....thank you for the ping...

[SuziQ]

Thanks for the ping, though a freeper friend e-mailed this column to me on the morning it appeared superimposed on a picture of the three firemen raising the flag. I enjoyed reading it again, and like the first time, had to wipe the tears to see the page.

[BlueAngel]

Thanks Pokey. She is so great. This one made me cry.

[JohnHuang2]

Thanks for the ping, friend.

[JohnHuang2]

[areafiftyone]

Saw Peggy Noonan on Fox and Friends this morning. She is a lovely person inside and out.

[FreedomWarrior]

So did I, She was saying how most kids will be hearing the the Preamble, the Declaration of Independence, and the Gettysburg Address for the first time, since we know the government schools don't teach it!! She was so right on the money when she said the Gettysburg Address goes to show that words don't always work, that you have to go to war to make it right!!

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you for the heads up!

[areafiftyone]

If anyone gets a chance to get the New York Post (I know they have it in most cities) there is a heartwrenching pullout section of September 11th. I highly recommend buying it today just to keep the pullout section for remembrance.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks to Billie for this great gif:

[Ryle]

Remember the line: "and slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God" from the Noonan speech given by RR on the Challenger.

The poem, "High Flight" was written by an American, John Gillespie McGee, Jr., who enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941. He was trained as a Spitfire pilot and was killed in a training flight in England at the age of 19. The poem was a favorite of my father's - he was a Lancaster Bomber pilot in the RCAF.

Here's the whole poem.

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 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 out my hand, and touched the face of God.

- John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

[solzhenitsyn]

Powerful. Thanks, friends.