The Airmen’s New Recruit
(In memory of Sergeant Addison Harvey, of Langley field, VA., who died at Walter Reed Gen. Hospital, Feb. 19, 1937, of injuries received in a bomber crash near Front Royal, Va., while engaged in flood relief work.)
Beyond the blue horizon,
Just a shade above the pale,
There is a dim Utopia
Where only airmen dwell.
These flying knights of aircraft
Have a hangar in the sky,
Where they work on ships together
That have crashed and cannot fly.
They parachute to glory
In a realm of peace that rings
With motors never grounded
As they whir with beating wings.
Oft in their far-off journeys
They silently salute,
“Happy landings, fellow!”
To their squadron’s new recruit.
We Wonder of their farewell flights,
What trails these shadows roam,
But in his wisdom God hath called
Another pilot Home.
Helen Downer Jack