The sonnet “High Flight” is a timeless poetic expression of the experience of flight, written in 1941 by John Gillespie Magee Jr., a young American who yearned to fly. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force prior to the United States involvement in World War II to become a Pilot Officer. He was subsequently assigned to Fighter Squadron RCAF in Digby England, flying Spitfires. Three months later, he was killed in a noncombat accident. Only one week earlier he had written a letter home to his parents that included his now immortal verse. The original letter can be viewed at the Library of Congress. Pilot Officer McGee was laid to rest in England.