Air Force Captain Troy "Gordie" Cope is finally coming home -- 52 years after he vanished on a Korean War combat air mission.Godspeed, Captain Gordie.
The Pentagon announced today that remains found on the Chinese side of the Yalu River between China and North Korea last May have been identified as Cope's.
The remains of the Norfolk, Arkansas, pilot will be buried in Plano, Texas, on May 31st.
The Pentagon says Cope and his wingman were flying F-86 Saber fighter jets when they encountered six Russian-made MiG-15s i an area known as "MiG Alley." A dogfight ensued, Cope lost contact with his wingman and wasn't seen again.
In 1995, an American businessman saw Cope's metal dogtag on display in a Chinese military museum. He reported the data to U-S officials. Russian and Chinese military archives were checked and the suspected crash site was excavated.
Doug's Dialogue
As one who has always been facinated with the military and military history, I am always reminded what sacrifice these people make. In honor of this airmen finally coming home, I offer this poem written by John Gillespie Magee Jr.
"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.
