My father, a retired United States Air Force pilot, died in a plane crash in Hollywood, California, on Friday, September 13, 1968.
He and his co-pilot, Robert Baer, both lost their lives in the crash, the result of their Rockwell 1121 Jet Commander encountering the wake turbulence of a larger aircraft.
There was another fatality on the ground as pieces of debris rained down on a residential neighborhood.
At the time of his death, my father was one month shy of his thirty-eighth birthday.
He was the only child of Onie Blanchard McManus (1906-1964) and Doris Freeman McManus (1911-1983).
I did not know my father. My parents divorced when I was two years old; we never saw him again. I was eleven when he died.
My father remarried twice after divorcing my mother. According to public records, he married Beverly Jean Newman on October 9, 1959, in Clark County, Nevada. At some point they too divorced. With his third wife, Inge, my dad had a son and another daughter.
At my father's untimely death he had four children, none of whom remember having known him. All we have are pictures and mementoes and stories that have been handed down, and not nearly enough of those.
I live in the Southeast and have never had an opportunity to visit my father's grave. My son was able to visit and pay his respects, and I'm thankful for that. Also I thank my wonderful friends on Find A Grave who have helped me create this loving tribute. Special thanks to Cami B., who provided the original gravesite photos.
~*~
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 have trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
John Gillespie Magee, Jr. (1922 - 1941)
~*~
He and his co-pilot, Robert Baer, both lost their lives in the crash, the result of their Rockwell 1121 Jet Commander encountering the wake turbulence of a larger aircraft.
There was another fatality on the ground as pieces of debris rained down on a residential neighborhood.
At the time of his death, my father was one month shy of his thirty-eighth birthday.
He was the only child of Onie Blanchard McManus (1906-1964) and Doris Freeman McManus (1911-1983).
I did not know my father. My parents divorced when I was two years old; we never saw him again. I was eleven when he died.
My father remarried twice after divorcing my mother. According to public records, he married Beverly Jean Newman on October 9, 1959, in Clark County, Nevada. At some point they too divorced. With his third wife, Inge, my dad had a son and another daughter.
At my father's untimely death he had four children, none of whom remember having known him. All we have are pictures and mementoes and stories that have been handed down, and not nearly enough of those.
I live in the Southeast and have never had an opportunity to visit my father's grave. My son was able to visit and pay his respects, and I'm thankful for that. Also I thank my wonderful friends on Find A Grave who have helped me create this loving tribute. Special thanks to Cami B., who provided the original gravesite photos.
~*~
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 have trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
John Gillespie Magee, Jr. (1922 - 1941)
~*~
My father, a retired United States Air Force pilot, died in a plane crash in Hollywood, California, on Friday, September 13, 1968.
He and his co-pilot, Robert Baer, both lost their lives in the crash, the result of their Rockwell 1121 Jet Commander encountering the wake turbulence of a larger aircraft.
There was another fatality on the ground as pieces of debris rained down on a residential neighborhood.
At the time of his death, my father was one month shy of his thirty-eighth birthday.
He was the only child of Onie Blanchard McManus (1906-1964) and Doris Freeman McManus (1911-1983).
I did not know my father. My parents divorced when I was two years old; we never saw him again. I was eleven when he died.
My father remarried twice after divorcing my mother. According to public records, he married Beverly Jean Newman on October 9, 1959, in Clark County, Nevada. At some point they too divorced. With his third wife, Inge, my dad had a son and another daughter.
At my father's untimely death he had four children, none of whom remember having known him. All we have are pictures and mementoes and stories that have been handed down, and not nearly enough of those.
I live in the Southeast and have never had an opportunity to visit my father's grave. My son was able to visit and pay his respects, and I'm thankful for that. Also I thank my wonderful friends on Find A Grave who have helped me create this loving tribute. Special thanks to Cami B., who provided the original gravesite photos.
~*~
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 have trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
John Gillespie Magee, Jr. (1922 - 1941)
~*~
He and his co-pilot, Robert Baer, both lost their lives in the crash, the result of their Rockwell 1121 Jet Commander encountering the wake turbulence of a larger aircraft.
There was another fatality on the ground as pieces of debris rained down on a residential neighborhood.
At the time of his death, my father was one month shy of his thirty-eighth birthday.
He was the only child of Onie Blanchard McManus (1906-1964) and Doris Freeman McManus (1911-1983).
I did not know my father. My parents divorced when I was two years old; we never saw him again. I was eleven when he died.
My father remarried twice after divorcing my mother. According to public records, he married Beverly Jean Newman on October 9, 1959, in Clark County, Nevada. At some point they too divorced. With his third wife, Inge, my dad had a son and another daughter.
At my father's untimely death he had four children, none of whom remember having known him. All we have are pictures and mementoes and stories that have been handed down, and not nearly enough of those.
I live in the Southeast and have never had an opportunity to visit my father's grave. My son was able to visit and pay his respects, and I'm thankful for that. Also I thank my wonderful friends on Find A Grave who have helped me create this loving tribute. Special thanks to Cami B., who provided the original gravesite photos.
~*~
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 have trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
John Gillespie Magee, Jr. (1922 - 1941)
~*~
Inscription
Blanchard G. McManus
Beloved Husband and Father
1930 - 1968
Family Members
Parents
Siblings
