Magee joined up in the Royal Canadian Air Force and was just 18 years old when he started flight training; in less than twelve months he was in England. He died on December 11, 1941, aged 19, by which time he had become a pilot officer – promotion was rapid in those days, for obvious reasons.
He is buried in a special military area of a churchyard in a small village in Lincolnshire and his stone carries the first and last lines of his poem:

"Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth-
Put out my hand and touched the Face of God."

I find his brief story deeply affecting. I know it’s trite, but we - on both sides - truly lost the best and brightest of two generations during the two world wars. What might they have achieved?