Emory Noland was born on July 10, 1916, in Adairsville, Georgia. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps on September 30, 1940, and was trained as an airplane armorer. Sgt Noland deployed to the European Theater in July 1943, and was assigned to the 486th Fighter Squadron of the 352nd Fighter Group in England from July 1943 until he returned to the U.S. in June 1945. He received an honorable discharge from the Army Air Forces on July 5, 1945. Emory Noland died on July 17, 2005, and was buried at the Liberty Hill City Cemetery in Acworth, Georgia.

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 windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.