Ted Lines was born on May 4, 1921, in Mesa, Arizona. He enlisted in the Arizona National Guard in 1940, and enlisted in the U.S. Army on May 7, 1941. During this time he served for a short time in Panama. After serving as a Sergeant in the Field Artillery, he entered Field Artillery Officer Candidate School, and was commissioned a 2d Lt of Field Artillery at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, on August 18, 1942. Lt Lines served as a Field Artillery Officer and attended Tank Destroyer School at Camp Hood, Texas, from August 1942 to January 1943, and then joined the Army Air Forces for Aviation Cadet training at Kelly Field, Texas, in January 1943, receiving his pilot wings at Aloe Army Airfield, Texas, on October 1, 1943. After completing additional training, he deployed to England in March 1944, and joined the 335th Fighter Squadron of the 4th Fighter Group in April 1944. Capt Lines was credited with the destruction of 10 enemy aircraft in aerial combat between May and October 1944, and he returned to the United States in November 1944. His final assignment was as an instructor pilot at Luke Field, Arizona, from November 1944 until his honorable discharge from the U.S. Army Air Forces on June 25, 1946. Ted Lines Flew West on June 14, 2005, and was buried at the City of Mesa Cemetery in Mesa, Arizona.

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.