Ernest Bostrom was born on April 1, 1924, in Brooklyn, New York. He entered the Aviation Cadet Program of the U.S. Army Air Forces on July 11, 1942, and was commissioned a 2d Lt and awarded his pilot wings at Foster Field, Texas, on December 5, 1943. After completing P-51 Mustang training, he was assigned to the 486th Fighter Squadron of the 352nd Fighter Group in May 1944, and he was credited with destroying 5 enemy aircraft in aerial combat between July 1944 and January 1945. Capt Bostrom returned to the United States in November 1945, and left active duty on December 31, 1945. After leaving the service, he earned a degree in economics and architecture and worked as an architect in New Jersey for many years. Ernest Bostrom died on January 16, 1980.

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.