Remembering Lt Colonel Ian (Jim) Duncan and Lieutenant General William Earl Brown

In the last fifteen months, my husband Mike and I have attended two funerals at Arlington National Cemetery. The first was on January 6th, 2022, and a second recent ceremony on May 3rd. Both Earl Brown and Ian Duncan’s ashes were buried over eighteen months after their deaths.

Earl Brown

Ian Duncan

To be laid to rest at Arlington is an honor, and these days it is a long wait. On this Memorial Day of 2023, I wish to honor these two Air Force pilots, who were the finest of men. And their ardent love of flying makes me wish that Earl and Ian had met one another.

Today at historic Christchurch in Weems, Virginia, Ilona Duncan will play organ for the annual Memorial Day service. And I would like to thank Ilona for posting my thoughts each week and giving to my words, her kind and artistic touch.

Next week: Alan Paton’s 1950s South African novel, Too Late the Phalarope