The Call of the Clouds

Conclusion

Ever fascinated with flight, Deacon, with the help of his good friend, Eddy Franklin, built his bi-plane in a fallow field on the Franklin farm. He eagerly signed up as a pilot when the war called, soon becoming an American Ace. The news hit us hard when we received the wire that the enemy shot him down over Germany. I admit I was at a loss to think my brother was gone forever.

Always showing great joy in air travel, Deacon answered the call of the clouds with such gusto. It was only then that I realized how much he had meant to me and how ashamed I was to think I had never taken the opportunity to tell him. His unrecovered body remained in Germany. As much as I grieved his loss, I knew Deke had died as he had lived and that he had fulfilled his dreams of soaring with the clouds.

World War II found me in the Chaplain Corps. During my stint in Germany, I never lost the opportunity to seek information concerning my brother Deacon. However, my searches remained fruitless. Following the years between the two wars and now, I still feel the loss of the brother I admired as a youth. I longed to bring him home, but he is lost to us yet.

Dutifully, I tend the memorial marker commemorating my elder brother's life and heroic death, Deacon Marshall Whittier. I realize my time is near, and my life is drawing close. I hope that I will see Deke beyond the Pearly Gates, and we will be young once again, sitting in that field at Kill Devil Hills, watching history unfold as Orville and Wilbur Wright record their first flight near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.