BIRSAY -
'Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward. For there you have been, and there you will always long to return.'
That quote from Leonardo da Vinci was printed on the program for a special dedication ceremony held on Saturday, August 26 in the village of Birsay, and it also very much described the person who everyone was gathered to memorialize on this day: Royal Canadian Air Force pilot, Captain Wally Niemi.
It was January 11, 1989 when Capt. Niemi tragically lost his life when the CF-18 Hornet he was flying on a routine training mission crashed on a frozen lake at CFB Cold Lake, Alberta. Niemi left behind his wife Mary, infant son Nicholas, and another son, Jonathan, who was born six months to the day after his father's untimely death.
Capt. Niemi was 34 years old when he died, and coincidentally, 34 years later, a healthy crowd was on hand in his hometown of Birsay to witness Niemi's life be celebrated and his efforts memorialized.
The ceremony was emceed by Niemi's sister, Nicki Cammack, who has worked tirelessly to not only keep her brother's memory alive, but also to highlight the effort that many Canadians gave in service to their country.
"This ceremony honours the memory of Wally, but also his Air Force comrades who lost their lives in war and in peacetime service," said Nicki. "Today, we are also honouring all Canadians who made the ultimate sacrifice in all wars, and we should be thinking of them everyday. This monument is a place that I want people to come and just reflect on this enormous contribution to our country. This wing and plaque also highlight Canada's important role with the iconic Starfighter jet, and the hard and dangerous work that our Air Force did during those years to maintain stability in the world. To our knowledge, there is not a memorial like this anywhere in Canada. Who would've thought that this little hamlet in the middle of the prairies would be home to a tangible reminder like this?"
The late Capt. Wally Niemi was born on November 10, 1954 in Edmonton, Alberta, before the family ultimately moved to Saskatchewan to take over the Niemi family farm, which was located a few miles north of Birsay. Attending school in Dunblane, Birsay, and graduating from high school in Lucky Lake, Wally took a two-year mechanical engineering course in Saskatoon.
At the same time, he also took flying lessons at Mitchinson Flight Centre, obtaining his private pilot license in 1978. It was after that when Niemi decided to join the Canadian Armed Forces for basic training, followed by pilot training at Moose Jaw and receiving his wings in 1981. Niemi was recognized a few times at the training ceremony as he won three of the four awards given out, including one voted by his fellow students. From there, he was posted to Cold Lake, Alberta and started training on the CF-5 Freedom Fighter and then the CF-104 Starfighter.
From 1982 to 1986, Wally was posted to Baden-Soellingen, Germany with 421 Tactical Squadron. This timeframe included a number of notable achievements for the CF-104 Maintenance Test Pilot, as he graduated from the Canadian Forces Flight Safety School, as well as the Allied Air Force Central Europe Tactical Leadership Program. Niemi was the last Canadian pilot to achieve 1000 hours in the Starfighter aircraft on May 3, 1986, and he also had the distinction of being the last Canadian flying the last Starfighter to take off on the last deployment to Turkey. When Canada transferred ownership of a fleet of Starfighters to Turkey, Niemi coordinated the logistics to fly them there, and also helped to train the Turkish air force pilots.
It was July of 1986 when Niemi was posted back to Cold Lake, where he became a CF-18 Hornet Instructor Pilot at 410 Squadron. Although Niemi's life would sadly be cut short just two and a half years later, it was said that throughout his life and air force career, his family noted that Wally achieved excellence in all that he did, receiving many awards of recognition both academically and for his flying. However, what he is perhaps most remembered for by his family, friends and colleagues is being someone who everybody liked. Niemi was described as someone who went out of his way to help anyone, and his humble prairie roots stayed with him at all times.
Highlights of the special afternoon program honouring Capt. Niemi in Birsay included an RCAF March, and the Canadian flag was raised next to the monument as the song 'Going Home' was played, as well as greetings from Davin Ylioja, the reeve of the RM of Coteau.
After all of those present performed the national anthem, Dean Corbett, President of Macrorie Branch No. 239 of the Royal Canadian Legion, spoke about Niemi's life and service, providing people with a mental picture of who the young man was as both a person and a pilot in the Canadian Forces.
Nicki made special note that Wally's widow Mary and their sons were unable to attend the program as they live in Nova Scotia, but Mary had reached out to Nicki to see if she could read a poem that she had written entitled, 'Touchstone', which spoke of the skies taking hold of Wally in both life and death and touched on the aftermath of his passing; a hauntingly beautiful piece that was fitting for this very special occasion.
This was not the only poem shared on this day, as the following was included on the ceremonial program, 'High Flight', written by John Magee, a fellow Air Force pilot who tragically died in a mid-air collision with another pilot during his training.
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 wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark nor ever eagle flew—
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.'
Aside from the afternoon program enjoyed by all, it was the visuals of the physical memorial site that grabbed a lot of attention from all of those present. Capt. Niemi's outfit was on display, including a patch reading what had to be a treasured nickname shared between he and loved ones, 'Nemo'. Beside the uniform was perhaps the star attraction of the day, a restored wing from Niemi's Starfighter jet. Much credit was given to retired US Air Force officer Steve Alex for the sale of the wing, as well as its restoration and delivery from Maine to the city of Toronto. The wing had stopped at Canadian Forces Base Trenton enroute to Toronto, where it was taken by a commercial carrier the rest of the way to its final resting place in Birsay. Standing eight feet high and eleven feet wide, the wing weighs approximately 700 pounds and will likely serve as a major attraction piece for many people in the future.
Also speaking during the ceremony was Major Bob Wade, a retired air force pilot and former member of the Snowbirds, who served as one of Wally's instructors at Cold Lake both in 1982 and 1986. Wade, who today dedicates his time towards the Air Force Museum of Alberta in Calgary, spoke of Niemi's commitment to service.
"I am so impressed with what you've done here," said Maj. Wade, looking at the monument site. "The Starfighter was probably the most difficult airplane we've ever had in the air force to fly, and it was very demanding. You flew every day like you were going to go to war the next day, so it was a pretty demanding job. As a kid right out of pilot training, we were asking an awful lot of a young man in Wally. But Wally was very well qualified to do that because of his personality and his capabilities. He was very confident in his abilities, and he didn't push the limits, which was so important. You don't get down to 100 feet above the trees until you're ready to do that, and Wally knew that. I felt quite comfortable by the time he graduated."
Wade also touched on the events that sadly ended Niemi's life on that fateful day in January of 1989.
"Accidents didn't happen so much on the F-18 because we didn't fly low level," he said. "We all of a sudden had weapons that we could deliver from altitude and we were now in an air defense posture as well, so we were gunfighters. Wally was doing that when he hit the lake. It wasn't a mistake, it was circumstance. It's a very difficult environment, and it doesn't take a mistake for you to hit the ground, it's just a lack of concentration on the right thing at the right time when you've got so much information coming in at you. It broke our hearts to lose another guy. I lost 38 boys that I flew with every day in my 23 years, and they're all special to me. I work at the Cold War exhibit in Calgary right now, and that's just to tell the story to the public of what the RCAF did in the Cold War. We tell that stuff to the public because they never learned about it. Wally's crash got very limited coverage. Nicki, I'm so proud of you for doing this. You did just great. I wish Mary and her boys nothing but happiness. It's tough, and I can appreciate what she went through. We care, and we don't give enough credit to air force wives, but they play a very important role."
Also speaking was Royal Canadian Legion Saskatchewan Command President Keith Andrews, who gave a benediction, which was followed by the Last Post and a moment of silence from all of those gathered.
A special plaque was then unveiled, which signified that, "This wing monument honours the memory of Capt. Wally Niemi and all Canadian military pilots who lost their lives while flying in service to their country." The plaque highlights a number of key moments in Wally's military career and helps provide the reader with a background of who Niemi was as a person.
Nicki, speaking on behalf of her family, was grateful for the ceremony's turnout at the conclusion of the program.
"Thank you so much for coming," said Nicki. "We really appreciate this, and this has gone beyond my expectations."
As places that dot the landscape here in rural Saskatchewan feature many displays that serve as tribute to Canada's veterans, this standout monument in Birsay should serve as a must-see location for those who are interested in Canada's storied military history.
