Family and friends honoured the life of a St. Albert air force hero and volunteer this week.
Flt. Lt. Robert "Bob" Morgan died June 11 at age 85.
Morgan was an extremely active volunteer in St. Albert who had a storied 36-year career with the Canadian air force. He gained national fame when he pulled a man from a burning F-86 Sabre fighter jet in 1955, later receiving the George Medal for his heroics.
There was a collective gasp Tuesday at the annual general meeting of the St. Albert Community Information and Volunteer Centre (CIVIC) Tuesday when Morgan's passing was announced, said Ryan Mullan, the group's director of information and referrals.
"We were all pretty shaken by that, because we all knew Bob pretty well here."
Always wanted to fly
Morgan joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1949, earning his wings the next year and flying with the 416 Squadron out of Ottawa. He flew 33 different types of aircraft in his career, including the P-51 Mustang and the supersonic nuclear-capable CF-104 Starfighter.
"It was all he wanted to do, was fly," his daughter Barb recalled, speaking at the family home Thursday. He declined numerous promotions from flight lieutenant because flight lieutenants got the most flying time.
Morgan was an exceptional pilot, Barb said. One time, the two of them were flying a Twin Otter into Port Hardy and had to land on a tiny runway despite not being able to see more than a few metres away due to the fog.
"How did you do it?" she recalled the radar operator asking him.
"That's why you have instruments on a plane," he replied.
Barb said Morgan was a bit of a disciplinarian, having a military background, but doted on his kids and grandkids, bringing them back souvenirs from across the globe and waving his plane's wings at them whenever he flew over them.
During the Cold War, Morgan had to make regular simulated attack runs on European targets in preparation for a nuclear war, his wife Lou said. That made for a bizarre moment during a recent tour of the Rhine River.
"As we were driving along in a bus, suddenly he sees this road sign and he says, 'That was my target!'"
In 1955, while at an airbase in Marville, France, Morgan witnessed an F-86 Sabre fighter jet crash land and slide on its belly down the runway just 150 yards from him.
"Apparently, he (the jet) was on fire," he told the Gazette last year.
Heedless of the whizzing bullets from the ammunition cooking off and the potential explosion of the plane's fuel tanks under his feet, Morgan bashed open the plane's cockpit with a fire axe and saved the pilot. He received the George Medal for bravery two years later – one week before his wedding, Lou noted.
Morgan loved to talk about these and other moments from his military career when asked, but would never bring them up or brag about them himself, Mullan said.
"You'd never think it just to see him, but he'd lived this very interesting life."
Morgan's military achievements were recognized last year when a street in Edmonton's Griesbach neighbourhood was named after him.
Barb says Morgan was blown away by the gesture.
"He actually cried."
Veteran volunteer
In addition to being an active member of many air force associations, Morgan was a long-time volunteer with CIVC and the St. Albert Special Olympics, serving as a bowling coach for about 25 years in the latter case.
The latter gig was sort of an accident, Lou explained. Morgan initially signed up to help as a scorekeeper, and volunteered as an instructor the next year.
"He didn't realize it, but it was for a full-time job every Saturday."
Morgan's personality and great care for his athletes made him the perfect fit for any group, said Eric Schickle of the St. Albert Special Olympics board.
"He was always talking about retiring," he added, yet he'd come back week after week to coach.
"It was kind of a standing joke."
Lou said Morgan had a knack for numbers, and put that to use helping some 200 people a year fill out their taxes through CIVC.
Mullan said many clients knew Morgan by name, as he had been doing taxes for CIVC for 19 years.
"You don't often see that kind of dedication," he said.
"He's lived a life of service to other people."
