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Pappy Boyington

Colonel Gregory "Pappy" Boyington (December 4, 1912 - January 11, 1988) was a fighter ace of the US Marine Corps in World War II. He flew with the American Volunteer Group (the "Flying Tigers") before the entry of the United States into the war. He is unofficially credited with 6 victories from this period.

Contents

Early life

Boyington was born in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho but grew up in the logging town of St. Maries, Idaho and later, Tacoma, Washington where he was a wrestler in high school.

In 1930 he entered the University of Washington where he participated in the ROTC and became a member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. He was a member of the college wrestling and swimming teams, and at one time held the Pacific Northwest Intercollegiate middle-weight wrestling title. In 1934 he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in aeronautical engineering.

During his summer vacations he worked in either a mining camp or a logging camp in his home state. One summer, he was employed by the Coeur d'Alene Fire Protective Association in road construction and lookout work.

He married his first wife, Helen, shortly after his graduation, after which he worked for Boeing as a draftsman and engineer.

Military career

Boyington started his military career while still attending college. As a member of the Reserve Officers Training Corps for four years, he became a cadet captain. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Coast Artillery Reserve in June, 1934, and served two months of active duty with the 630th Coast Artillery at Fort Worden, Washington. On 13 June 1935 he enlisted in the Volunteer Marine Corps Reserve. He went on active duty that date and returned to inactive duty on 16 July.

It was on 18 February 1936 that Boyington accepted an appointment as an aviation cadet in the Marine Corps Reserve. He was assigned to the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida, for flight training. Years before, he first flew when he was only eight years old, with Clyde Pangborn, who later flew the Pacific non-stop.

He was designated a Naval Aviator on 11 March 1937; he was next transferred to Quantico, Virginia, for duty with Aircraft One, Fleet Marine Force. He was discharged from the Marine Corps Reserve on 1 July 1937 in order to accept a second lieutenant's commission in the regular Marine Corps the following day.

Detached to the Basic School, Philadelphia, in July 1938, Lieutenant Boyington was transferred to the 2d Marine Aircraft Group at the San Diego Naval Air Station upon completion of his studies. With that unit he took part in fleet problems off the aircraft carriers USS Lexington and USS Yorktown.

Promoted to first lieutenant on 4 November 1940, he went back to Pensacola as an instructor the next month.

Lieutenant Boyington resigned his commission in the Marine Corps on 26 August 1941 to accept a position with the Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company. CAMCO was a civilian organization formed for the protection of the Burma Road. The unit later became known as the American Volunteer Group, the famed Flying Tigers of China. During his months with the "Tigers" Boyington became a flight leader. He was frequently in trouble with the commander of that outfit, Claire Chennault. In the spring of 1942 he broke his contract with the American Volunteer Group, and was dishonorably discharged from that unit. He flew 300 combat hours with the Flying Tigers. Soon after, he was barely allowed back in the Marines in large part because the Marines were in great need of experienced combat pilots.

Major Boyington joined Marine Aircraft Group 11 of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, where he became Executive Officer of VMF-121 operating from Guadalcanal. While assigned to VMF-121, Boyington did not shoot down any enemy planes. Later, he became Commanding Officer of [[VMF-214|Marine Fighting Squadron 214], better known by its nickname, the "Black Sheep Squadron ." Boyington is best known for his exploits flying the Vought F4U Corsair in VMF-214. During periods of intense activity in the Russell Islands-New Georgia and Bougainville-New Britain-New Ireland areas, "Pappy", so named because of his age (31) compared to that of his men, added to his total almost daily. During his squadron's first tour of combat duty, the major personally shot down 14 enemy fighter planes in 32 days. On 17 December 1943, he headed the first Allied fighter sweep over impregnable Rabaul. By 27 December his record was 25. He tied the then-existing American record of 26 planes on 3 January when he shot down another fighter over Rabaul, but was himself shot down on the same day.

Typical of Major Boyington's daring feats is his attack on Kahili airdome at the southern tip of Bougainville on 17 October 1943. He and 24 fighters circled the field persistently where 60 hostile aircraft were grounded, goading the enemy into sending up a large numerically superior force. In the fierce battle that followed, 20 of the enemy planes were shot out of the skies. The Black Sheep returned back to their base without the loss of a single ship.

Boyington’s squadron, flying from the island of Vella Lavella , offered to down a Japanese Zero for every baseball cap sent to them by major league players in the World Series. They received 20 caps and shot down many more enemy aircraft.

On 3 January 1944, 48 American planes, including one division (4 planes) from the Black Sheep Squadron took off from Bougainville for a fighter sweep over Rabaul. Boyington was the tactical commander of the flight and arrived over Rabaul at eight o'clock in the morning. In the ensuing action the major was seen to shoot down his 26th plane. He then became mixed in the general melee of diving swooping planes and was not seen or heard from again. Following a determined search which proved futile, the major was declared as missing in action. He had been picked up by a Japanese submarine, which was sunk just 13 days later though Boyington was off the submarine by then, becoming a prisoner of war. While a prisoner of the Japanese he was selected for temporary promotion to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He spent the rest of the war in a Japanese prison camp.

During mid-August, 1945, after the atom bombs and the Japanese capitulation, Major Boyington was liberated from Japanese custody at Omori Prison Camp in the Tokyo area on 29 August and arrived in the United States shortly afterwards. On 6 September the top ace who had been a prisoner of the Japanese for the past 20 months accepted his temporary lieutenant colonel's commission in the Marine Corps.

Shortly after his return to his homeland, Lieutenant Colonel Boyington was ordered to Washington to receive the nation's highest honor, the Medal of Honor, from the President. The medal had been awarded by the late president, Franklin D. Roosevelt in March 1944 and held in the Capital until such time as the colonel was able to receive it. On 5 October 1945, "Nimitz Day," he, together with a number of other Marines and Naval personnel appeared at the White House and was decorated by President Harry S. Truman.

On the day previous to that he was presented the Navy Cross by the Commandant of the Marine Corps for the ace's heroic achievements on the day he became missing in action.

Following the receipt of his Medal of Honor and Navy Cross, Colonel Boyington made a Victory Bond Tour. Originally ordered to the Marine Corps Schools, Quantico, he was later directed to report to the Commanding General, Marine Air West Coast, Marine Corps Air Depot, Miramar, San Diego, California.

Colonel Boyington was retired from the Marine Corps on 1 August 1947 and, because he was specially commended for the performance of duty in actual combat, he was advanced to his final rank.

In addition to the Medal of Honor and Navy Cross, Colonel Boyington held the American Defense Service Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, American Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.

Later life

Boyington was a tough, hard-living character who was known for being unorthodox. He was also an alcoholic, which plagued him in the years after the war, and contributed to multiple divorces as well as disciplinary problems with the Marines.

Many people know him from the 1970s television show Baa Baa Black Sheep, a drama about the Black Sheep squadron based very loosely on Boyington's memoir of the same name, with Boyington portrayed by Robert Conrad. Like Chuck Yeager on The Right Stuff, Pappy had a short walk-on role as a visiting General during the second season of the show.

While artist depictions and publicity photos often show Boyington with aircraft number 86 ("Ma Belle") covered in victory flags, this was not his combat aircraft. In fact, he rarely flew the same aircraft more than a few times. It has been said that he would choose the F4U in the worst shape, so none of his pilots would be afraid of flying their own aircraft.

Boyington was an absentee father to three children from his first wife. Off the three, a daughter committed suicide and a son graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1959.

Major Boyington died of cancer on January 11, 1988 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery on January 15, 1988, in plot 7A-150. He was buried with full honors accorded to a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient including a missing man fly-by conducted by the F-4's of the Marine detachment at Andrews Air Force base . Before his flight from Fresno, California VMA-214 (the current incarnation of the Black Sheep Squadron ) did a fly by. They intended to do a missing man formation, but one of the four aircraft suffered a mechanical problem.

Just after the burial service for Boyington one of his friends, Fred Losch, looked down at the head stone that he was standing next by, the boxing legend Joe Louis. Bruce Gamble comments on this by saying, "Ol' Pappy wouldn't have to go far to find a good fight."

Medal of Honor citation

Then-Lieutenant Colonel Gregory Boyington received the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1945. The citation reads in full:

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR to MAJOR GREGORY BOYINGTON UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS RESERVE for service as set forth in the following CITATION
For extraordinary heroism above and beyond the call of duty as Commanding Officer of Marine Fighting Squadron TWO FOURTEEN in action against enemy Japanese forces in Central Solomons Area from 12 September 1943 to 3 January 1944. Consistently outnumbered throughout successive hazardous flights over heavily defended hostile territory, Major Boyington struck at the enemy with daring and courageous persistence, leading his squadron into combat with devastating results to Japanese shipping, shore installations and aerial forces. Resolute in his efforts to inflict crippling damage on the enemy, Major Boyington led a formation of twenty-four fighters over Kahili on 17 October and, persistently circling the airdrome where sixty hostile aircraft were grounded, boldly challenged the Japanese to send up planes. Under his brilliant command, our fighters shot down twenty enemy craft in the ensuing action without the loss of a single ship. A superb airman and determined fighter against overwhelming odds, Major Boyington personally destroyed 26 of the many Japanese planes shot down by his squadron and by his forceful leadership developed the combat readiness in his command which was a distinctive factor in the Allied aerial achievements in this vitally strategic area.
/S/FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

AVG victory claims

There is some controversy surrounding Boyington's AVG victory claims. His official CAMCO bonus account only accumulated 3.5 bonus claims (for enemy aircraft destroyed), of which only 2 were confirmed air to air victories.

According to Bruce Gamble, Boyington felt that the board that officially credited him with kills overlooked claims from a raid in Chiang Mai. At that time AVG bonus claims for aircraft destroyed on the ground were divided evenly among the aircraft making the strafing runs. During this particular raid is was decided that the bonus amount would also be divided among the aircraft providing fighter cover.

Here is how Boyington probably calculated his score:

  • Confirmed air to air victories: 2 (this is what the US military officially acknowledges normally)
  • Chiang Mai Raid: 3.75 (15 aircraft destroyed divided by 4 shooters)
  • Total: 5.75

He then rounded it up to 6, and convinced the Corps to officially acknowledge it. This was probably good for the Corps' image during the final days of the tour as Boyington neared the record of 26 victories held at the time by Joe Foss and Eddie Rickenbacker. He ultimately tied the record on the same mission in which he was shot down.

After the war, Boyington insisted on the term "victories" rather than "kills", and was known to lose his temper over the issue.

References

Further reading

Last updated: 05-07-2005 04:42:12
Last updated: 05-13-2005 07:56:04