Gregory Boyington was born on December 4, 1912. He grew up loving planes. When he was 6 years old, he convinced famous stunt pilot Clyde Pangborn to take him aloft. (Pangborn was the first person to fly nonstop across the Pacific.) He went to the University of Washington where he majored in aeronautical engineering. He was on the wrestling and swim teams. He was in Army ROTC. In 1934, he enlisted in the Army Coast Artillery Reserve and worked at Boeing. In 1935, he switched to the Marines and two years he finished flight school. In 1941, he resigned his commission and joined the Flying Tigers in Burma. He didn’t get along with Claire Chennault, but he became a flight leader and shot down at least 2 Japanese planes. (He claimed six in his autobiography.) After Pearl Harbor, he returned to the Marines. He was sent to Guadalcanal where he flew a F-4U Corsair. In 1943, he was made commander of the “Black Sheep Squadron”. His men called him “Pappy” because he was 31 years old. The dashing unit got a lot of newspaper coverage. One of their stunts was to promise to shoot down a Japanese plane for every baseball cap they received from the World Series players. They got 20 and more than paid off the promise. From September to January, he shot down 26 to tie Eddie Rickenbacker’s record. (He was later credited with two more, making him the leading Marine ace in the war.) On Oct. 17, 1943, he led 20 fighters to challenge Japanese pilots to take off from their base on Bougainville. The resulting dog fight ended with 20 Japanese fighters downed with no losses to the Black Sheep. This incident was specifically mentioned on his Medal of Honor citation. On Jan. 3, 1944, he was shot down and captured by a Japanese submarine. He was held at various prison camps for 20 months. Two of his fellow inmates were Richard O’Kane (the leading submarine ace) and Louis Zamperini (of “Unbroken”). Ironically, his health improved as a POW because he did not have access to alcohol. He received his Medal of Honor from Pres. Truman on October 5, 1945. In 1976, he was the inspiration for the TV series “Baa Baa Black Sheep”. The depiction of the pilots as misfits and mavericks infuriated the real pilots. Boyington excused his involvement by declaring that the show was “hogwash and Hollywood hokum”, but he did appear in two episodes.
Here is his Medal of Honor 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 September 12, 1943, to January 3, 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 October 17, 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.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pappy_Boyington
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