Profiles of Valor: Gregory 'Pappy' Boyington

For two years while I was in college, there was an NBC series called “Black Sheep Squadron.” It was very loosely based on the exploits of World War II Marine fighter ace Major Greg “Pappy” Boyington, commanding officer of VMF-214 — a squadron of “misfits” that fought in the Solomon Islands and Bougainville campaigns from 1943 to 1945.
The show was of particular interest to me for three reasons. First would be that the fighter flown by Boyington and VMF-214 was the deadly Vought F4U-1A Corsair, which had an 11:1 kill ratio — and was the plane flown by my father and my uncle. Second, I wanted to follow in the footsteps of both my grandfather and father after college as a fighter pilot. And third, the brashness and brawn of Pappy Boyington was infectious.
The opening credits to the show read: “In World War II, Marine Corps Major Greg ‘Pappy’ Boyington commanded a squadron of fighter pilots. They were a collection of misfits and screwballs who became the terrors of the South Pacific. They were known as the Black Sheep.”
Fact is, they were a very effective and legendary collection of Marine aviators.