"Dudley Henriques" wrote in message
...

I noted the way I had expressed this paragraph in the post but decided
that the end sentence saying that Greg "WAS" a regular guy was enough to
clarify! I should have realized that this is Usenet, and I'm dealing with
people here whom I don't know and who don't know me.

Well, Col. Boyington may have considered himself a regular guy and may have
acted as such, but the American people have spoken and there's no shortage
of people including WWII vets and at least one humble ex-POW I knew who
considered him to be a national hero maybe BECAUSE he was such a regular guy
(except in the cockpit) who came up and rallied other ordinary guys in a
time of deadly and critical necessity.

Ie, he wasn't a West Point glory-seeker like many officers, and he certainly
didn't fly a desk and take credit for everybody else's successes. In fact I
think his blue-collar mentality is part of the reason -why- he deserves the
status as a national hero.

-c