Pappy Boyington Honored

Gattman wrote:
"Dudley Henriques" wrote in message
...

I believe he deserves it. I just wouldn't walk up to the Greg Boyington I
knew and tell him he deserved it without being ready to duck :-)

It's funny how often words to the effect of "being ready to duck" come up
with regard to Boyington from people I talk to who knew him.

Maybe the college memorial could feature a youthful Boyington holding a
student senator in a headlock with Jackson's "The Union Must and Shall be
Preserved" inscribed underneath.

-c



Wouldn't be that far off for a Boyington memorial. Greg was an avid
wrestler in school and later on his life when things weren't going as
well as they might have been for him, he refereed wrestling matches.
He was one tough guy really. I always considered his face on an equal
par with Claire Chennault. We have a picture of Chennault (a gift from
Anna Chennault) hanging on our den wall. After a few drinks, I swear I
couldn't tell you if it is Chennault or Greg Boyington's picture. Both
faces looked like they were carved out of solid granite :-)
If there is one thing I'll remember about Greg Boyington, it's that he
suffered "heroes" badly. He didn't like the term used around him and I
know few who didn't honor that wish. He was a deep, and in a strange
way, sad man who was cut out of the right stuff in spite of himself. He
flew as he lived, with a no nonsense attitude that put priorities in the
order he believed they should be placed. What Greg Boyington was can be
summed up in one sentence that he laid on me one night on the phone. We
were talking about "heroes" as a matter of fact and his MOH specifically.
"I didn't have time to be a damn hero. I was too busy trying to stay
alive out there". It's the guys who didn't make it. They went up scared,
but they went up anyway. Some didn't come home. THEY were the heroes".
That about sums up Greg Boyington as I saw him anyway.
I'm very pleased that the American people realize that by honoring Greg,
they are honoring a man who exemplifies the very essence of the word
"hero"; that being a man who is one but feels the honor belongs to those
with whom he served who didn't come home.
Who deserves the recognition of his country more than Greg Boyington?
Dudley Henriques