Document created: 10 December 01
Published Aerospace Power Journal - Winter 2001

Black Sheep One: The Life of Gregory “Pappy” Boyington by Bruce Gamble. Presidio Press (http://www.presidiopress.com), P.O. Box 1764, Novato, California 94948, 2000, 384 pages, $29.95.

Black Sheep One is an engaging, informative, and at times shocking biography of the leading Marine Corps ace of World War II, Medal of Honor winner, and former prisoner of war (POW). Through detailed research, Gamble weaves an in-depth picture of a very unconventional hero who was dogged throughout life by horrendous personal problems.

Written chronologically, the book thoroughly describes Boyington’s early years growing up in Idaho and Washington State. These years marked the themes that would dominate his life: a dysfunctional family, alcoholism, financial hardship, a need to find acceptance, perseverance, and a love of flying. His alcoholic father—who, he would later discover, was really his stepfather—moved from job to job because of his drinking, causing constant money woes for the family. Despite these problems, Gregory managed to do well in high school and then entered the University of Washington to study engineering. He joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps, earned a degree in aeronautical engineering in 1934, got hired by Boeing, and then entered the first of four marriages. 

While working as a draftsman on the XB-15, a test bed for the B-17, he dreamed of flying, but during the Great Depression there was little opportunity to do so. In April 1935, however, Congress passed the Aviation Cadet Act, designed to train thousands of new pilots. He applied via the Marine Corps Reserve program but lied about his marital status (applicants had to be single); he was accepted and went off to Naval Air Station Pensacola, leaving his wife and a newborn back home. 

Forty percent of the people who started flight school washed out; surprisingly, the future ace (28 kills) almost did just that on more than one occasion. In fact, he busted nine check rides and met three review boards during his training. From there he went to Quantico, Virginia, to fly the UF-9M. He immediately got in trouble by entering an unauthorized dogfight directly over the base just three days after he arrived. He finally brought his family with him but did not advertise the fact that he was married. Debt problems began to pile up, along with a drinking habit he had developed in flight school. From Quantico he went to Coronado, California, where he began to cheat on his wife as he further developed his reputation as a skilled fighter pilot whose professionalism on the ground was inversely related to his flying skills. One event at Coronado indicates his moral bankruptcy—he got a woman pregnant but resolved the “problem” by making a quick trip with her to Mexico. 

After a deployment on the famed aircraft carrier Yorktown, Boyington was barely promoted to first lieutenant because of his mounting personal problems and sent back to Pensacola, Florida, to be an instructor pilot. Here his problems came to a head. His wife—now an alcoholic, like him—filed for divorce, and a judgment for $4,000 from 28 debts in five states finally caught up with him. After he met a recruiter for the famed Flying Tigers, he signed up with them to make the big bucks so he could get out of debt. His pay with them was two to three times more than he earned in the Marine Corps, and he received a bonus for every Japanese plane shot down. He resigned from the Marines, and the corps made sure his problems were adequately documented in his personnel records so he couldn’t rejoin.

While with the Flying Tigers, Boyington continued his streak of impressive flying and personal irresponsibility. He flew P-40s out of bases in Burma and racked up six supposed Japanese kills, although only two were ever confirmed. After getting into continuous trouble with Claire Chennault and the staff of the American Volunteer Group, and after the entry of the United States into World War II, he left the Tigers, earning a dishonorable discharge because he broke his contract with them.

The highlight of Black Sheep One occurs in the South Pacific after he was barely allowed back into the Marines. The corps needed pilots, especially those with combat time. Flying Corsairs and later the F4U from airfields in Guadalcanal, Bougain-ville, Turtle Bay, and others, he racked up a total of 22 more kills—several questionable—earned the Medal of Honor for making five kills in one day, became a squadron commander, and finally got shot down by a Zero. He was picked up by a Japa-nese sub—sunk just 13 days later—and spent the next 20 months in three prison camps. The description of his POW experiences was the most moving and poignant account in the entire book.

Throughout his exploits as a Flying Tiger and Black Sheep, he received enormous press coverage, and by the time he was shot down, he had become a media sensation. Initially, the public knew little about his drinking, unprofessional conduct, and sorry personal life, but all of this came out after the war, when he went on a tour promoting the Marine Corps but began appearing at functions drunk. By August 1947, the Marine Corps had had enough and medically retired him.

For the rest of his life, Boyington struggled through three more marriages; frequent periods of destitution; struggles with alcohol (including long periods of sobriety but also relapses involving driving under the influence [DUI]); and the publication of two books, including Baa Baa Black Sheep in 1958 (a big best-seller) and a novel that mocked Chennault, for which he was heavily criticized. In the 1970s, his famed squadron became the only military flying unit used as the subject of a TV series; Robert Conrad starred as Boyington. 

The following are some interesting facts I learned about Boyington from Black Sheep One:

• He was an absentee father to his three children. One daughter committed suicide, and one son graduated from the first Air Force Academy class in 1959.

• He suffered from cancer twice—lung and prostate—but continued to smoke and drink. I was surprised that he lived as long as he did (75 years). 

• He often flew either drunk or with a hangover, frequently endangering both himself and his squadron mates. Later in life, he was arrested for DUIs but was never busted for flying under the influence (FUI) while on active duty.

• The original name for his famous squadron was “Boyington’s Bastards,” but the unit’s public-affairs officer made them change it to “Black Sheep.” He was the commander only four months before getting shot down.

• He often embellished his accomplishments, especially his accounts to the media and those in his autobiography; several of his kills were never fully confirmed.

• The Black Sheep Squadron did not house a bunch of misfits, as depicted in the TV series and popular lore. Actually, the squadron—unlike Boyington—was very disciplined. The unit’s alumni association ostracized him because of the way he depicted its members.

He died of cancer and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery with great fanfare. At the end of Black Sheep One, I felt a sense of emptiness for Boyington. Despite his heroic contributions—which included surviving 20 months as a POW in horrific Japanese prison camps and earning the Medal of Honor—his moral and ethical bankruptcy overshadowed his accomplishments.

I recommend this book to readers interested in military history and matters of character. The only criticisms I have of Black Sheep One are that it is too detailed at times; it occasionally offers inferential analysis; and it includes some trite phrases. Despite these minor flaws, the book is well worth a reader’s time.

Lt Col Phil Bossert Jr., USAF
McGuire AFB, New Jersey

Disclaimer

The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.