BAA BAA BLACK SHEEP

by Col. Gregory (Pappy) Boyington ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 18, 1958

Name a hero and I'll prove he's a bum."" Colonel Gregory Boyington, U.S.M.C. (retired), winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross, leader of the famed Marine Black Sheep squadron of ""misfit"" pilots during World War II, offers this moral to his own story. Boyington, a pilot in the Marine Corps since 1935, resigned his Lieutenant's commission in 1941 to join the American Volunteer Group, later known as the Flying Tigers, in China. He became an ace, shot down five Japanese planes, left the Group some time after Pearl Harbor and returned to the U.S. His reinstatement was held up because he had ""left the Marine Corps in time of national emergency"" until he wrote to an Under Secretary of the Navy. In the meantime ""Pappy"" parked cars in a Seattle garage. In 1943 he was re-assigned to the Pacific, given command of the ""Black Sheep"". He was shot down near New Britain, captured by the Japanese, spent a year in prison camps, returned to the U.S. a hero. From this point his story was one of partying, tremendous drinking, until he was taken in hand by friends, swore off, remarried, and now regrets little. A fabulous tale of a man who persisted in coming out on top. Exciting adventure; not literature.

Pub Date: July 18, 1958

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1958

Categories: NONFICTION