Once They Were Eagles (34 page)

He looked around the auditorium: “Whaddya looking so funny for, lady? I'm Robert Conrad with wrinkles.”

The TV show had not been true to life, he said, because “no one ever wanted to make a movie about the Boy Scouts.” At the time the Black Sheep Squadron was formed, the members thought the idea of being different was great, he continued. “That's why they picked the name and insignia. I explained in my book that they were not outcasts and misfits.”

He said that when he speaks in a town where members of his old squadron live, he tells the audience that these boys were “young, unmarried, red-blooded Americans” and that he never saw any of them swear, fight, drink, or chase women. “I did all these things. The only thing I ask is that when they come to my town, they lie about me, too.”

He admitted that the TV program was embellished, but no more than others: ‘I've been thrown into enough jails in this country and abroad to know that TV police shows, for example, are not more than 10 percent accurate.”

The TV show was successful, especially with kids, he claimed: “We got more mail than any series that's been on the air. We weren't cancelled for any lack of having a good show—there were too many
letters from teenagers who said they were going to join one of the services when they finished school. The networks are very left-wing in policy, all three of them; they don't like promoting recruiting for nothing.”

He went on, more seriously, “It takes more than one guy to make a squadron. It takes everybody.

“My job was like a coach. Most of our training was word of mouth. Sometimes on a rainy day when there was no flying, I'd tell them to try to think of all the possible problems or situations they might get into, and then think what they'd do. I was trying to get them to act by reflex. You don't have time to think what to do; you have to act, sometimes in a split second. My purpose was to get rid of unnecessary fear.

“Actually, you're safer in the air than you are on the freeway. The enemy can't shoot at you beyond 1,000 yards, and he can only shoot straight ahead, so he usually has to be directly behind you.

“Another thing, you can't afford the luxury of anger in the air; you have to think.”

He then volunteered to answer questions, saying that he was an expert on many subjects besides the Corsair. For example:

“Medicine—I've had three major surgeries; four, if you count the one in Japan without anesthetic.

“Marriage—I've had several; I can tell you what not to do.”

He was asked about a Japanese pilot who claims to have shot him down and is now in the United States.

“I gave up on that character. I tried to help him, but I was already in POW camp the day he says he shot me down. He wrote a book titled,
The Road To Conquest.
He gives me half a page. He makes a living going around to air shows peddling his book.”

Boyington now lives in Fresno with his current wife. He is seen at various air shows and aviation conferences, peddling autographed copies of his own book.

“I'm an entertainer,” he said recently. “Say you're at a convention of medical people. Hell, they don't want to listen to some boob with a bunch of charts talking about upper sinus tubes. They want to be entertained.”

And that's what this combat pilot who had been the scourge of the Japanese in the South Pacific has come to. Like a dancing bear, he's an entertainer.

For Gregory “Pappy” Boyington, war hero, F. Scott Fitzgerald said it best: “Show me a hero and I'll write you a tragedy.”

These were the Black Sheep, a cross section of America. In response to our country's call, the 51 young men came from 23 states across the nation, from Vermont to California, and from Washington to Florida. From a variety of backgrounds, they meshed into a smooth, deadly combat team that wrote a glorious page in Marine Corps and American history.

It was a time of high adventure. The Black Sheep had the support of the American people. No janefondas or ramseyclarks carped in the background or gnawed, ratlike, at that support.

The key word that keeps coming up in all our recollections about those days is “camaraderie”: loyalty and warm, friendly feeling among comrades. Founded on our unique beginning, forged in the crucible of battle, our loyalties were firm; our desire to achieve intense. Friendships formed during those 84 days of combat, when the Black Sheep spearheaded the drive that broke the back of Japanese aerial opposition in the Solomons, have remained steady for 40 years. Black Sheep memorabilia adorn the walls of most of our homes or offices.

Some of the Black Sheep gave their lives; others their blood.

All gave something of themselves.

The survivors became a part of the warp and woof of our country. They became doctor, lawyer, merchant, chief, airline pilot, printer, architect, banker, artist, professor.

Today, they have blended into the fabric of America.

But once they were eagles.

 

ASHMUN, George M.

Far Hills, N.J.

BOLT, John F.

Sanford, Fla.

BOYINGTON, Gregory

Okanogan, Wash.

BRAGDON, Robert M.

Pittsburg, Pa.

EMRICH, Warren T.

Wichita, Kan.

FISHER, Don H.

Miami, Fla.

GROOVER, Denmark, Jr.

Quitman, Ga.

HARPER, Edwin A.

Wallace, Idaho

HEIER, William D.

Kansas City, Mo.

HILL, James J.

Chicago, Ill.

MAGEE, Christopher L.

Chicago, Ill.

MATHESON, Bruce J.

Chicago, Ill.

MCCLURG, Robert W.

New Castle, Pa.

MOORE, Donald J.

Amarillo, Tex.

MULLEN, Paul A.

Pittsburg, Pa.

OLANDER, Edwin L.

Northampton, Mass.

REAMES, James M.

Hughes, Ark.

SIMS, Sanders S.

Philadelphia, Pa.

TUCKER, Burney L.

Murfreesboro, Tenn.

WALTON, Frank E.

Los Angeles, Calif.

ALEXANDER, Robert A.

Davenport, Iowa

BAILEY, Stanley R.

Thetford, Vt.

BEGERT, John F

Topeka, Kan.

BOURGEOIS, Henry M.

New Orleans, La.

CASE, William N.

Vancouver, Wash.

EWING, Robert T.

Lafayette, Ind.

HARRIS, Walter R.

Sterling, Neb.

McCARTNEY, Henry A.

Long Island, N.Y

RAY, Virgil G.

Hallsboro, N.C.

RINABARGER, Rolland N.

Medford, Ore.

AVEY, Fred V.

Portland, Ore.

BARTL, Harry R.

Sacramento, Calif.

BOWERS, Glenn L.

York, Pa.

BROWN, John S.

Indianapolis, Ind.

BRUBAKER, James E.

Clearwater, Fla.

CARNAGEY, Pierre

Corpus Christi, Tex.

CHATHAM, Rufus M., Jr.

Beaumont, Tex.

CORMAN, J. Ned

Bellefonte, Pa.

CROCKER, William L.

Worchester, Mass.

DOSWELL, Gelon H.

New Orleans, La.

DUSTIN, J. Cameron

Bellevue, Neb.

FFOULKES, Bruce J.

San Mateo, Calif.

HOBBS, William A., Jr.

Webster Groves, Mo.

HOLDEN, Herbert, Jr.

Elizabeth, N.J.

JOHNSON, Alfred L.

Utica, N.Y.

JOHNSON, Harry C.

Birmingham, Ala.

LANE, Perry T.

Rutland, Vt.

LOSCH, Fred S.

Larryville, Pa.

MARCH, Marion J.

Seattle, Wash.

MARKER, Alan D.

Park Ridge, Ill.

MILLER, Henry S.

Jenkintown, Pa.

Boyington's Black Sheep consisted of 49 pilots, one Flight Surgeon, one Intelligence Officer.

Four pilots lost during first combat tour:

Eight pilots lost on second combat tour:

Two Black Sheep lost on later missions with other squadrons:

First Lieutenant William L. Crocker, Jr.

First Lieutenant William H. Hobbs, Jr.

Two Black Sheep lost in operational aircraft accidents after the war:

First Lieutenant Paul A. Mullen

Major Stanley R. Bailey

Two Black Sheep died of natural causes after the war:

First Lieutenant Robert M. Bragdon

First Lieutenant John S. Brown

As of May 1985, 34 of the original Black Sheep survived;

Burney Tucker died 10 June 1986.

Since we are assigned 20 planes, 5 divisions will be sufficient to man all our planes at any particular time even in the unusual case where all are in commission at the same time. Some divisions may fly more than one flight a day but it is believed better to have pilots fly hard when they are on duty, and then have a day off, than to have those same pilots on duty for two light days successively with no days off.

The five divisions on duty will always be consecutively numbered divisions, and will fly in the order of their numbers. Thus, beginning at the top of the list, numbers 1 through 5 would be together and would fly in that order. On the next day, numbers 6 through 1 would be on duty. When more than one division is on the same flight, the senior division leader will lead the flight and take the lower call.

    (1) When no early takeoff is planned. Enough divisions will be called (awakened at 0430; breakfast at 0445; at the Ready Room at 0515) to man all the available planes at 0515. If an odd number of planes is available, Operations requires that another division be called. For example, if 13 planes are in, four divisions must be called.

(2) When an early takeoff is planned. Divisions as required will be awakened one hour and 45 minutes before takeoff time, will have breakfast one hour and 30 minutes before takeoff time, and will be at the Ready Room one hour before takeoff time.

(3) Other divisions. Divisions on duty but not required for manning the available planes, or for an early takeoff, will get themselves up, and will report not later than 0800.

About 1600, the Duty Officer should secure any division not needed to man the planes available, for the rest of the day. For example, if any eight-plane flight has just gone out, and seven planes on the ground are available, he should keep on duty the two divisions next to fly and secure the fifth division. But if an eighth plane flight is due to come in about 1600, and the same seven planes on the ground are available, the Duty Officer must wait until those eight planes have landed. He can then secure the division last to fly (which will ordinarily be one of the divisions which has just landed). Everything on the ground secures at 1815.

Every third day, the squadron will provide for the scramble standby which is usually four planes but may be more. Beginning at 0530, each division should be on duty once for two and a half hours; the last division two and three quarters hours which carries it through to 1815. The duty should follow the regular rotation, but normally it should begin with the division reporting last on the early call (so as not to conflict with the rotation flying, which always
comes first, and which so far, at least, seems to involve about five divisions flying one hop a day). This idea of starting the scramble alert with the division reporting last on the early call will have to be modified as the situation requires. It will take a certain amount of juggling to get every division on duty into the scramble alert at some time during the day, without interfering with their flying (which must go on in the routine order). Correction of the above: The scramble alert begins at 0515 (the division involved must be called as if for a takeoff at 0515 also) so that the division taking it first will stand it for two hours and three quarters like the last division.