As the series would have us believe, Gregory Boyington was nicknamed Pappy by
the men of Squadron 214 because he was 35 years old and most of them were barely
in their 20s. This is quite an irony, because while that was his actual given
nickname, the Second World War ended before his 35th birthday on December 4,
1947.
Robert Conrad portrayed Pappy as a non-conformist who took a bunch
of ragtag officers facing court-martials and provided them all with reprieves.
Pappy maintained no discipline, ignored military regulations, and did not care
what his men did off the job. As long as they could fly and do the job when
necessary, nothing else mattered. Given this code, Pappy was completely at home
with his men whether they were chasing women, getting into fights, conning
civilians or the chain of command, or intercepting the Japanese.
In the
second season, the men of the
Black Sheep Squadron spent a lot of time engaging
in high jinks with the nursing force on the South Pacific island where both
factions were based.
If we look at
this address, we learn, at least in part,
where the title of the series came from and just how much of Boyington’s actual
stories to take as fact.
Boyington himself died in
1988.
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