Having overcome numerous obstacles, Boyington obtained official recognition for the new squadron and headed it himself. The squadron was re-designated VMF-214, while the exhausted pilots of the original VMF-214 were sent home.
Emblem of the Black Sheep VMF-214 squadron
As the oldest of the pilots, Boyington received the nickname “Grandpappy.” The monicker was eventually shortened to “Pappy” and Boyington’s real name more or less forgotten.
In the beginning of September, the VMF-214 squadron, in which only 3 pilots had smelled powder, was assigned to the advanced airfield on the Russell Islands, whither they flew from the famous Henderson Field airbase in Guadalcanal. “September 16, 1943. We had just arrived in the Russell Islands. We had 20 Corsairs broken up into five flights to escort 150 [Douglas SBD] Dauntless and [Grumman TBF] Avenger bombers on a mission to Ballale, near Bougainville. We maintained radio silence and thought about the 600-mile round trip over anything-but-friendly terrain and open ocean. We ran into a heavy cloud base, lost sight of the bombers, and dropped below the clouds to try and pick them up. Sure enough, I saw the bombers doing their stuff on time and on target. However, we had another problem then-we were jumped by 40 Zeros with full fuel tanks. And these guys were no fools, or so I thought. One of them pulled up next to me, waggled his wings as if telling me to form up, then pulled ahead. I had forgotten to turn on the gunsight or arm the guns, but when I did I knocked him down. My wingman, Moe Fisher, blasted one off my tail, and we headed for the deck to protect the bombers.”
Once the sky was free of enemy fighters, the Corsairs made a reverse turn. At that moment “Pappy” noticed a Zero just above the water. Boyington immediately began to attack it but received a timely warning of danger in the rear – another Zero. Turning round quickly, Boyington managed to fire only one burst but the Zero opposite disintegrated. After that, a third, low-flying plane was shot down. But that was not the end: having turned again to take his place in the formation, Boyington noticed a damaged Corsair under attack by a Zero. Boyington shot down the enemy aircraft and returned to the airfield with almost no gas at all.
F4U-1A ¹86 Lulubelle serial ¹18086 of Major Gregory Boyington, VMF-214 squadron commander, Vela Lavelia, December 1943.
This is how Boyington himself described the combat: “The Marine aircraft was damaged, with oil all over the windscreen, and was losing speed. I attacked the nearest Zero, and as I fired he pulled up. I tried to follow, still firing, and he broke apart, but I stalled out. I recovered enough to hit the second Zero, and then I calmed down. The adrenaline rush of air combat is something that you can't explain. I did not see the Corsair again or even know who was in it, but Bobby Ewing was the only loss we had, so it must have been him. There was no way I could make it back to base, so I headed for Munda, where I made a perfect dead-stick landing-no gas at all”.
The results of that legendary combat were as follows: “I scored five kills in one mission, and I would never do that again. Most of a combat pilot's missions are mundane and almost boring, especially when you are beginning to win a war and you outnumber the enemy. My success helped me out with my superiors except Lard. He had heard about the drinking problem in China and Burma, so he placed me under parole of sorts. I was not to drink, and if I did it was to be reported. I still had a few, and Lard found out about it and placed me in hack. Unless I was flying I could not socialize. Do I need to tell you whether or not I obeyed that order?”
The remarkable piloting talents of Greg Boyington and his squadron’s success restored his fighting glory: the VMF-214 received the nickname of “Boyington`s Bastards,” officially altered to “Black Sheep” for reasons of propriety. After Boyington became one of the leaders in number of victories, reporters did not want to leave him alone. Fred Evy, who served in the same squadron, wrote: “They wanted to make him a record-holder for aircrafts shot down. There were always four or five guys who wanted to interview him at any cost, here and now. I could hardly stand them – to tell the truth, they had to leave both Greg and us in peace. Our opinion was not even taken into consideration. Boyington was getting tired and at times worked at full stretch, which of course, should not have been done. I wonder, was it one of the reasons he was shot down and taken prisoner?”
On October 17, 1943, the Sheep were convoying Avengers during the attack on Kaili Airfield, occupied by the Japanese. Not one of the 60 Japanese fighters took off. Upon return to Munda, Boyington ordered the Corsairs to refuel and appeared over Kailli once more, verbally challenging the Japanese to a fight (Boyington had begun to learn Japanese while fighting in China and in the Pacific). In the ensuing air combat, the Corsairs shot down 12 Zeros, with “Pappy” himself downing 3. The Sheep sustained no losses.
Soon after that episode, the VMF-214, together with Army Cobras and Lightnings were convoying a group of B-24 Liberator fighters. The planes got into a sand-storm. Only Boyington hung on to accompany the Liberators to the end of their journey. For that deed the Army Aviation Command wanted to award “Pappy” with a Silver Star, but the Marines Command rejected the idea because of the hero’s unbearable character: just think – he was smoking on board!
In October VMF-214 finished a six-week tour, and the squadron went to Sydney for a rest. In the course of 32 days Major Boyington had brought down 14 enemy aircrafts in the Bougainville area.
Staff of the Black Sheep squadron, headed by Greg Boyington (third on the left).
The squadron resumed operations in December 1943. On the instructions of General Mitchell, Boyington headed attacks at Rabaul. The first such raid took place on December 17 and involved 31 Corsairs, 23 War Hawks and 22 Hellcats. The Japanese did not want to risk their fighters when the enemy had such an evident superiority.
The next operational flight, on December 23, was more successful for the Americans: having lost 3 of their aircrafts, they brought down 30, with Boyington himself shooting down 4 Japanese fighters.
By December 27 Boyington had 25 victories under his belt.
Early in the morning on January 3, 1944, Boyington together with George Ashman’s supporting aircraft took off at the head of a group of 46 aircrafts. Boyington’s Corsair was under repair, so he used the plane of fellow ace Marion Curl to break the record of Joseph Foss, who had 26 victories under his belt.
At 7.45 Boyington attacked a formation of 10 Japanese aircrafts. He managed to shoot down his 26th Zero, but when he tried to return to formation, Japanese fighters separated him from his group. Ashman’s Corsair was damaged and began to smoke. Shielding his wingman, Boyington shot down 2 more Japanese aircrafts, but it was too late! Ashman’s plane fell into the water. The Japanese turned their fire on Boyington. A shell hit a petrol tank, which exploded immediately. Boyington ejected from the plane at a height of 200 feet. His life jacket turned out to have a hole, and “Pappy” himself was wounded in his arms, legs and head. Boyington helplessly floundered about in the water as the Zeros raked him with fire for nearly a quarter of an hour. At last, the Japanese left. The other Corsairs were able to circle over the place of their leading plane’s splash-down until their fuel ran low.
18-year old claimant to the shootdown of Greg Boyington, Japanese Naval Aviation ace Masajiro Kawato).
“I assessed my injuries and hoped that I would be rescued. I nearly lost my left ear, which was hanging in a bloody mess. My scalp had a massive laceration, my arms, groin and shoulders were peppered with shrapnel, and a bullet had gone through my left calf. I had seen better days”.
A Catalina boatplane sent out in search of Boyington did not find him. After eight hours in the water, Boyington was picked up by a Japanese submarine. Three hours later he was in Rabaul. “Pappy” was declared missing, though nobody doubted his death.
After 10 days in Rabaul, Boyington was transported to Japan. Greg spent 20 months in Ofuna camp near Tokyo as a prisoner of war.
“I was totally unprepared for captivity and interrogation. I believe that even if we had been, we would have still been unprepared to some extent, since we would have trained our men in the Occidental method of psychological warfare and interrogation resistance. All of this effort would have been wasted once we were captured by the Japs, or later the North Koreans, Chinese or Vietnamese. Their mind-set and perspective are completely different, and we just don't understand it. Most of the guards were pretty brutal, but once you learned how to out-think them you could get by. There was one particular interpreter who had been educated in Honolulu, and he was very important, since he effectively saved not just my life but the lives of others as well. Then there was this old lady in Japan whom I worked for in the kitchen at the camp. By the time I got there I was down 60 or 70 pounds and not looking so good. She took care of me, and I owe her as much as anyone. However, despite the beatings and starvation diet, I probably lived as long as I have due to the fact that 20 months in prison prevented me from drinking. The one exception was New Years Eve 1944, when a guard gave me some sake. Another important person was a Mr. Kono, a mysterious man who spoke English and wore a uniform without rank. He perhaps did more to save American lives than anyone else. As far as holding a grudge, no. That would be silly. There are good and bad people everywhere. The Japanese civilians who had been bombed out and were always around us showed us respect, not antipathy. Many of them went out of their way to help us at great risk to themselves, slipping us food. When I think about how the Japanese civilians treated us as POWs in their country, I can only feel very ashamed at how we treated our own Japanese Americans, taking their homes and businesses and placing them in camps”.
After receiving the rank of Marines lieutenant colonel, on September 4, Boyington, surrounded by numerous reporters, completed the Victory Bounds Tour. On October 4 he was awarded with a Fleet Cross by the USA Marines Commander, General Vandergrift. A day later President Truman greeted the courageous pilot in the White House and presented him with the highest officer decoration – Order of Honor.
On August 1, 1947, Boyington resigned as a colonel and fortune once again abandoned him. “I was retired due to wounds, but that only made things worse. I could not find a job until I began working as a wrestling referee part time. My second wife, Franny, kept me out of too much trouble, although nearly every place I went there was some cop for whatever reason waiting to pick me up, especially after I had been in a bar. They would call the press just to get their names in the papers at my expense. Later I was a beer salesman for a few years; it seemed like poetic justice in a way. It made me sober up again after falling off the wagon”.
In 1959 Boyington worked as a consultant in the filming of a serial about World War II. His book of memoirs, Black Sheep (Âàà Baa Black Sheep), was published and later screened, a project for which Boyington also served as a consultant.
Gregory Boyington died on November 11, 1988 at the age of 75.
Overall, this outstanding pilot had 28 victories by the end of the war. Besides the above-mentioned decorations, he was also awarded with 3 U.S. orders. Boyington’s son followed in his father’s footsteps and saw action in the Vietnam War as a 555 TAF pilot.
