[Vision2020] Critics Blast UW Students for Insulting Hero

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (February 17, 2006) Spokesman Review -

It irritates me beyond words that the University of Washington student
senate would vote to refuse to memorialize Gregory "Pappy" Boyington. A UW
alum, labeling him a "killer", and stating that they already have too many
tributes to rich white males, while Colonel Boyington was never rich nor
Anglo.  Colonel Boyington was one of our nation's aces during World War 2,
who earned the Congressional Medal of Honor and died poor.

I would strongly urge . . . No, I would DEMAND . . . that the University of
Washington student senate submit a public apology, verbally and in writing,
to the UW Alumni Association, the United States Marine Corps, and the city
of Seattle.  Anything short of that would further demean those same people.

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Critics blast UW students for insulting hero 
Associated Press 
February 17, 2006

SEATTLE - The University of Washington's student government has come under
attack on talk radio and the Internet after deciding not to support the
creation of a campus memorial to alumnus and World War II hero Gregory
"Pappy" Boyington.

It all started after a UW senior sponsored a resolution to create a memorial
for Boyington, a Marine Corps colonel and Medal of Honor recipient who wrote
about his wartime exploits as a fighter pilot in the South Pacific in his
best-selling book, "Baa Baa Black Sheep." Boyington and his "Black Sheep"
squadron later were the inspiration for the 1970s television show starring
Robert Conrad.

On Feb. 7, during a student Senate debate on the resolution, some questioned
why the university should pay tribute to a Marine, someone who killed
others. One student leader suggested the school had honored enough rich,
white men.

Forty-five students supported the resolution, but it failed by one vote.

The next day, Kirby Wilbur, the morning radio talk-show host on Seattle
station KVI, broadcast the news based on an e-mail from a member of the UW
College Republicans.

"Our phones were slammed for a full hour with our audience," producer Matt
Haver told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for a story in Thursday editions.
"They were literally incensed with it."

Boyington shot down 22 planes with the Black Sheep Squadron, making him one
of the war's highest-ranking aces. Earlier, he flew with the Flying Tigers
in China.

He was shot down on Jan. 3, 1944. Presumed dead, he was posthumously awarded
the Medal of Honor. He had been taken prisoner, however, and was freed with
the end of the war. He died in 1988 in Fresno, Calif., and is buried in
Arlington National Cemetery.

Far from being wealthy, Boyington, a Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, native and 1934
engineering graduate of the University of Washington, struggled with money
and alcohol for much of his life. At times, he worked such jobs as beer
salesman and wrestling referee, according to "Once They Were Eagles," a
memoir by Black Sheep veteran Frank Walton.

Some students who spoke out against the memorial say they've been called
ignorant, threatened with beatings and urged to commit suicide. Scores of
angry e-mails and phone calls came from as far away as Texas, Georgia and
New York.

One post from a Web logger read: "I'm angry about this. ... How dare these
snot nose, hemp-wearing, pot smoking, drum beating, dreadlock wearing, 'gee
when is the financial aid check going to arrive,' brat kids diss Pappy
Boyington?"

"These comments have been really degrading," UW student body President Lee
Dunbar told the P-I. "It's really gotten out of hand. ... I think a lot of
it was seized on by a political opportunity to blow things out of context."

Two students whose comments were criticized said the minutes, which have
been posted on the Internet and shared through e-mails and blogs, didn't
accurately reflect what happened at the meeting.

UW sophomore Jill Edwards, who questioned if a member of the Marine Corps
was an example of the type of person the UW would want to produce, said she
did not mean to offend anyone, and that she was just trying to start a
discussion among students who might be afraid to question a World War II
vet.

"Obviously he is a great man, and I'm very proud he's an alumnus," she said.
"I don't want to feel like we're trying to impose an ideal of achievement on
the UW."

UW senior Ashley Miller commented that the university already has monuments
that commemorate rich white men. She said her comments were made as part of
a general discussion about memorials on campus, not about Boyington
specifically.

Now, the UW student government plans to consider supporting the creation of
a memorial honoring all the university's Medal of Honor winners.

At least three other men with ties to the UW have received the Medal of
Honor, according to the UW alumni magazine.

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Take care, Moscow (you, too, Vandals).

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
UI '96

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil
and steady dedication of a lifetime." 

--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.