WA: Pappy Boyington Memorial Blocked at U-Dub

Gregory Pappy Boyington...graduate of the Univeristy of Washington (went to High School in Tacoma), winner of the medal of honor, shot down 28 enemy aircraft, was a prisoner of war for 20 months, and apparently does not - according to the student senate - deserve a memorial on campus. Apparently we are told that he "is not the type of person we want to honor" and some even went so far as to liken his duty in WW2 to murder. One of the biggest antagonists of the proposal was apparently the leader of the student Democratic Party. How sad.

This issue is particularly interesting to me because I personally knew Pappy Boyington, not so much as a friend, but as a regular visitor to the Chino Air Museum and Air Show. I met him on numerous occassions and thoroughly enjoyed his willingness to tell me stories about his experiences - and I must say it was HEAVEN to this young man who'd rather feel his way around a restored Corsair than hang out at the mall with his contemporaries.

Pappy was famous for once saying: "Just name a hero and I'll prove he's a bum." And he knew this from personal experience. Pappy's childhood wasn't easy and he and his mother had to work VERY hard to get him through school - he was no rich boy and neither did he live off government grants...personally I wonder if those students who "shot this memorial down" could remotely say the same? And he was a real human being who did not hide his faults, particularly with alcohol and marital problems. Like all heros, no one is a "super" hero. While Pappy could work hard, he could "play" hard too and landed himself in trouble from time to time. Here is a more detailed story...from the University of Washington oddly enough.

Also, clearly, the student who made the racist statement never met him because I will tell you that you could not mistake the Sioux in him. And while he did write a best-selling book (best selling authors are a dime a dozen), he was never really a rich man...rather he spent most of his last days wandering through Air Shows reliving the glory days, never in any grand luxury that I saw. He seemed a very nice man, who despite his personal problems did some extraordinary things to help defend freedom and defeat tyranny and injustice.

But, have our Washington youth revised history so much as this? To compare Boyington (or for that matter any of our WW2 vets) to murderers? What are these kids being taught today? They don't deserve those 20 months Pappy spent being tortured and beaten in a Japanese prison camp...they don't deserve any of what our grandfathers and grandmothers sacrificed to free Europe and the Pacific. Is it perhaps because those precious people are soon to be gone that we feel free to engage in leftist amnesia? 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?

Maybe REAL rich white guys ought to be offended (like Bill Gates and Paul Allen) and stop donating money to the UW and then the Student Senators will find they don't have the time to be in the student senate because they need to get themselves real jobs.

If any WW2 vets read this blog, please accept my apology on behalf of the University of Washington - and particularly thier ignorant student senate. We remember what you all have done. My kids will remember too.

Jill Edwards said she didn’t’ believe a member of the Marine Corps was an example of the sort of person UW wanted to produce.
Ashley Miller commented that many monuments at UW already commemorate rich white men.
Karl Smith amended the first ‘whereas’ clause to strike the section “he was credited with destroying 26 enemy aircraft, tying the record for most aircraft destroyed by a pilot in American Uniform for which he was” and leaving the reference to the Navy Cross. Seconded. Objection.
He said the resolution should commend Colonel Boyington’s service, not his killing of others. Andrew Everett said a destroyed aircraft was not necessarily indicative that a pilot had died. He said the statistic on aircraft downed explained Colonel Boyington’s achievements and why his performance was noteworthy.
Deidre Lockman said she was in favor of the resolution and approved of Karl Smith’s amendment.
Sam Al-Khoury moved to close debate on the amendment. Seconded. Passed without objection. The amendment passed.
Erin Shields asked what the process is for erecting a memorial on campus.
Andrew Everett said it was a process he would push through personally.
He said it would go to the university administration, then to the Capital Projects Committee for placement consideration, and back to the administration for a final discussion on the monument. Niki Iglesias moved to close debate. Seconded. Objection. The motion failed.
Shawn Fisher moved to amend the second ‘that’ clause and strike the deadline of 11 January 2008.
He said he was against the resolution, but that if it did pass, he wanted the statue to be of a high quality and said the project shouldn’t be rushed.
Mikhail Smirnoff noted the resolution didn’t require the statue to be finished, but merely have the process started by that time. Melissa Aar said she was against the amendment because of the significance of the date.
Shawn Fisher moved to close debate. Seconded. Passed without objection.
Debate was closed. The amendment failed.
A Senator said he feared Senate was rubber stamping a project that it didn’t know enough about. He noted that Senate didn’t have any specification for the statue’s appearance or details on its placement.
Jon Lee said he didn’t want to see a campus inundated with memorials.
He said he feared this would open the invitation to multiple other memorials.
Andrew Everett said he envisioned a monument similar to the Lincoln Brigade outside of the HUB. He said he respected the history of the UW institution and the people it has produced and that the UW owes it to students to honors those from the past.
Deidre Lockman moved to strike the quote from President Roosevelt. Seconded. Objection.
She said the resolution focused more heavily on the negative aspects of war and should instead focus on more positive aspects such as the awarding of the Medal of Honor.
Travis Grandy moved to amend the amendment to restore “whose citation was signed by pres. Franklin D Roosevelt in March 1944”. Seconded. Passed without objection.
Shawn Fisher said he thought the quote was unnecessary and reflected badly on the resolution.
Alex Kerchner said the issue was clear cut and that it didn’t make any sense to commend Colonel Boyington for his Medal of Honor, and yet remove the reason it was awarded.
Mikhail Smirnoff said it was important to note what the Colonel actually achieved. He said it didn’t make sense to not acknowledge why he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

Jon Evans moved to close debate on the amendment. Seconded. Objection. The motion passed. Debate was closed on the amendment. The amendment failed.

I really wish I knew what to say about these lefty idiots, but words fail me.

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