Pappy Boyington

Coeur d’Alene, ID  High 79  Low 53

The following is from Stephen Sherman at Acepilots.com.

‘Undoubtedly the most colorful and well known Marine Corps' ace was Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, commanding officer of VMF-214. Stories of Pappy Boyington are legion, many founded in fact, including how he led the legendary Black Sheep squadron, and how he served in China as a member of the American Volunteer Group, the famed Flying Tigers.  He spent a year and a half as a Japanese POW, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, was recognized as the Marine Corps top ace. Always hard-drinking and hard-living, Pappy's post-war life was as turbulent as his wartime experiences. “

The Pappy Boyington Field Museum is just up the road from our RV Park in Hayden, ID. Pappy Boyington Veterans Museum is dedicated to preserving local aviation history and the efforts of veterans and aviators who have sacrificed and contributed to preserving the integrity and peace to which the United States has been graced.

The museum is very well done but there are so many exhibits it’s hard to take it all in.

Here are a few pictures of the many exhibits.

One of the exhibits was donated by the children of a WWII veteran and one of the things they documented about their father was that he never talked about his time during the war. My Dad was in the Army during WWII and he also never talked about it. Hard to imagine the horrors they saw.

Jim and I are listening to the book, Unbroken, about Louie Zamperini who was held in one of the same Japanese POW camps as Pappy. These guys really were strong if they survived the horrors of those camps.