Customer Reviews

The Black Sheep - The Definitive Account of Marine Fighting Squardron 214 in World War II

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"Oh, no," I thought, after reading Gamble's introduction; "another diatriabe against Pappy." It's more than that--a definitive account of every action by the Black Sheep and predecessors. Shots at Boyington weren't convincing. Pappy was writing from memory; Gamble had unit records and other diaries to draw on. So what if Pappy mixed up his dates and battles? We all do that, and confusion is understandable in an alcoholic under stress of command in battle. Pappy's record in China remains as equivocal after Gamble's comments as before. There are two records of Boyington's China kills, one from a person with a grudge, and both from a place where record keeping was primitive, so both could have been wrong and Pappy's count right. Even if Pappy's count was wrong on purpose, he's still credited with shooting down more planes in China than some Black Sheep in the Pacific. And when Gamble accuses Pappy for playing the media, I can't help wonder whether Gamble is doing the same, by exploiting Pappy.

The best part of Gamble's book is commentary from other Black Sheep, inserted into the text. Sure, there are interesting tidbits. I didn't know drop tanks were made of hemp and doped to look like metal. I didn't know that CO2 tanks were used to blow down landing gear. I did know training could be as costly as combat. I already knew that the TV version of the Sheep had nothing to do with the reality of combat, though Gamble inadvertently verifies many episodes that depict Boyington. There isn't much that's new in this book except details, and there are way too many of those. The result is too comprehensive for recreational reading.

Gamble writes here about what the squadron did; in his autobiography, Boyington writes about how he felt. These are different domains, judged by different standards; professionals don't confuse them, because it's unfair to judge one by the standards of the other. Aesthetic standards are subjective--wholeness, sameness, playfulness, curiosity; cognitive standards are objective--truth, accuracy, completeness, just distinction, justified conclusions. Pappy meets aesthetic standards in his autobiography by displaying self-knowledge, forgiveness, self-deprecating humor, and a heap of character, including awareness of his faults, for which he takes responsibility. Gamble meets most cognitive standards for his book, except justified conclusions about Pappy.

Gamble's central gripe about Boyington is that myth has replaced reality. That's what myth does. No amount of fact is going to change the inevitability of this process. It's interesting to know that England lost America because a clerk in the foreign office took vacation before sending orders to Burgoyne, but it doesn't change how people feel about George Washington. So, too, here. Pappy's record is secure. Even if everything Gamble says about Boyington is true, Boyington will be remembered for earning medals and getting results, not for quibbles, even from those who flew with him. Bless them all for gargling with sand, picking blue grunge from their feet, and marching to a deaf drummer.