Pappy A Great Marine

I am the wife of Gunny Hamric and I have sent off my email to the president of the school. How dare them say such things about Pappy. He was such a Great Hero and a Great Marine.

We where honored to be able to meet him in the 80's at an airshow in Ca at Brown's Field outside of San Diego. It was such an honor to be able to shake the hand of such a fine man and be able to thank him for what he did.

Hopefully they will change their mind and put up a monument to honor him.

Ann Hamric

My Pappy Boyington Protest Letter

I just sent off a pretty good response as well. How do I forward a copy of my response back here to you here at pop a smoke? What's the email address/ process should I use to post a copy of it on this thread? Looks like I can't readdress it to the web site. Any thoughts?

U Dub Snubs Pappy

My son attends U of Washington, knows the offenders and was stunned. A flood of emails and voicemails have come in and the clowns are backpedaling.

http://michellemalkin.com/archives/004563.htm

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/157669.php

The number of blogs picking this up is exploding.

Wayne Stafford

God Help Us

Wayne,

Thanks for the blog links - if anyone get's a chance to read them, it's pretty sad to see some of the comments posted by our future leaders.

S/F

Tom

Gregory "Pappy" Boyington

My response to University President:

Dear President Emmert,

"University of Washington Student Senate Votes down Monument for Medal of Honor Winner Col. Pappy Boyington, various insults made during debate over proposed monument for Boyington who graduated from school in '30s. Described as 'Killer', 'Not the sort of person we wish to honor."

This is very disturbing to find an institution of higher learning that prides itself in celebrating diversity to deny honoring a legend in the annals of Marine Corps. Gregory "Pappy" Boyington was a native American ( Sioux) a graduate of your prestigious university, a United States Marine and an American Hero. To have your students describe him as a "killer" "not the sort of person to honor" only shows the lack of education and understanding of an American Icon. How can an institution that prides itself in education, diversity and tolerance pass over this honor for a Native American hero of WWII? Is tolerance only one sided? Edited by Moderator. By denying Gregory Boyington his place among the University of Washington elite you deny your own history and everything a great university stands for. Hopefully, the University of Washington administration will find the courage and have a monument erected of Gregory "Pappy" Boyington. To remind our future leaders that the cost of freedom is high and that freedom is never free!

Sincerely,
Rick Brohmer
Senior Account Executive
Liberty Mutual Insurance Company
15700 W. Bluemound Road, Brookfield, WI 53008
262-782-9500 Ext 250
Ricky.Brohmer@LibertyMutual.com

Message From The President Emmert of UW about Col. Pappy Boyington..

President Emmert asked me to respond on his behalf to your message about the Associated Students of the University of Washington (ASUW) Senate debate regarding a memorial to honor Col. Boyington.

The ASUW Senate, an arm of student government on campus, is a forum in which students discuss a wide range of issues, including the proposal for the memorial. After considerable debate, the resolution failed by a tiebreaker vote. As ASUW Senate Chair Alex Kim
describes in the message below, students thought long and hard about their decision and cast their votes for a variety of reasons. Some of the reasons that have been publicized are addressed in Mr. Kim's report.

According to Mr. Kim and our student body president Lee Dunbar, who co-sponsored the resolution, many students felt that we should honor all veterans appropriately rather than single out one, even though Col.
Boyington was a Medal of Honor recipient. I am also attaching a message from Mr. Dunbar, with some of his thoughts on the matter. A new resolution has been introduced and is working its way through the Student Senate for the University to establish a memorial to all of its Medal of Honor recipients. Student Senators are expected to vote on this resolution in the coming weeks.

It should also be noted that thanks to the work of Dean Emeritus Brewster Denny and the contributions of many UW alumni, several
years ago the University erected a fitting memorial to UW students, faculty and staff who lost their lives in World War II. We also have
memorials on campus for students who gave their lives serving their country in World War I and students who fought in the Spanish Civil War.

Different versions of what transpired during the debate have circulated through the electronic media. I hope you will take a moment to read Mr. Kim's account and Mr. Dunbar's comments. I also hope that regardless of one's point of view on this issue, the exercise of democracy that occurred at the Senate meeting can be seen as a meaningful learning opportunity for the students engaged in the debate.

Sincerely,

Eric S. Godfrey
Acting Vice President for Student Affairs
________________________________________________________________________

It has recently come to our attention that the actions of the ASUW Student Senate have been greatly misrepresented to the student
body and the general public. As such I wanted to clarify what actually occurred.

The Student Senate exists to create official student opinion by bringing together student representatives from all across campus. The
resolution concerning Colonel Boyington (available online at http://senate.asuw.org/legislation/12/R/R-12-18.html ) cited the Colonel's exemplary service record, including the fact that he was awarded the Medal of Honor for service in World War II. The resolution called for the creation of a memorial in his honor. Passage of the resolution would not have necessarily resulted in the creation such a memorial, but would have recommended it to the University of Washington.

The debate within the Senate was fair, balanced, and respectful. Senators representing a diverse array of viewpoints spoke on the resolution, raising numerous points as to the merits and demerits of the resolution.

1.) The ASUW Student Senate declined to support the construction of a memorial for an individual. This in no way indicates a lack of respect for the individual or the cause, merely that the Senate did not support the construction of a memorial. The Senate weighed
factors such as financial viability, the logistics of implementation, which historical points are relevant, and the difficulty in assessing which veterans should be memorialized over others. Questions regarding these factors were not addressed in the legislation itself and thus became points of debate during the meeting.

2.) Senators speak on behalf of the opinions of their constituents. This legislation has been posted publicly for nearly a month and senators have used that time to discuss the issues with their constituents. There is no way to distill a central argument of the Senate
for or against any piece of legislation the Senate discusses. While the vote itself is a yes or no decision, the reasons senators choose to vote in a particular manner vary widely. Therefore, it is inappropriate to represent a decision by the Senate as resulting from any single statement or point-of-view.

3.) No senator speaking in opposition to the resolution suggested that deaths in war are the equivalent of murder. One senator, in making a motion to remove references to the number of Japanese planes shot down, suggested the focus of the resolution should be on the man's service to his country. The sponsor of the amendment suggested that death in war was sometimes a "necessary evil" and that the focus of the honor should not be on the necessary evil, but rather on the service. That motion passed overwhelmingly. A further amendment to remove the text of the inscription of the Medal of Honor from the legislation subsequently failed overwhelmingly.

4.) No senator stated that we should not pass the resolution on the grounds that Colonel Boyington was a "white male." One senator stated that we have many monuments and memorials to white males, but did not suggest this was a reason to not support the
resolution.

Throughout the debate in the Student Senate, the tone was very respectful. If you have any additional questions, please contact:
ASUW President Lee Dunbar (asuwpres@u.washington.edu), Student Senate Chair Alex Kim (asuwssch@u.washington.edu),
Student Senate Vice-Chair Erin Shields (asuwssvc@u.washington.edu) or Director of Operations Karl Smith
(asuwbdop@u.washington.edu)

Alex Kim
Student Senate Chair
Associated Students of the University of Washington
206.543.1780 (office)
206.669.9562 (mobile)
http://senate.asuw.org/

________________________________________________________________________

I want to take this opportunity to share some thoughts that I hope will provide further insight into the situation, which I fear has been
misrepresented to the public. First, I want you to know that I personally have great respect for combat veterans and the
sacrifices that they have made for all of us. It is for this reason that I co-sponsored the proposal to create a memorial and that I am continuing to work on a second resolution.

Ironically, the principal reason the first bill did not pass is that many of us, including myself, came to realize that it would be inadequate to memorialize only one of the UW's five Medal of Honor recipients. A new resolution that is inclusive of all of these heroes is being drafted right now and should be introduced shortly. I am confident that this new resolution will pass.

As for comments by a few students that have been taken as disrespectful, I want to assure you that all of us have learned a great deal from this incident. One of the senators I work with most closely, in particular, has told me how remorseful she is for any insult felt
from her choice of words. The University of Washington is a large campus with many students and there are bound to be disagreements and opposing views among us. Regardless of my personal feelings, I feel it's crucial to allow, indeed defend, free expression of ideas and beliefs--a right that Pappy Boyington fought to protect.

This experience has been an educable moment for all of us, to say the least. One of the things I have been particularly appreciative of
throughout this episode is the understanding and support given by the Board of Regents and the UW administration. Whatever their personal concerns, they have recognized that my fellow students and I are learning some very important lessons from this incident that we will carry with us throughout our lives.

Sincerely,

Lee Dunbar, President, ASUW

Office of the President
University of Washington
Room 301, Gerberding Hall
Box 351230
Seattle, WA 98195
Phone: (206) 543-5010
Fax: (206) 616-1784

Same Response

I sent my response to the University of Washington and got exactly the same reply as Gunny Hamric.

Chris Breaux
Garfield 411
UH-1N and CH-53D
Crew Chief

Pappy Boyington

I had the extream honor to have met Pappy in 1983
at my uncles funeral (Orvil Bloch) in Seattle! He was the
only Marine MOH recipiant at the funeral, the rest were Army & Navy. Don't get me wrong, it was an honor to have met them all, but especially Boyington!
My e-mail to the pres of the UW is on the way!

SEMPER FI

Pappy Boyington

I had the good fortune in meeting Pappy Boyington in 1978, while he was visiting MCAS Kaneohe Bay. I saw this whole group of Marine aviators standing around on the flightline listening intently to this short stubby kind of hunched over bulldog looking fellow. I asked one of the pilots who is that guy? The pilot laughed and said "you don't know who that is?" Thats Pappy Boyington. I then laughed..to my great suprise he looked nothing like Robert Conrad..lol That was the Pappy Boyington I knew from the TV series Black Sheep Squadron.

I'm so glad I got the opportunity to meet the real Pappy Boyington. He was truly a character a great aviator and Marine. I do hope some day when I'm gone..I will see him again and ask him to tell me stories about the Black Sheep.

Rick

Pappy TV Show

I think it was the late 50s when Pappy had a TV show where he would do the introduction to an episode about the war in the Pacific and then a summation at the end. He looked like a hero to me.

Wayne Stafford