Marine Alumnus Rejected by University of Washington
Dr. Michael L. Ford
15 February 2006
UW's student senate rejected a memorial for "Pappy"
Boyington of "Black Sheep Squadron" fame amid concerns
a military hero who shot down enemy planes was not the
right kind of person to represent the school. Student
senator Jill Edwards at the student government's
meeting, said she "didn't believe a member of the
Marine Corps was an example of the sort of person UW
wanted to produce." Really. When I went through
Survival School at Fairchild AFB, the University of
Washington credited the course for college credit. I
hope the Air Force will find another school to work
with because I have doubts they are any longer the
kind of institution patriotic Americans would want to
have in their academic transcript.
Ashley Miller, another student senator, said "many
monuments at UW already commemorate rich white men."
(Rich, successful men build schools oftentimes. I
suppose they should first apologize for being white.)
School senate member Karl Smith amended the resolution
to eliminate a clause saying Boyington "was credited
with destroying 26 enemy aircraft, tying the record
for most aircraft destroyed by a pilot in American
Uniform." Smith, according to the minutes, said "the
resolution should commend Colonel Boyington's service,
not his killing of others." (This man evidently thinks
we should apologize to the Japanese for getting in
their way at Pearl Harbor.)
	When will we wake up to the fact that our schools are
killing our nation's future liberty? We have seen
plenty of evidence that no government school is immune
from political correctness. We need to stop our tax
money from being used to underwrite the teaching of a
politically correct atheistic worldview that is
humanistic and communistic. Just last year, this
university erected a memorial to diversity, the very
thing that is fracturing America.
	Boyington, a student at UW 1930-34, served as a
combat pilot in the "Flying Tigers of China" – and
later as a Marine Corps combat pilot in charge of
Marine Fighting Squadron 214. He earned the Navy
Cross, and was awarded the Medal of Honor by President
Franklin D. Roosevelt After he was also shot down
“Pappy” spent 20 months in a Japanese prisoner-of-war
camp.