Ingratitude In The Ivory Tower

It’s always a sad spectacle to see an individual, or an institution, embarrass themselves publicly. It is even sadder when the party involved doesn’t have the presence of mind to recognize the fact that they have embarrassed themselves, because this leaves open the possibility that they might do so again in the same manner at some point in the future.

Such is the case with the Student Senate at the University of Washington, where not only do they not feel the need to honor the deeds of those who defended freedom at its hour of greatest peril in the twentieth century, they are evidently actually ashamed of any association one might make between their university and those very heroes.

Gregory “Pappy” Boyington attended UW from 1930-34, prior to his World War 2 career which saw him gain his greatest fame as a Marine Corps combat pilot in charge of Fighting Squadron 214 – better known as the “Black Sheep” squadron immortalized in a 1970s television series. His part in that great struggle included destroying 26 enemy aircraft – tying a record, getting shot down and spending 20 months in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, and receiving the medal of honor for his service – feats that one would think would cause any institution enjoying an association with him to take great pride in that association.

But one would be wrong.

Despite his receiving the highest military honor that the government of the United States bestows upon its service members, apparently Mr. Boyington is unworthy of honorable recognition by as esteemed an institution as the University of Washington Student Senate. Or, in the words of one of the senators, he isn’t “an example of the sort of person UW wanted to produce.”

Indeed, it may truly be the case that the self-absorbed generations that now inhabit the offices and classrooms of institutions of higher education do not want to produce the kind of person who sacrifices safety and comfort to take up the cause of freedom and the defense of his countrymen. But this leaves open the question of what kind of person they do want to produce. If it is the kind of person who takes such an attitude toward members of the military – particularly members of the military during that era – then ingratitude and ignorance must be the highest aspirations of many of the nation’s colleges and universities.

The president of the university’s college Republicans pointed out, following the vote, that last year the university erected a monument to diversity – that ambiguous “strength” that the left seems to feel is our nation’s greatest asset – yet will not afford a similar honor to Colonel Boyington. But there is no small bit of irony in the fact such diversity is not something the university would even be able to celebrate were it not for the heroics of men like Pappy Boyington and those who served under him.

This writer doesn’t deny that it is sad that the world is such a place that requires the sacrifices of military service – even among peace-loving peoples. But such is in fact the case – and always will be so long as there are those who are unwilling to live in peace with those around them, no matter how accommodating those around them may try to be. And those who are willing to make the sacrifice of service, often under extremely hazardous conditions, deserve better than the reproach all too often visited upon them by those who enjoy the benefits of their service, and refuse to see the world for the dangerous place that it is, where men like Gregory Boyington are owed a great debt of gratitude by those who now – obviously unawares – stand on their shoulders.