27. From Early in His Flying Career, this Ace Was His Own Worst Enemy
Gregory Boyington applied for flight training under a military reserve program, but discovered that married men were ineligible. A dramatic discovery salvaged his dreams of becoming a pilot, however. Until then, the future ace had assumed that the man who had raised him, Ellsworth Hallenbeck, was his father. A copy of his birth certificate revealed that his biological father was actually a Charles Boyington, who had divorced Gregory’s mother when he was a baby. There was no record of a Gregory Boyington being married, so he applied to a US Marine Corps flight training program under that name, and joined the Marine Reserves.
He became a Naval Aviator in 1937, and joined the active Marine Corps as a second lieutenant a few months later. Boyington was what could best be described as a “character” and a free thinker – traits that are not exactly a great fit for military service. In uniform, he discovered that his willingness to circumvent the rules and regulations, as well as his frequently outrageous conduct, got him in plenty of hot water with his superiors time after time. As he admitted years later, he was often “his own worst enemy“.