Gamble - Black Sheep One : the life of Gregory Pappy Boyington

Fresno, California, January 8, 1988

A typically mild afternoon graced the San Joaquin Valley as two gentlemen in their sixties drove toward Fresno from opposite directions. Good friends for many years, they shared much in common, having been born just four months apart on central Pennsylvania farms in neighboring counties, though they didn't meet until the summer of '43. A pair of skinny marine lieutenants, they had been assigned to the same room in a bachelor officers' quarters near San Diego, and within minutes discovered their mutual background. They had traveled aboard the same ship to the South Pacific, joined the same fighter squadron as replacements, flown combat missions together, gone on leave together, lost several friends together. Their names even rhymedFred and Ned.

Now, entirely by coincidence, they approached Fresno from hundreds of miles apart. Neither was aware of the other's plans, yet fate would bring them together for an un-forgettable reunion.

Completing a five-hour trip from his home near Los Angeles, sixty-six-year-old Fred Losch drove down Columbia Drive East and pulled into the driveway of an expensive house near the Sunnyside golf course. His former squadron commander, Greg Boyington, lived here with his fourth wife, Josephine. A day earlier, Losch had talked to Jo on the phone and learned that Greg was not well. He asked if it would be all right if he drove up and said hello to Gramps, using Boyington's nickname from the war. Jo invited him to come.

Glancing at the beautiful house and landscaping, Losch knew subconsciously that it was mostly Jo's place. She had divorced a wealthy highway contractor before marrying Greg, who in his own right had enjoyed only short-lived moments of financial success. His life had been a series of monumental highs and lows, with alcohol almost always present, but thanks to Jo the past several years had been among his best. A decade earlier a network television series based on his best-selling autobiography, Baa Baa Black Sheep, had run for three seasons, ensuring him of lasting fame as one of the most colorful personalities of World War II.

Losch had not been fond of the television show, which was now off the air except in small syndicated markets. He objected to Hollywood's depiction of his fighter squadron as a bunch of misfits. That Boyington had taken an active role in perpetrating the myth made it worse. Yet, the public's response to the action-adventure show had been favorable, and at least Losch understood Boyington's motiveshe needed the money. After ten years, loyalty and friendship had overcome any lingering disapproval.