Paul mccarthy boyington biography of barack

American history has proved one thing: Boys will be boys.

It was that way 200 years ago when this country’s founders were writing the Bill of Rights. And it was that way the other day when copies of their handiwork were on display at the Huntington Library in San Marino.

Upstairs in the library’s main exhibit room, 13-year-old Todd Grant was giving only a quick glance to the exhibit, which commemorates the bicentennial of the Bill of Rights. But the boy was taking time to closely study the knobs and deadbolts that form the intricate locking mechanism on a vault door leading to a library document storage room.

Downstairs in one of the library’s research areas, a scholar was examining the diary that 16-year-old Benjamin Bache wrote in the summer of 1785. It showed that the teen-ager was all but ignoring the history being made around him--and was concentrating instead on hypnotism and hot air balloons.

Todd is an Upland eighth-grader. He was taking an end-of-the-summer excursion with his family to take in the Huntington’s displays and the Constitution exhibit that will be on view through Jan. 26.

Benjamin was the grandson of Benjamin Franklin. At the time he wrote his diary, he was traveling in France with his grandfather, who was there to negotiate a treaty with French leaders.

Young Bache’s journal is one of nearly two dozen historic Huntington manuscripts that researcher Paul M. Zall has drawn from to create an unusual profile of the children of America’s Founding Fathers.

As far as most history books are concerned, most of the offspring of George Washington, John Adams and other early leaders could just as well be called Founding Foundlings.

Little has been written about how they grew up in the shadow of the country’s first genuine heroes. Less is known about their own contributions as the first generation of young Americans, or about their roles in America’s first

United States Marine Corps fighter attack squadron

Military unit

Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 214 (VMFA-214) is a United States Marine Corps fighter attack squadron that currently flies the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II. The squadron's home field is Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona, and it is assigned to Marine Aircraft Group 13 (MAG-13) of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (3rd MAW).

The squadron is known as the Black Sheep. Its World War II exploits and the memoirs of commanding officer Colonel Gregory "Pappy" Boyington inspired the 1970s television show Baa Baa Black Sheep, later syndicated as Black Sheep Squadron.

Mission

Locate, attack and destroy surface targets; intercept and destroy enemy aircraft; and provide electronic warfare support.

History

World War II

The unit was commissioned as Marine Fighter Squadron 214 (VMF-214) on 1 July 1942, at Marine Corps Air Station Ewa on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Initially called the "Swashbucklers," the squadron was moved to Turtle Bay Airfield on Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides in August. There Major Gregory "Pappy" Boyington (Medal of Honor, Navy Cross) took command of the 27 pilots who became the original "Black Sheep" of VMF-214.

Major Boyington had just returned from a year's tour in China as a member of the 1st American Volunteer Group, commonly called the Flying Tigers, where he was credited with downing multiple Japanese aircraft. Boyington is officially credited with two kills of a claimed six in China, plus another 22 with the Black Sheep, for a total of 28.

Boyington and Major Stan Bailey were given permission to form the unassigned pilots into a squadron, with the understanding that they would have less than four weeks to have them fully trained and ready for combat. The pilots ranged from experienced combat veterans with several air-to-air victories to their credit to new replacement pilots from the United States.

From Espirit