Sometimes Studying History Hurts

While nosing about on Netflix recently, I discovered that they carry the entire tee vee series of Baa Baa, Black Sheep, one of my favorite shows back in the day. (I was eleven at the time. No knowing what I'd think of it now.) Reading some of the viewer commentary, I was suddenly prompted by curiosity to order up Col. Gregory "Pappy" Boyington's original memoir on which the series was (loosely) based.

Reading this book is proving to be a bizarre experience. On the one hand, this is prime source material from a historical perspective. The man was right in the thick of the air war in China and over the South Pacific in WWII, shooting down 28 Japanese planes before being shot down and imprisoned himself, and later receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor for his exploits. I mean, he is the history.

On the other hand, his memoir is painfully awful to read, combining the styles of Harold Robbins and Lee Iacocca with the twisted flights of logic of Puddy from Seinfeld. I keep having to stop and back up, as I suddenly realize that I haven't the faintest idea what he's talking about. Surely his publishers could have ponied up a couple bucks for an editor.

I can already predict that although I am determined to finish this book up, it's extremely doubtful I'll read it again. As I note, though, it's odd to find myself keeping at it because of who the author is rather than because of what he has to say.

UPDATE: Whoa. I just received an email from a military friend who's close family friends with one of the men who flew in Boyington's 214 Squadron. Apparently, there was a general dissatisfaction among the vets over being portrayed as "misfits" in the tee vee series when it came out. Most of them were young replacement pilots thrown together under Boyington's command and it was his combat experience and "tough love" which they credited with getting them through the war.

I just wanted to clarify that I am in no way trying to disparage Boyington himself or his achievements with my comments about his book. My criticism is strictly centered on its literary merits.

UPDATE DEUX: INDCent Bill is trying to sap my resolve. What he doesn't know is how great the temptation is already: I've got Flashman At The Charge queued up to follow immediately after I finish BBBS. Gut-check time.

UPDATE TROIS: Lest you think I'm overly harsh on Boyington for his rough style, let me mention that I've also read Paul Fussell's Doing Battle: The Making of a Skeptic, which recounts his experiences and observations as an infantry line officer fighting the Germans. It's well-crafted, erudite, thoughtful - and in my mind a complete rip-off of Robert Graves' Goodbye To All That.

Boyington may be painful to read, but Fussell's work, IMHO, is the more contemptible.