UW student senate fights monument to Medal of Honor-winning Marine

Colonel Greg "Pappy" Boyington was a US Marine pilot in World War II, where he was an ace (shot down 26 enemy aircraft, tied for most ever by an American), suffered as a Japanese POW for 20 months, and earned the Navy Cross (the Navy's highest honor) and the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest honor that can be bestowed on a military member in any service.

The student senate of the University of Washington, where Boyington attended college, recently brought to the floor a proposal to construct a memorial to this American hero--and rejected it (45-45-10, with the senate chair casting the tie-breaking vote against) due to "concerns a military hero who shot down enemy planes was not the right kind of person to represent the school." Student senator Jill Edwards, according to the minutes of the meeting, "questioned whether it was appropriate to honor a person who killed other people," and said she "didn't believe a member of the Marine Corps was an example of the sort of person UW wanted to produce." Ashley Miller, another senator, argued that "many monuments at UW already commemorate rich white men."

This is appalling both for its lack of respect and for its ignorance. In response to Miss Miller first, Colonel Boyington, like so many other American military heroes, was far from being a rich white man. He was born in poverty to divorced parents, his step-father (who Boyington only found out was not his real father when he had to provide his birth certificate to join the Corps) was a violent alcoholic, and he grew up (after several moves) in a small logging town in Idaho. He most likely would not have amounted to anything had he not gotten the opportunity to participate in ROTC in college—and look what he accomplished as a result of that!

Second, for Miss Edwards and the other 44 who voted against the memorial, from someone who has served alongside many a proud, dedicated Marine: if a member of the USMC, ace pilot, and Medal of Honor recipient who fought to defend this country against imperial Japan and against Nazi Germany, and bravely suffered as a POW for almost 2 years while enduring hellish torture and the prospect of never returning home alive, is NOT the type of person you want your school to produce, then what is it you DO want? And please--make sure you're speaking Japanese when you respond.