Pappy Boyington was a United States Marine Corps fighter ace with the Pacific fleet in 1941. He joined the "Flying Tigers" and saw combat in Burma in late 1941 and 1942 during the military conflict between China and Japan. In September 1942, Boyington rejoined the Marine Corps and was deployed to the South Pacific and began flying combat missions in the F4U Corsair fighter and commanded Marine fighter squadron VMF-214 ("Black Sheep"). He received the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross.