Greg was a hard-drinking, very contentious Marine who did his best to have things his way. Nothing really wrong with that, but sometimes he got a little carried away. He went to China with the AVG before America entered the war so he could fly and collect the bounty on Jap planes. He and Chennault, according to Boyington, didn't exactly get along. Seems Chennault was a little slow to pay the bounties, according to Greg. When the AVG broke up, he wangled his way back into the Marines, in spite of a not exactly exemplary record, and did so with some sneaky stuff. Again, according to Greg. By most accounts, he was one hell of a Corsair driver.
After the war, he tried his hand a refereeing boxing (I think it was boxing) matches and got into professional wrestling. His drinking was a major problem, and Pappy had a pretty miserable life up until he died. Still and all, in my one meeting with him he impressed me as a man worth knowing. I used the term controversial primarily because of the military aspects. He was not the role model any branch of the service wanted for their officers, and most certainly not the Marines. They put up with him in time of war because he could make that fighter hum and because his men would follow him through the gates of hell itself. He could probably fly that fighter better drunk than I could fly mine sober.
