"Red Rider" wrote:

Fascinating stuff, RR, thanks.

The accounts I got from friends about wings being turned in, was that it
definitely wasn't because he was scared or a coward. This was not the case
of several others (none in VF-162) that managed to leave the Navy, "because
they owed it to their families, to have a career with the airlines".


Actually Grant is scrupulously clear about this in the book.
The officer who turned in his wings had a record of bravery under fire
on some nasty missions. The CO recognised that in fact, and his
resignation was specifically on religious CO status, if I recall the
book correctly. Even so, apparently quite a ruckus.