James Doyle (10 January 1920 -10 January 2020) was a British airman in the Royal Air Force who served as a gunner in a B-17 Flying Fortress, and then joined the Special Air Service under the command of Gerald Ingram. He survived the war and lived until the age of 100, dying on his birthday from COVID-19.
Biography[]
Early life[]
James Doyle was born on January 10, 1920, in Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom. He grew up in a wealthy family of an officer of the First World War. Imbued with patriotic upbringing, Doyle was one of the first volunteers who went to the Second World War.
Holland[]
On the morning of September 2, 1941, Sgt. Doyle joined the S.O.E organization without hesitation after participating in a routine bombing mission as a gunner of dorsal turret.On a routine bombing mission over Dutch soil, towards Rotterdam, the B17 he was in, "A For Andy", was shot down after an intense dogfight with ME-109s and flak fire. He bailed from his plane but the fate of the surviving crewmates is unknown. Once he reached the ground, he was stuck upon a tree with German soldiers down patrolling below, he was then rescued by Major Ingram and a band of Dutch Resistance fighters. Doyle impressed Ingram, assisting the band of rebels greatly by destroying their objective, the bridge connecting Antwerp to Amsterdam and escaping from area with Ingram and surviving fighters. Maj. Ingram subsequently recruits Doyle into the S.O.E.
Sicily[]
Earning a very high score in the SOE school in Guilford Doyle completes training in time to participate in the Sicilian invasion of July 1943. Doyle, Ingram, and a band of SAS commandos attacked a battery of heavy caliber guns along the Capo Murro di Porco area near Syracuse. The mission went well after the plantation of some C2 charges on the gun and ammo dump, but during the exfiltration, the SAS team that was mounting the Kubelwagen was wiped out by a Panzer. Doyle and Ingram escaped to the nearby town with a German motorcycle with a sidecar. They fought their way to the docks, and got on board a German gunboat. They fought their way through a flotilla of German patrol boats with Maj. Ingram steering the ship and Sgt. Doyle manning the 20mm flak gun above the deck. They defeated the German patrol boats and escaped after witnessing the Battery's destruction from the sea to HMS Ulster Monarch.
Western Front[]
During the Normandy Invasion, his group which consisted of SAS ops of Cpl. Keith, Pvt. Wilkins along with Maj.Ingram, are tasked to parachute two jeeps into French countryside to help French Maquis with their hit and run operations. Unfortunately, his plane was shot down by Nazi flak guns during a night drop near the French countryside and he regroups with the French Resistance led by French SAS member named Pierre LaRouche and Cpl. Keith (Pvt. Wilkins was killed by a German soldier and La Roche shot the soldier to save Doyle). He fought his way to find the lost jeeps, disabling manor house acting as makeshift barrack for flak gunners, and disabled the flak emplacement itself with help of Cpl. Keith and French Marquis. He joined up with Maj. Ingram and escaped to safety from pursuing German Panzers and vehicles. Soon after that battle, Sgt. Doyle fights in a German-controlled fuel plant in order to destroy it (to cut off fuel supply to Black Baron aka Richter, King Tiger that posed threat to Polish forces) and lost Major Ingram during exfiltration and midst of confusion. Soon, after arguing and debating with French Resistance members with Cpl. Keith, Doyle and the others rescue Major Ingram and some Maquis prisoners of war who are held hostage, but lost Isabelle DuFontaine, a major member in French Resistance. He served many more subversive operations against Germany with Maj. Ingram and Cpl. Keith until the end of the war.
Later life[]
Having survived the war, he became an accountant at one of the factories in Edinburgh. He got married, raised two daughters, and visited former fellow soldiers until a very old age. He died of coronavirus in early 2020.