Corporal John F. Doyle
United States Army Air Corps (1942-1945)

John Fleming Doyle Jr. was born on March 10, 1923, to parents Alice R. and John F. Doyle. He had five sisters, Virginia, Elizabeth, Kathleen, Rosemary and Barbara, along with one brother, Gerald. Originally from the North Side, in 1941 the Doyle family moved into a new home at 1619 Eben Street in Brookline.

An employee of the American Oil Company in Hays, John enlisted in the Army Air Forces on December 10, 1942 and entered active service on February 19, 1943. After initial training, he was assigned to Squadron E of the 271st AAF Base Unit at Kearney Army Air Field in Nebraska.

Kearney Army Air Field was originally a staging and processing center for the B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 100th Bombardment Group. After the departure of the 100th, the army assigned the base to serve as a training center for replacement crews. The base served this purpose from August to November, 1943, when the base went back to it's original function as a processing unit for B-17 crews and planes. The base remained a processing unit after the 1944 introduction of the B-29 Superfortress.

Kearney Army Air Base in Nebraska.

A fellow Army Air Forces member assigned to the Kearney Base Unit described his two-year experience at the air base. "We were responsible for getting the B-17 bomber ready and outfitted for combat duty ... We checked them out as to all equipment, oxygen, armament, engine checks, etc. for overseas duty ... After the B-17s we were assigned to B-29s."

"One of the things I liked about the base was the great pheasant hunting we had along the runways early in the mornings. Our mess hall sergeant would cook them for us. Very good and tasty. The worst part of being stationed there were the cold winters as we had to keep bomber engines warm all the time with put-puts and also we had to get on wing and tail sections and keep off ice and snow so as not to rupture them as to weight, etc. Bombers had to be ready to go at any time."

John Doyle spent his entire wartime service at Kearney Army Air Base, attaining the rank of Corporal. He wrote home to his parents informing him that he would be coming home to Brookline on furlough, and would arrive on August 1, 1945. Tragically, he was killed on July 29 in an automobile accident while still in Kearney. With the end of the war less than two weeks away, another Gold Star appeared on the window of a Brookline home.

News of John's death was published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on July 31, 1945, and on August 3 notice was printed of a solemn requiem high mass being sung at the Church of the Resurrection. Corporal John Fleming Doyle Jr. is interred at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Hazelwood.

* Written by Clint Burton: March 8, 2019 *

The Brookline War Memorial

Listed below are many of the sons of Brookline who gave their
lives to preserve freedom and contain aggression during
World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died.
Rather, we should thank God that such men lived.”
General George S. Patton
 

World War I (1917-1919)

The World War I Memorial - Washington D.C.

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World War II (1941-1945)

The World War II Memorial - Washington D.C.

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Korean War (1950-1953)

Korean War Memorial - Washington D.C.

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Vietnam War (1965-1973)

Vietnam War Memorial - Washington D.C.

The Brookline Monument - The Cannon

<Brookline War Memorial> <> <Brookline History>