Staff Sergeant Jimmie Doyle, USAAF, lost his life on Sept. 1, 1944 at the age of 25 in the islands of Palau. Funeral services for SSgt. Doyle will be 1:30 p.m. Saturday, April 25, 2009, at First United Methodist Church of Lamesa, with Army Chaplain Colonel Michael Lembke of Ft. Hood officiating. Burial will follow in Lamesa Memorial Park under the direction of Branon Funeral Home. A visitation will be 10 - 12 a.m. Saturday, April 25, 2009, at Branon Funeral Home. Family and friends will gather for a visitation at the FUMC Fellowship Hall following the graveside service.Born Oct. 29, 1918 in McKinney to Tom and Mamie Doyle, Jimmie married Myrle Wells on Sept. 21, 1940 in Lamesa and she died in 1992. They had one child, Tommy Doyle, who was only 15 mo. old when his father left to go overseas.
SSgt. Doyle proudly served with the 307th Bombardment Group, 424th Squadron in the Pacific Theater during WWII. While serving as the nose gunner aboard a B-24J Liberator, SSgt. Doyle, along with ten fellow crewmembers, was lost during a bombing mission to the Palau Islands. In 2004, the BentProp Project located the plane wreckage. In 2008, SSgt. Doyle's remains were recovered and identified.
SSgt. Doyle is survived by his son, Tommy Doyle and wife, Nancy, of Snyder; grandchildren, Casey Doyle of Corpus Christi and Brandi Doyle of Portales, N.M.; and sister, Pat Presfield of Springdale, Ark.
SSgt. Doyle's grandson, Capt. Casey Doyle, USMC, will serve as military escort bringing his grandfather's remains from the Central Identification Lab in Hawaii to Lamesa, where he will be laid to rest next to his wife, Myrle. Full military honors will be accorded SSgt. Doyle.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials to the charity arm of the BentProp Project for the discovery of other MIA's in Palau. Online at www.bentstarproject.org, or The BentStar Project, Limited, 443 First St., Woodland, CA 95695-4023.