Lieutenant Joseph Matthew Coyle

Joseph M Coyle was born to Mr. and Mrs. Mathew Coyle on September 23, 1917. He was raised in Pottsville Pennsylvania, graduating from St Clair High School. He arrived at NMAMC in the fall of 1939 and attended for two years, leaving in 1941 to enlist in the US Army Air Force. He trained as a navigator at Mathers AAF and after two years as a Navigator Instructor at Barksdale AFB in Louisiana, he was assigned to the 501st Bomb Squadron / 354th Bomb Group in the Pacific Theater. On April 28, 1945 Lt Coyle’s aircraft B-25J #43-36020 "Reina del Pacifico" lifted off from Puerto Princesa air drome on Palawan Island to participate in a low level attack on shipping anchored in Saigon Harbor. His plane, piloted by Lt Milton Esty, was hit by anti aircraft and tracer fire upon approaching the target and crashed with no survivors. Lt Joseph M Coyle was 27 years of age at the time of his death. In 1951 his remains, along with the other four crew members were exhumed from the crash site and reinterred in a group burial at Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis MO.