Doyle, Michael William, CDR

SYNOPSIS

LTCDR Michael W. Doyle was a pilot assigned to Fighter Squadron 161 onboard the aircraft carrier USS MIDWAY. On August 25, 1972 he launched with his Radar Intercept Officer (RIO), Lt. John C. Ensch, in their F4B Phantom fighter aircraft. Their mission was a MiG Combat Air Patrol over North Vietnam.
 

At approximately 24 miles southwest of Haiphong the aircraft was hit by a surface-to-air missile (SAM). Doyle and Ensch ejected immediately and were sighted by their wingman on descent. An emergency radio beeper was heard for approximately 10 seconds. Search and rescue efforts were initiated without success, and were terminated two days later. The U.S. received information quickly that John Ensch had been captured. Although Doyle was at first listed Missing in Action, he, too, was ultimately listed as Prisoner of War.
 

John Ensch was released in Operation Homecoming in 1973. Mike Doyle was not. Ensch had suffered a broken left arm and hand which had been poorly set, leaving him disfigured and disabled. Several returning POWs had information relating to Doyle. Doyle's flight helmet had been seen with a pile of gear at the "Hanoi Hilton" prisoner of war complex in Hanoi. Also, Doyle's name was scratched on a pre-interrogation cell wall in the complex.
 

The Vietnamese denied any knowledge of Michael Doyle. However, in July 1985, the Vietnamese "discovered" the remains of Mike Doyle and returned them to U.S. control. Doyle had been missing for 13 years.  Michael William Doyle was promoted to the rank of Commander during the period he was prisoner of war. 

The Navy F-4B Phantom jet fighter pilot was an honors graduate of St. Joseph's Preparatory School and a top Naval ROTC student at Holy Cross College near Boston, where he edited the school newspaper. He reported to the Navy a week after graduation, and was assigned to duty off of Viet Nam after completing flight training. The 29-year-old commander was shot down on August 25, 1972, by a Soviet-made SAM missle 12 miles southwest of Haiphong, North Viet Nam. He was on his third tour of duty and his 250th combat mission of the war. What happened to him next remained a mystery for 13 years and was a constant sourse of anguish and uncertainty for his family, which had moved from Overbrook Farms to Newburyport, MA. Although it was believed he was killed by the missle, Doyle was first reported missing and later as having been captured by the North Vietnamese and incarcerated at the "Hanoi Hilton" prison camp. The Navy declared him "presumed killed in action" in 1980. In August 1985, his body was one of 26 turned over by the North Vietnamese to the US government. A postive identification was made by military pathologists in Hawaii in October 1985, and he was officially declared dead. Among his survivors were his parents and two brothers, one of whom is a Navy jet fighter pilot who was the military escort officer accompanying Michael Doyle's remains home from Hawaii.