Theodore P. Coyle
Rank: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army Air Forces
Serial: 13046545
Unit: 555th Bomber Squadron, 386th Bomber Group, Medium
Entered service from: New Jersey
Died:
Buried at: Normandy American Cemetery, St. Laurent-sur-Mer, France (Plot A, Row 8, Grave 19)
Awards: Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster
Theodore P. Coyle
Staff Sergeant Theodore P. Coyle was born in New Jersey April 23, 1920, the second of the three sons of James J. and Josephine Coyle. The Coyle family lived at 41 North 22nd Street in Camden NJ, where James Coyle in 1930 worked as a foreman at a radio factory. James Coyle later found work as a sheet metal worker at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation shipyard in Camden. Theodore Coyle was a 1938 graduate of Camden High School. He worked in the record department at the RCA-Victor plant in Camden NJ after graduation. Theodore Coyle enlisted in the United States Army on January 8, 1942.
Once in the Army, Theodore Coyle qualified for flight duty, and trained as a flight engineer and gunner. After going overseas in the first half of 1943, he flew 65 missions before his plane failed to return from a flight originating from England on July 18, 1944. Staff Sergeant Coyle was declared missing in action. Prior to being lost, Theodore Coyle had been awarded the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, and the Distinguished Flying Cross.
The body of Theodore Coyle was recovered after the war, and he was reported as killed in the August 2, 1945 morning edition of the Camden Courier-Post. He rests in the Normandy American Cemetery at St. Laurent-sur-Mer, France. Theodore Coyle was survived by his parents, of the North 22nd Street address, and his brothers, Joseph and Raymond.
Local Man Serves on Perkatory Ship
Camden Courier-Post —
Staff Sgt. Theodore P. Coyle, Camden flying engineer-gunner, knows all about one thing the Nazis don’t like—Perkatory.
This marauding B-26 bomber with the Ninth Air Force in England has won the coveted distinction of being the first ship in the medium bombardment group commanded by Col. Joseph W. Kelly to complete 50 missions in the European theatre of operations.
The ship’s proud record has been achieved without exhibitionism, but with a quiet thoroughness which is characteristic of the combat and ground crews which handle it. The plane completed its half-hundred missions on the same two engines it had when presented to its group in this country.
It is an exceedingly proud record for the ship piloted by Capt. Robert L. Perkins and his co-pilot, 1st Lt. Samuel W. Cochran, of Houston, Tex., and Waynesboro, Miss., respectively.
Coyle, celebrating his 24th birthday April 23, is the son of James J. and Josephine Coyle of North Twenty-second street. His father is a tinsmith at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation.
The Camden engineer-gunner on the Marauder, has been in the service since Jan. 8, 1942, and went overseas in July, 1943. He was graduated from Camden High school in 1938. He was employed in the record department of the RCA Victor Division of the RCA Manufacturing Co. when he enlisted.
He recently wrote to his parents announcing he and the others in the Perkatory’s crew were due to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross. Each member now holds the Air Medal.
Although Coyle did not mention his ship’s exploits in his letters home, the Ninth Air Force has brought to light the achievements of the plane and its crew.
Perkatory has flown over the roughest citadels of flak in the Marauders’ range of operations—over Rouen, Paris, Bruges, Luxembourg and to Amsterdam—when every ship in the formation in which it was flying was shot down. Through them all the ship has led a charmed life. Its ground crew has had to patch only 30-odd flak holes in the ship’s 50 missions. The most serious damage was partial severance of an elevator cable by an anti-aircraft fragment.
Since Captain Perkins’ ship joined the group, he has flown her only 30 of the 50 missions. Twelve other pilots have made the other 20 flights.
The plane’s christening came about while Perkins and his crew belonged to the “Red Devil” squadron before leaving the United States. Other crews were giving their ships names such as “Son of Satan,” “Hell’s-A-Popping,” and “Hell’s Fury” to carry out the theme. A slight variation of the theme was used for Perkatory.
Speaking of the pilot, one of the crew members declared: “Never saw that long joker upset about anything as long as I’ve known him.” Captain Perkins stands six feet five inches.
Coyle has a brother, Raymond, 19, now serving with the Coast Guard on convoy duty. Raymond attended Woodrow Wilson High school and was due to be graduated in June, 1943, when he became impatient and enlisted the preceding January. However, he had obtained enough credits and was awarded his diploma.