Jim Doyle enlisted in the U.S. Navy at age 16. he was in a hangar on the west side of Pearl Harbor at the time of the attack and saw some of the Japanese planes flying in at street level. Among his worst memories were the smell of charred bodies and others floating. "Oil and slime were all over their bodies."
The photographs he took of the attack and aftermath are considered some of the most iconic of the attack. (I was, unfortunately, unable to locate any source which definitely showed his photos.)
During the Battle of the Coral Sea, he was on the aircraft carrier USS Lexington. After a sortie, he flew back to his ship, landed but had to abandon ship when it sank.
He later was shot down while ferrying planes to Guadalcanal. Marines braved enemy fire and rescued him. Mr. Doyle said he remembers none of this rescue as he woke up in a hospital in Brisbane, Australia.
Because of his injuries, he received a medical discharge in 1943.
--GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
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