Riley Marshall awarded Commander Doyle W. Lynn Penn State Scholarship

Riley Marshall, Hopewell High School Class of 2014 graduate and the daughter of Bob and Tia Marshall of Hopewell Township, was awarded the Doyle W. Lynn Scholarship from Penn State University.

This scholarship is presented annually to a Hopewell High School graduating senior and is in excess of $5000. The award is presented to a student who will major in Engineering or Science and is named in honor of CMDR Doyle W. Lynn, a highly decorated fighter pilot Hopewell High School alumnus who was killed in action in North Vietnam in 1965.

Congratulations to Riley!


Commander Doyle Wilmer Lynn of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, born 3 November 1926, date of loss 27 May 1965. MIA, later listed as Killed in Action, his aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire while he was in the target area and crashed. He served in the US Navy for 19 years and was 38 years old.

A native of Pennsylvania, Doyle Lynn was commissioned and designated a Naval Aviator in 1947. Later, he flew 44 missions as a member of one of the first jet fighter squadrons to enter combat during the Korean War. After tours as a flight instructor, staff duty in Washington and attending the US Naval War College, Commander Lynn was assigned to Fighter Squadron One Eleven as Executive Officer in February 1963. He took part in Yankee team Operations in the Gulf of Tonkin.

Commander Doyle W. Lynn was a Navy Crusader pilot. Lynn was not a green pilot. He had participated in the early Yankee Team operatons in central Laos in 1964.

In the spring of 1964, Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese forces launched attacks against Neutralist forces on the Plain of Jars in Xiangkhoang Province, Laos.

Air Force and Navy photoreconnaissance jets began gathering intelligence information in May 1964 in Laos, and the result was a number of photos showing the Plain of Jars bristling with newly installed anti-aircraft guns.

Ambassador Leonard Unger obtained approval from the Johnson Administration to release the fuses on previously delivered U.S. bombs, for use by the Royal Lao Air Force. Prince Souvanna Phouma also authorized the use of U.S. fighters to accompany the unarmed reconnaissance jets over Laotian territory, and these missions became code-named Yankee Team.

Commander Lynn was at that time assigned to Fighter Squadron 111 and on June 7 flew an F8D as escort on a Yankee Team reconnaissance mission over central Laos. His aircraft was shot down that day, but fortunately, he was rescued the following day. The rescue operations of this period laid the groundwork for the most successful combat rescue missions in history.

The following year, May 27, Lynn was still in combat. During a combat mission over Nghe An Province, North Vietnam near the city of Vinh, his aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire while he was in the target area and crashed. No parachute was seen, and little hope was held that Commander Lynn survived. He was listed Killed/Body Not Recovered.

We honor and thank this distinguished alumnus for his service to our country and for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of the United States of America.

We also thank his family for honoring his memory with this scholarship!

- See more at: http://www.hopewell.k12.pa.us/protected/ArticleView.aspx?iid=6GPBG0Y&dasi=4G22B#sthash.FtmODBTe.dpuf
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