Norman Lyle Jr. of Birmingham, Mich., was a senior and managing editor of the student newspaper at Oberlin College when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. He was so outraged by the attack that he put his final semester of college on hold and joined the U.S. Army Air Force on Jan. 13, 1942. When asked why he did not finish his last semester of his four years at Oberlin before enlisting, his classic answer was, “What good will a diploma be if the Japs and Germans win this war?”
Danger Zone
After enlisting, Lyle attended the AAF combat crew training school at Hendricks Field in Sebring, Fla., and graduated as a navigator on Sept. 14, 1942. He was then assigned to the 36th Bombardment Squadron (H), which later became part of the 11th Army Air Force. He participated in multiple combat missions as a navigator aboard a B-17 bomber in the Aleutian Islands theater of operations. This was a particularly dangerous area of operations due not only to Japanese fire, but also due to continual poor weather conditions. In fact, it was said that the region's weather reportedly has taken more lives than the Japanese. His squadron bombed targets all through the Japanese-held areas in the Aleutian Island chain.
Killed in Action
On Feb. 25, 1943, Lyle was slightly injured when his badly shot-up B-17 had to make a crash landing after bombing the Japanese-held island of Kiska. His bombardier on the flight was killed, and the rest of the crew was badly injured. Lyle was the only member of the crew who was able to walk away from the crashed airplane. Unfortunately, his luck ran out on July 15, 1943, when he was killed in action over the Aleutian Islands.
Our Collection
The Michigan Traveling Military Museum is pleased to have and display the 1st Lt. Norman Lyle 11th Army Air Force B-17 navigator killed-in-action Purple Heart grouping. It is an exceptional set including his A-2 jacket, medals and paperwork. It is fitting tribute to a brave young man who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving his country.
