Medic gets medal for Iraq rescue
Published: December 9, 2005
Undaunted as gunfire rattled around them, Peabody native and US Army National Guard medic Kevin Doyle and the helicopter crew known as Smuggler 62 touched down in the darkened city of Tal Afar, Iraq.
Doyle, a sergeant, leapt from the helicopter and scampered through the streets, clutching his M4 assault rifle in the dark August night. As bullets whizzed around him, he focused only on staying alive and finding two downed helicopter pilots his crew had been summoned to rescue.
According to accounts in an Army press release, Doyle, 35, and Smuggler 62 accomplished their mission within minutes: With help from nearby ground troops, Doyle found the pilots, loaded them into the helicopter, and whisked them to safety, all while being vulnerable himself to gunfire.
For rescuing the two pilots, Doyle and three other members of Smuggler 62 were awarded the Army Air Medal with Valor in Iraq on Thanksgiving Day. The news just recently reached home, Doyle’s friends and relatives said, because Doyle was too modest to tell them sooner.
”I think we were probably more shocked than anyone,” said Jim Doyle, the medic’s uncle, who has lived with Kevin in Peabody for more than 20 years. ”He never mentioned it. . . . I suppose he just didn’t want to say anything.”
A reserve police officer, volunteer firefighter, and former emergency room paramedic, Kevin Doyle has served in Iraq since January as a member of the 1159th Medical Company, 36th Medical Evacuation Battalion, his uncle said.
He has worked as a medic since he graduated from Masconomet Regional High School in Topsfield in 1989.
Some nights, Jim Doyle said, phone calls for help from ambulance crewmates would rouse his nephew at 2 or 3 a.m. But Kevin Doyle never asked questions; he simply got up, put on his clothes, and went to work, his uncle said.
”I think there’s some people just cut out for that kind of work,” Doyle said. ”He’s always wanted to do something to help people.”
Kevin Doyle joined the military once before as a paratrooper, shortly after he graduated from high school, said his sister, Rhonda Martin. He was discharged after an injury, but the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, pushed him to enlist again, she said.
Doyle calls home every few weeks, Martin said, but he rarely talks about himself. Instead, he asks about his 4-year-old niece and makes small talk about family, promising that he is saving his stories about Iraq until he comes home in January.
When he returns from Iraq, relatives said, Doyle wants to work as a state trooper. But first, Martin said, he is slated to enter helicopter pilot training in June and is prepared to do at least one more tour overseas.
”That’s my brother,” Martin said. ”He just doesn’t think what he’s doing is a big deal.”
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