James Doyle

"A man of few words. I like that."

Sgt. James Edward Doyle was a British RAF Airman who took the job as a gunner in a B-17 Flying Fortress, and then joined the Special Air Service (SAS) in World War II.

Introduction
Sgt. Doyle was first in Call of Duty: United Offensive and was a returning character in Call of Duty 3. James Doyle joined the RAF on September 3, 1939 when the United Kingdom entered the War. Less than two years later, he served as a gunner for Lancaster bombers. In accordance with Lend Lease, the RAF were testing the effectiveness of heavy saturation daylight bombing with the new Boeing B17 Flying Fortress, or as the British termed it, "Fortress 1." Doyle is his pre-mission diary reveals his reluctance at this move. His misgivings are well founded when his bomber was shot down in an intense fight with the Luftwaffe on September 2, 1941 during an industrial raid over Rotterdam, Holland. Doyle escapes narrowly with the help of the Dutch Resistance in Holland under S.O.E. operative Maj. Ingram. Impressed at Doyle's resourcefulness Ingram recruits the Sergeant and participates in the Sicilian campaign. Doyle later serves with the SAS in France where he took part in guerrilla operations and shadow warfare with the FFI.

Biography
Sgt. James Doyle joined the R.A.F on September 3, 1939 when the United Kingdom entered the conflict. On the morning of September 2, 1941, Sgt. Doyle joined the S.O.E organization without hesitation after participating in a routine bombing mission as a gunner of dorsal turret. The mission which is where Call of Duty: United Offensive' starts off in the British Campaign. On a routine bombing mission over Dutch soil, towards Rotterdam, the B17 he was in, "A for Andy", was shot down after an intense dogfight with BF-109s and flak fire. He bailed from his plane and lost all of his crew mates. Once he reached the ground, he was stuck upon a tree with German soldiers down patrolling below, he was then rescued by Major Ingram and a band of Dutch Resistance fighters. Doyle impressed Ingram, assisting the band of rebels greatly by destroying their objective, the bridge connecting Antwerp to Amsterdam and escaping from area with Ingram and surviving fighters. Maj. Ingram subsequently recruits Doyle into the S.O.E.

Earning a very high score in the SOE school in Guilford Doyle completes training in time to participate in the Sicilian invasion of July 1943. Doyle, Ingram, and a band of SAS commandos attacked a battery of heavy caliber guns along the Capo Murro di Porco area near Syracuse. The mission went well after the plantation of some C2 charges on the gun and ammo dump, but during the exfiltration, the SAS team that was mounting the Kubelwagen was wiped out by a Panzer. Doyle and Ingram escaped to the nearby town with a German motorcycle with a sidecar. They fought their way to the docks, and got on board a Nazi gunboat. They fought their way through a flotilla of Nazi gunboats with Maj. Ingram steering the ship and Sgt. Doyle manning the 20mm flak gun above the deck. They defeated the German patrol boats and escaped after witnessing the Battery's destruction from the sea to HMS Ulster Monarch.

During the Normandy Invasion, his group which consisted of SAS ops of Cpl. Keith, Pte. Wilkins along with Maj.Ingram, are tasked to parachute 2 jeeps into French countryside to help French Maquis with their hit and run operations. Unfortunately, his plane was shot down by Nazi flak guns during a night drop near the French countryside and he regroups with the French Resistance led by French SAS member named Pierre LaRouche and Cpl. Keith (Pte. Wilkins was killed by a German soldier and La Roche shot the soldier to save Doyle). He fought his way to find the lost jeeps, disabling manor house acting as makeshift barrack for flak gunners, and disabled the flak emplacement itself with help of Cpl. Keith and French Maquis. He joined up with Maj. Ingram and escaped to safety from pursuing German Panzers and vehicles. Soon after that battle, Sgt. Doyle fights in a German-controlled fuel plant in order to destroy it (to cut off fuel supply to Black Baron aka Richter, King Tiger that posed threat to Polish forces) and lost Major Ingram during exfiltration and midst of confusion. Soon, after arguing and debating with French Resistance members with Cpl. Keith, Doyle and the others rescue Major Ingram and some Maquis prisoners of war who are held hostage, but lost Isabelle DuFontaine, a major member in French Resistant. He served many more subversive operations against Germany with Maj. Ingram and Cpl. Keith until the end of the war.



Trivia

 * While it is widely accepted that "Soap" MacTavish has the highest kill count of any Call of Duty character, it could be argued that James Doyle has a higher kill count. While on-board a bomber, James Doyle shot down several German aircraft, destroyed a train full of enemy personnel and equipment, sunk several boats during a chase in Sicily, blew up a German fuel plant, cleared an entire village, and killed countless Nazis in the process. However, Soap's kill count increases in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
 * Doyle is the first playable SAS character in the Call of Duty series.
 * It is possible to see Doyle's body without driving the jeep, to do this, the player must stand on an elevated spot such as a crate or barrel and cook a grenade. When the grenade is about to blow, jump off the elevated position and explode in mid-air. If done correctly, the camera will exit Doyle's body, and the player will see Doyle's corpse fall to the ground.
 * An interesting fact is that if the player look closely in Call of Duty 3 he will be standing if the player cooks a grenade and does not jump. His body can also be seen if he is killed while moving.
 * During Maj. Ingram's capture with Captain Price in Austria, Sgt. Doyle supposed to be there too as Maj. Ingram's aide and captured altogether with Maj. Ingram and served as POW, but Doyle was nowhere to be found during Austria mission in Call of Duty. Presumably, Sgt. Doyle is the one that requested to send help to US forces, prompting 101st to send Capt. Foley along with his men to rescue Maj. Ingram and Capt. Price. Doyle escaped to England and later reunited with Maj. Ingram as shown in Call of Duty 3.
 * At the beginning of the British bombing mission on Call of Duty: United Offensive, there is suspicion that the picture of the young woman is supposed to be either Doyle's girlfriend or wife even though there is no source about her or the picture of her.
 * James Doyle is the only playable character to have a first name in Call of Duty 3.
 * Doyle, &quot;Soap&quot; MacTavish, John Price, Zach Parker, Reznov, Dimitri Petrenko, and the Nazi Zombie Squad are the only playable characters in the Call of Duty series that appear in another game in the series. Doyle appeared in Call of Duty: United Offensive and returned in Call of Duty 3; likewise, Soap is another playable character that appeared in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and returned in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Parker was featured in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare DS and returned in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized. As well, Doyle is the only character that appears in games developed by different companies.
 * The soldier at the beginning of "Fuel Plant" is most likely not Doyle as that soldier nods his head after LaRoche translates what Major Ingram is saying into French and that soldier has a French flag on his uniform.
 * Doyle seems to have bad luck, as in both missions, "Train Bridge" and "Night Drop" he is stuck in a tree. These are the only levels in which he paradrops.
 * He appears to be ambidextrous, as in the level "Fuel Plant", during the action sequence he punches the soldier with his left hand although he uses his right to shoot.
 * He is the highest ranked person playable in Call of Duty 3.
 * There could have been some kind of romantic interest between Doyle and Isabelle DuFontaine, as she always compliments and give Doyle witty remarks such as "A man of few words, I like that". Isabelle sometimes refers to him a 'Jim' as opposed to James. Doyle was also the only one who was properly with her when she died.
 * It was strongly rumored that Doyle would make a return in Call of Duty: World at War. When the game was released, there was large disappointment that he didn't. However, on the multiplayer map Nightfire there are ghosts, one of which is implied to be that of James Doyle. The others are believed to belong to Major Ingram and the other to Isabelle DuFontaine; who did die in Call of Duty 3. The presence of these ghosts suggests that Doyle met his death shortly after the end of his campaign.
 * Once again, it was believed that Doyle would return in Call of Duty: Black Ops. This rumor was enforced when it was announced that there would be new Nazi Zombie characters, leading many people to think that he might become a British Nazi Zombie fighter. Unfortunately, the hopes of many fans vanished when the American government became the new zombie squad, and that he didn't appear in the campaign either.

Source

 * Call of Duty: United Offensive
 * Call of Duty 3