Born 23 Dec 1919 to Ben and Martha Boyd, and grew up on a farm with two sisters, Eva and Jill, three miles northwest of Taylorville, IL. Graduated high school May 1937.

Enlisted Army Air Corps at Chanute Field, Rantoul, IL June 1940, Serial #7033061. Graduated Aircraft Mechanics School Nov 1940 and assigned to Randolph Field, TX. Started Flying School in Oct 1941 as an aviation student in Class 42-D to be graduated as a SSgt Pilot. 42-D was the second class of enlisted personnel and called Aviation Student instead of Flying Cadet.
Flight Training:
Primary: Muskogee, OK, PT-19s
Basic: Brady, TX, BT-13s, BT-15s
Advanced: Ellington Field, TX, AT-9s

Hospitalized for a month after completing Basic and graduated with Class 42-E in May 1942 as a SSgt Pilot. Received 25 hours of training in DC-3 types at Stout Field in Indianapolis, IN with 15 other SSgt Pilots. Then to San Francisco, CA. Boarded a ship in July 1942. Three weeks later, landed in Sydney, Australia. Assigned to 21st Transport Squadron at Archer Field in Brisbane, Australia. Spent most of the time in New Guinea flying all sorts of transports (DC-2s, DC-3s, DC-5s, C-47s, B-18s, L-14s, C-60s and LB-30s) supplying US and Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) troops pushing the Japanese back over the Owen Stanley Range, landing where possible or just pushing the cargo out the door when landing was not possible.

Commissioned: 2nd Lt, April 1943, Serial #0-888486
Promoted: IstLt, July 1943
Promoted: Captain, Feb 1944

Returned to USA in May 1944 and assigned to Sedalia AAFB, MO as instructor. Hired by Trans World Airlines (TWA) and released from Army Air Force in June 1945. The Captain on my first trip as Co-Pilot was my instructor at Brady, TX, J. S. Solomon. My first trip as Captain on TWA was in Sept 1948.

Recalled into US Air Force in May 1951. Assigned to 1271st Military Air Transport Service (MATS) Squadron at Malmstrom AFB, Great Falls, MT flying C-54s mostly to Alaska and Greenland. Returned to TWA in Dec 1952 and based at Willow Run Airport, Ypsilanti, MI serving the Detroit area.

Polio in Aug 1954 ended my flying career. After time spent in an iron lung and three years of recovery sufficient enough to allow me to work as a Pilot Instructor in flight simulators — first on Lockheed Constellations; then, on Boeing 707s, Convair 880s and Boeing 727s when the jet age came along. I retired from TWA in Jan 1983.

I married my high school sweetheart, Leota, and we have five great children: Molly, Marty, Becky, John and Dave. They gave me a plaque on the Wall of Honor for Christmas, 2000. Grandchildren include Becky, Brenda (killed by a drunk driver), John, Heather, Brad, Shaun, Aron, Ashley, Ben, and Courtney; and, our two great-grandchildren, Nicholas and Alexander.

After my family, I am most proud of having been a SSgt Pilot. There weren't many, and I am lucky to have been one of them. God has smiled on me.