Foil: 5 Panel: 2 Column: 1 Line: 20

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Mr. Jerry M. Lyle

Vice Admiral Joseph M. Lyle, Jr, USN, (born 6/28/1912, died 3/6/1990) had highly successful US Navy career as a Supply Corps officer with a particular focus on naval aviation supply.

VADM Lyle, originally from Augusta, Georgia, enlisted in 1930 at the age of 17 in the U.S. Navy as an
Apprentice Seaman. Through a series of qualifying examinations and Navy preparatory programs, he was admitted to the U.S. Naval Academy in 1931 and graduated in 1935 as an Ensign. Because of mild vision deficiencies, he transferred from the Navy line to the Supply Corps in 1937.

He was on duty December 6-7, 1941, at Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Hawaii as the Navy Yard Supply Department Duty Officer during the Japanese air attack on Pearl Harbor in World War II. He remained at Pearl Harbor until 1944 when he was transferred to the supply department at the Naval Air Station at Norfolk, Virginia as a Lieutenant Commander. Following the end of WWII and through subsequent years, his Navy assignments included the supply departments at the Naval Air Station, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; the Naval Aviation Supply Office (the Navy's inventory control point for aviation spare parts and technical material) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and the Naval Air Force Atlantic Fleet Command at Norfolk, Virginia.

After being promoted to Rear Admiral in 1958, he became Commanding Officer of the Aviation Supply Office at Philadelphia. Beginning in 1961 he served as Deputy Director and then Director of the Defense Supply Agency, which was located in the Washington, DC area. From this position, he retired from the Navy in 1967 as a Vice Admiral. He then became president of the civilian National Security Industrial Association in Washington, DC from 1967 through 1977. During his subsequent retirement years he lived in Reston, Virginia.