AAE Alumni to be inducted into Purdue ROTC Hall of Fame
| Event Date: | April 4, 2011 |
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Col. Douglas Joyce (BSAAE '67) will be one of six ROTC alumni to be inducted in to the Purdue University Reserve Officer's Training Corps Hall of Fame on April 9th.
The annual induction ceremony honors distinguished graduates from the Air Force, Army, Marine and Navy ROTC Programs. The event, which is free and open to the public, will take place at 2 p.m. in the Purdue Armory with a performance by the 1950s and 1960s Purdue Drill Team, which performed at the White House for former President Kennedy.
Col. Douglas Joyce graduated from Purdue in 1967 as a Distinguished Military Graduate, earning his bachelor's degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering.
After earning a master’s degree from Purdue, he began a flying career for the Air Force that included two combat tours in support of the Vietnam War. He flew a combined 216 combat missions over two tours.
After the Vietnam War, Joyce became a test pilot and was the first Air Force pilot to fly the EF-111 prototype. His military career culminated as vice commander of a highly classified test and evaluation unit in Nevada. Joyce then began a career in higher education.
He led efforts to establish a professional pilot degree program at Daniel Webster College in New Hampshire. He was also crucial to the establishment and accreditation of the aerospace engineering program there.
The Purdue ROTC Hall of Fame was established in 1974 to honor graduates who exhibit the leadership, integrity, moral courage and self-discipline that the ROTC program seeks to develop.