Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1961 Lucky Bag:

CECIL SCOTT BOYD

Scott — 7th Company

Scott came to the “quiet fishing village on the banks of the Naval Academy” from San Diego, California, and avidly claims it as home with all its beaches, beautiful girls and wide open spaces. He graduated with honors from Kearney High School where he was very active in school affairs. He did quite well on the wrestling mat both at Kearney, where he placed second in the Southern California State Championships, and at the Academy where he wrestled three years for Coach Schwartz at one hundred and thirty seven pounds in the number one slot. His other interests lay in popular music, running plebes, studying the opposite sex, and eating. Although physically, he rises to no great height, with his determination and enthusiasm Scott stands out in a crowd and he will be welcomed in the Fleet.

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He was also a member of the 7th Company staff (spring).

Loss

Scott was lost on January 31, 1968 when the airplane he was piloting crashed near Zapata, Texas. A pilot trainee, he had been serving with 3641st Student Squadron, Laredo Air Force Base, Texas.

Other Information

From the June 1968 issue of Shipmate:

Capt. Boyd, who was born in Pennsylvania, was graduated from the Naval Academy in 1961. He was assigned to Squadron Officers School at Greenville Air Force Base, Miss., then to Headquarters Lowry Technical Training Center, Lowry Air Force Base, Colo. He received a Master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1965, then became a project engineer, Gemini Specialty Branch, Eglin AFB, Fla. Following Squadron Officers’ School at Maxwell AFB, Ala., he became a project engineer, then chairman. Project Branch, Headquarters APGC, at Eglin.

Surviving are his widow Kristin; a son, Dennis S., and two daughters, Susan and Karen, of 410 Berkeley Rd., Laredo, Tx. 78040; his mother, Mrs. Sara B. Miller of Laytone Lake, Penns Grove, N. J. 08069.

From The Gettysburg Times on February 6, 1968:

CAPT, C, BOYD, TOWN NATIVE, DIES IN CRASH

Capt. Cecil S. Boyd, 28, Laredo, Tex., a native of Gettysburg, was fatally injured last Tuesday evening at 8:08 o’clock when his T-38 training plane crashed about 20 miles southeast of Zapata, Tex., while he was on a solo training flight from the Laredo Air Force Base. Boyd was a son of Mrs. Neil Miller, the former Sara (Rife) Boyd, Penns Grove, N.J., and the late Cecil Boyd who died in 1957. A number of years ago the Boyds operated a tourist camp and garage along the Emmitsburg Rd.

ANNAPOLIS GRAD

The deceased graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1961, having received his appointment there from California. Following graduation he entered the U.S. Air Force. In addition to his mother he is survived by his widow, one son, Dennis, aged five: two daughters, Susan Lynne, four, and Karen Faith, 11 months. A number of relatives reside in Adams County.

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Cecil, who went by his middle name Scott, graduated from Kearny High School in 1957. He was named to the Who’s Who section of the yearbook. Senior Will: bequeathed to Morris, a shift with sleeves two yards long; also an efficient diet chart and all the good times I had in wrestling to the future wrestling teams.

On June 11, 1961, in the evening, Cecil married Kristin Margaret Trull at the Naval Academy chapel.

In October, 1965, Cecil was project officer and mission controller at Site A-20 at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. Its space tracking station 17 participated in tracking the orbiting Gemini spacecraft of astronauts Walter M. Schirra and Thomas P. Stafford in December.

Per the Pensacola News Journal on December 16, 1965: “Our aircraft were originally scheduled to be the backup photo chase system,” Capt. C. Scott Boyd, 26, of San Diego, Calif., project officer for the mission said. “But I got a phone call late Tuesday night at my home changing all this,” he added.

The primary chase KC-135 aircraft out of Patrick Air Force Base near Cape Kennedy had maintenance problems. Eglin’s two F-4C Phantom jets were used instead and successfully photo-chased the Gemini-Titan-6 booster rocket.

“This is the reason we flew a low profile mission to keep below 50,000 feet of altitude during the chase,” Major Charles D. Roby said.

His stepfather Neil C. Miller was employed at the DuPont Carneys Point plant as a ballistic supervisor in New Jersey.

He is buried in the Naval Academy Cemetery.

Photographs

From the June 1968 issue of Shipmate.

From his 1957 high school yearbook

From his 1957 high school yearbook

From his 1957 high school yearbook

From his 1957 high school yearbook

From the Gloucester County Times on February 1, 1968