Unveiling The Mysteries: The Branch Davidians After The Siege Ep.59 Pt.3

Scythian Jo-hn

Part three of a three part series. After the siege at Waco, the group that survived faced criminal charge, with some not doing any time.

Transcript

00:00This is the story of Clive Joseph Doyle, an Australian immigrant, a Branch Davidian,

00:05and one of the few survivors of the Waco tragedy. Born in Melbourne in 1941,

00:11Doyle's life would intersect with a religious movement and a national crisis that defined a

00:15generation. He moved to the United States in the 1960s, rose to prominence inside the Branch Davidians,

00:22survived the April 19, 1993 fire, helped rebuild at Mount Carmel, and died in 2022. His beginnings

00:31were humble, raised in Melbourne by a single mother and trained in trades before faith redirected his

00:36path. Doyle worked as a printer and later sought a new life in America. By 1964, he had moved to Waco,

00:45joining a community rooted in the Davidian Seventh-day Adventist tradition. He became a committed

00:50member, later an editor and theological voice inside the movement. The story turns in 1993 when federal

00:57agents confronted the Mount Carmel compound, an event that ended in a deadly fire. Doyle would

01:02be among nine survivors of that day. To understand him, we go back. To Melbourne, to family, and to

01:08faith. This is Clive Doyle's journey. Clive Joseph Doyle was born in Melbourne on the 24th of February,

01:151941. His mother worked in a garment factory. His father left before he was born. With limited means,

01:23Doyle grew up in working-class circumstances and apprenticed in a cabinet shop. An itinerant

01:28preacher introduced him and his mother to the Shepherd's Rod, a Davidian splinter group that

01:33reshaped their faith. Doyle quit his apprenticeship in 1958 and moved to Tasmania to spread the teachings,

01:41eventually raising funds to relocate to Waco in 1964. He cemented his life around the Mount Carmel

01:48community for decades to come. In later years, Doyle edited Shekinah and helped shape Lois Rodin's

01:55theological work, often debating the nature of the Holy Spirit. He argued for a feminine representation

02:01of the Spirit and became a recognized voice among followers. His background in printing and editing

02:07gave him an important role in communicating doctrine. The 1980s brought internal conflicts.

02:13Disputes over leadership led Doyle to briefly leave the group at times. Tensions between leaders

02:18like George Rodin and David Koresh altered the community's path. By 1990, Doyle worked for the U.S.

02:25Census and held various jobs while remaining tied to the Davidians. He had two daughters, Karen and

02:31Sherry. Both would later be linked in tragic ways to the movement and its leader. Sherry Doyle, born 1974,

02:39died in the April 19 fire. Karen lived separately but remained connected to the community. Karen later

02:46died in an unrelated crash in 2018, further losses in a life marked by grief. All roads lead to 1993,

02:55the siege that would test Doyle and the community. He was inside Mount Carmel when federal agents arrived.

03:01What followed is a complex and disputed history. A siege, a fire, and a narrative that still

03:06divides opinion today. On February 28, 1993, ATF agents attempted a raid. Shots were exchanged and

03:14four people inside the compound were killed that day. Doyle helped make early burials in the storm

03:19shelter, improvising in desperate circumstances. He later recounted finding wounded members and trying

03:25to aid them. Negotiations stretched for 51 days. Doyle maintained contact with negotiators at times,

03:32seeking information about family and safety. He recalled being promised messages from loved ones

03:37and dealing with uncertainty inside. Hope and fear coexisted within the walls of Mount Carmel.

03:44On April 19, after tear gas was introduced, fires broke out. Smoke and flames filled the building. Doyle grabbed a

03:51gas mask and layers to protect himself. His hands sustained severe burns during the escape. He and a

03:57small group escaped through a breach in the chapel wall amid chaos and flames. Doyle was taken to Parkland

04:03Memorial Hospital with second and third degree burns. He required skin grafts and months of recovery,

04:09both physically and emotionally. He faced charges related to the siege, but was acquitted in 1994.

04:16In 1999, Doyle and survivors rebuilt a chapel on the Mount Carmel site, an act of remembrance and

04:23resilience. He participated in anniversary services and maintained ties with surviving members. Volunteers

04:30and supporters helped restore the site and its memory. Doyle publicly rejected violence as a form of

04:36honorizing Waco. He condemned the Oklahoma City bombing and worried about extremist appropriation of the

04:43siege. In 2012, he published his memoir, offering oral histories and reflections on the events and faith

04:49that shaped him. Scholars and survivors have since used his accounts to understand what happened inside

04:55Mount Carmel. Doyle lived in Waco for decades after the siege, working modest jobs and tending to the

05:01memories of those lost. He remained faithful to his beliefs and to the memory of his family and fellow Davidians.

05:07So now, we are going to call back to them to the new one. We are a part of the new one.

05:11This has been a recent, a few years since we are now BROCEDA. The anti-19as

05:12had been tested in Waco, anda, has been tested in various divisions.

05:14So now this has been tested in Waco. No one was a part of these two of the early ends.

05:19So this has been tested in Waco, what was the thing that happened in the year?

05:21And we have now been tested in Waco. Now this is a more vigorous loss of the history.

05:22So there was even an awful lot of life. Not a negative one of the three of the other students have been tested in the

05:2320th century. But in the distance has been tested in the last two of the years.

05:25So, we have to wait for a lot of time. This is a pretty meaningful one of the first and a few years.

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