More detail on this person: Lt. Col. Lloyd F.
Childers, 94, passed away on July 15, 2015 at the
Moraga Royale retirement facility in Moraga
California. Lloyd was born on June 4, 1921 in
Norman, Oklahoma to parents Fred and Marie
Childers.
Lloyd joined the US Navy in 1939 at age 19 after
graduation from high school. He attended basic
training in San Diego, CA. at N T C. While
assigned to the USS Cassin in Hawaii as a
radioman, he survived the attack on Pearl Harbor
on December 7, 1941. He was later assigned to a
carrier group in the Pacific where he was a tail
gunner in a VT-3 torpedo plane on the USS
Yorktown (CV-5). His flight squadron, Torpedo
Squadron 3, was engaged in the historic Battle of
Midway on June 4, 1942 (coincidentally his 21st
birthday). Lloyd's plane was severely damaged by
enemy fire and he was gravely wounded. When his
machine gun jammed he used his service pistol to
continue to fire on the Japanese Zero's. Of 12
torpedo planes, his was one of two planes from his
squadron to survive the attack on the Japanese and
make its way back to the American fleet. His plane
was so damaged it could not land on a carrier and
ditched next to the USS Monaghan (DD-354). He
was later transferred to another ship for his
emergency medical treatment where he witnessed
the sinking of the USS Yorktown from sickbay.
For his heroism at the Battle of Midway he was
awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the
Purple Heart.
Lloyd met and married Mary Lorraine Sprouls in
1944. They had three sons. Mary died in 2009 and
he married Junetta Dawson in 2010, she preceded
him in death in 2013.
After flight school in 1945 he was commissioned as
a Marine officer and assigned to fly combat
missions in Korea in 1950 & 1951. He was retrained
as a helicopter pilot and was later deployed to
the Belgian Congo for "humanitarian assistance" in
1959.
Lloyd completed is BA degree in 1963 from the
University of Omaha but he wasn't quite done with
his military career. He commanded Marine
helicopter squadron HMM 361 in 1965 and 1966 in
De Nang Vietnam. It was there he led the first
successful night troop landing in a "Hot LZ". It
was in Vietnam that Lloyd received the Legion of
Merit as well as his second Distinguished Flying
Cross. In total he received 14 Air Metals in his
military career.
Before Lloyd finally retired from the military in
1968 after 28 years and he earned a Masters
Degree in Education. After a brief time as a
flight instructor at American Airlines, in 1973 he
earned a PhD in Higher Education Administration at
North Texas State University in Denton, Texas.
He served as an Associate Dean at Chapman
College in Orange California retiring in 1988 to
spend more time on golf and family.
Lloyd Childers is survived by his three sons
Michael, Kenneth (Jacquie), and Bruce (Kitty)
Childers, five grandchildren and four great
grandchildren. Donations would be appreciated for
the Wounded Warrior Project P.O. Box 758517,
Topeka, Kansas 66675.
Published in Contra Costa Times on July 18, 2015
This information was last updated 05/18/2016
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Date posted on this site: 07/12/2023
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