Shot down 7 October 1944 in B-17 42-97638, Killed in Action.



AM w/ 2 Oak Leaf Cluster/ PH

Lloyd was born 15 Oct 1919, on a farm in Clintonville, Wisconsin. Later "Buddy" moved with his parents and siblings George and Kathryn to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where he graduated from Sheboygan High School in 1937. Nicknamed "Froney"; he was a senator, Kiwanian and a member of the honor society. His high school bio states he "intends to become a traveling salesman". His aunt described him as good looking, good to his mother, a devout Catholic and an artist. He was president of his senior class and enrolled in the extension of the University of Wisconsin after graduation. He also married Evelyn "Evie" Ayers at that time.

Like many other young men, he yearned for adventure and enlisted in the Army Air Force when WW II called because he loved flying. He entered the military on 13 Sept 1940, at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His rank was Tech/Sargent and as a tail gunner he was attached to the 748th Bomber Squadron of the 457th Bomber Group.

Countless family members displayed photos of Lloyd with his boyish face, in his proud uniform with the rugged handsomeness of virility at its peak. In his "flyboy" jacket, flanked by his Army buddies, they were all keepers of the peace. 

Military records from the National Archives state that B17G 42-97638, "Follow Me" was leading a formation of the 748th Squadron. They were one of several hundred planes that set out from a foggy English coast on 7 Oct 1944 for a bombing offensive on an oil refinery at Politz, Germany. The light morning fog allowed for a successful bombing run, but at 13:06 just after the bombs exploded, the clouds cleared allowing the German Sixth Flak Bridage to strike the fortress with two direct hits.

Of the ten crew membes, five were killed having fallen from the sky by abortive jumps or being trapped inside the fuselage. Lloyd was among the dead. The radio operator, Lt. Raymond Moon, was one of the surviving crew members who was captured and imprisoned in a German stalag. After his release he wrote to Lloyd's wife Evie who had anxiously written to Lt. Moon asking about her husband.

Lt. Moon was unsure of exactly what happened to Lloyd because he was in the radio room and had trouble getting out of the plane. He passed out from a lack of oxygen and found himself in mid-air falling free of the plane when he regained consciousness. He parachuted onto an island where he found parts of their plane which had blown apart. 

"The saddest thing was that I found Lloyd pinned beneath the wreakage of the bomb bay where he was apparently caught in an effort to jump", Lt. Moon wrote. Lloyd was 24 years old, one week from his 25th birthday. 

When Lt. Moon was captured by the Germans, he asked them to bury Lloyd and assured Evie that he was the last American to see Lloyd. Evie and Lloyd did not have any  children; however Evie married another military man about a year later. Together they had eight children. Evie passed away at age 94.

Lloyd is buried in the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial at Margraten, Eijsden-Margraten Municipality, Limbur, Netherlands.