Elmer Bruce Lloyd

Elmer Bruce Lloyd enlisted in the Navy c. 1918, where he was quickly promoted to Naval Chief. As an airplane mechanic, his full title was Aviation Chief, Machinists Mate. He served in that capacity until c. 1947, when he retired. He served on the battleship USS Idaho and on the aircraft carrier USS Ranger, in addition to other ships. At one point in his career, the members of the squadron who served with him held a vote to determine whether his nickname would be “Big Bad Wolf” or “The Bull of the Woods.” The second term was chosen and his friends and shipmates usually just called him Bull.

Elmer Bruce Lloyd liked to make things. Some of the objects still in the family include wooden rattles with sliding parts, which had been carved from a single piece of wood, miniature brass tools, table lamps made from shell casings and a floor lamp made from an airplane propeller.

He married Inez (Sissy) Minerva Herrington in 1922 and they had three children, a girl and two boys. His wife always referred to him as Lloyd. One of his sons wrote about him: "I thought he had finished the eighth grade but [name excerpted] says Father told him it was the third grade and I believe him. The story goes that since he was the strongest boy in the class the teacher kept him busy with chores: i.e keeping the school heated. In Upper Michigan with a wood burning stove this would be a real work assignment. This was the late eighteen hundreds and winter in Michigan involved wood fired stoves, floors were meant to be swept and snow was designed to be shoveled and of course at that time children didn't usually get a lot of schooling. Since he wasn't learning he didn't like school and dropped out. He was quite intelligent, quite strong and knew how to use his strength and he knew how to use his intelligence to multiply his strength (he knew where to put the fulcrum when he moved the earth). He knew how almost anything worked as well as how it had been made. The best part was that he could and did explain these things to us kids. He read widely and would certainly be considered self educated today. I am not sure that he ever appreciated just how intelligent he really was. He was a natural leader and he knew how to get others to follow him. He told [name excerpted] of working with his father as a lumberjack when he was young. He was young and eager and was busting his butt to make as much money as possible. His father was less motivated and did not work as hard and when Father realized this he was upset because they shared the money equally. That didn't help his relationship with his father any for after all being a leader of men does not make one a leader of his father. As a father not only do you not listen to your kids but they do not listen to you."

In 1937 he fell from a catwalk (probably on the USS Ranger), when he tripped on a rope. His fall took him into a moving propeller blade which mangled his right arm and shoulder. He was in a military hospital for approximately a year after that, during which time he taught himself to write with his left hand. He died of a heart attack, possibly brought on by complications from his injury, in 1948.

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