White, Lloyd M.

Lloyd M. White June 2, 1917 - July 7, 2010 KEIZER - Lloyd 
Medric White was born on June 2, 1917 in Collinston, LA. He 
grew up in Bastrop, LA during the Great Depression and was 
frequently hungry as a child. As a barefoot five year old child, 
Lloyd earned the nickname "Boots" by pestering his family for 
a pair of "lace up" boots. His father, William Spencer White, was 
the first registered Pharmacist in Louisiana. William worked in 
the General Store and died when Lloyd was eight years old. 
Lloyd ("Boots") and his four siblings lived with their mother, 
Commie. Juanita Thompson White. Lloyd was next to the 
youngest of five children and the last survivor in his immediate 
family. He had two older sisters, Lois and Ruth; one older 
brother, Cedric ("Ced"); and one younger brother, Lamar 
("Sonny"). He attended Ouchita Parrish High School and played 
pool for fun and later for money and meals at the Buck Horn 
Pool Room next to Woolworths, where his future wife worked. 
He received a Penmanship Award in 7th grade and was known 
for his beautiful penmanship throughout his life. He joined the 
Navy at age 19 in 1936 and was excited to have "three square 
meals a day." Before WWII, Lloyd served on the cruiser USS 
Astoria, highlighted by a mission escorting the remains of the 
Japanese Ambassador to the U.S. for burial in his homeland. 
Lloyd was one of 400 crew members who participated in the 
funeral march and a 13-course dinner on the Imperial Palace 
grounds. On the return home they stopped in Shanghai where 
he remembered bomb craters filled with hundreds of 
decapitated Chinese men, hands tied behind their back with 
little grass ropes and corpses floating in the harbor, carnage of 
the Japanese invasion of China. Early in WWII, his destroyer 
escorted convoys in the north Atlantic on the ill-fated 
Murmansk run where he recalled hearing merchant ships 
exploding in the night and seeing life boats in the mornings 
filled with frozen corpses of Merchant Marine sailors. In late 
1942 he was transferred to the Pacific Theater as Chief 
Boatswain Mate on the USS Halligan, a new Fletcher-class 
destroyer, where he participated in all major battles and 
landings in the Pacific and witnessed several iconic images of 
the war. While providing support gun fire for Orange Beach at 
Leyte in the Philippines, he witnessed General McArthur and his 
party wading ashore in his celebrated return to the Philippines. 
At Iwo Jima, Lloyd watched from the bow of the USS Halligan 
just 600 yards offshore as the Marines raised the initial flag on 
Mt. Suribachi. After Iwo Jima, Lloyd participated in the battle of 
Okinawa with a fire support unit. On March 26, 1945, the USS 
Halligan struck a mine, and its forward magazine exploded, 
splitting the ship in two. Over half the crew was lost including 
all but one officer. Lloyd was immediately blinded from the 
blast and received burns over most of his body. He was the 
only surviving Chief Petty Officer. Lloyd married Ruth Vernon 
on October 13, 1941. He had a son, David Spence White on 
April 21, 1944 and a daughter, Loydell Ruth White ("Dell") on 
July 27, 1946. His family joined him at the Naval Base in Guam 
in 1948-1949, experiencing a major typhoon while there. 
Lloyd vividly remembered a wild night riding out that storm on 
an anchored barge in the harbor, which was half-submerged 
by morning. He moved to San Diego with his family in 1950. 
His family again joined him at the Yokuska Naval Base in Japan 
in 1954-1956, returning to the beloved fun-filled Rancho Road 
neighborhood in Spring Valley (San Diego). His kids remember 
him waking them up to the sound of the bosun's whistle and 
"Reveille! Reveille! All hands hit the deck." After retiring from 
the Navy in 1957, he managed a small business, Tools and 
Metals, in El Cajon, CA until retiring in 1979. Inspired by his 
personal experience with hunger, Lloyd began volunteering for 
the San Diego Food Share program in 1984. He was the SHARE 
host coordinator when he left San Diego for Oregon in 2002. 
Upon his departure, he was featured in the SHARE newsletter, 
referred to as "A Veteran who SHARES." Lloyd attended the 
Keizer Church of Christ every Sunday and enjoyed finding 
jokes to share at Bible class on Thursdays. He loved animals 
and spoiled them terribly. At age 90 he was walking one to 
three miles a day and was proud to still fit into his Navy dress 
blues which he wore to church and the Senior Center on 
Veteran's Day and Memorial Day. He enjoyed planting summer 
vegetable gardens, mowing his lawn, and Bible study. Lloyd is 
survived by his "bride of 69 years," Ruth Vernon White; son, 
Dave White; daughter and son-in-law, Dell and Rich Ford; 
grandchildren, Davina Caruso, Melissa White, Danielle Kissinger, 
Wendi and Martin Johnson; great-grandchildren, Alyssa, Davin, 
Jadin, Jericho, Jesse, Sage, and Tyler. His grandchildren 
remember him waking them up to, "One, two, three -- wide 
awake feeling wonderful!" Viewing will be from 12 noon to 6 
p.m., Wednesday, July 14th at Virgil Golden Funeral Home at 
605 Commercial St. SE. His memorial service and reception will 
be from 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 15th at the 
Keizer Church of Christ at 5405 Ridge Street NE, in Keizer. He 
will be interred at 3:00 later that afternoon at the Veterans' 
Cemetery in Portland with full military honors. Schedule: 
Wednesday, July 14, 12:00 - 6:00 Viewing Virgil T. Golden 
Funeral Service 605 Commercial St SE, Salem Thursday, July 15, 
10:30 - 1:00 Memorial Service & Reception Keizer Church of 
Christ 5405 Ridge Street, Keizer Thursday, July 15, 3:00 - 3:30 
Military Honors Committal Service Willamette National 
Cemetery 11800 SE Mt. Scott Blvd., Portland

Published in StatesmanJournal on July 11, 2010