US Navy Aviation Pilot 1st Class Lloyd Berry Maxwell was born in Arkansas on May 2, 1918, the son of William Elbert Maxwell (1876-1955) and Leona Martha Jane Ellis (1876-1967). His parents married in 1897 and his father supported his family as a farmer and stockman in Berryville, Arkansas.
In the midst of the Great Depression, Lloyd decided to enlist in the US Navy on June 12, 1939, after two years of high school. By 1940, he was listed as a seaman stationed at Pearl Harbor. Two years later, America was at war with Japan and was desperately in need of pilots in the South Pacific. So, without a college degree Lloyd applied and was accepted into the "enlisted aviation pilot" program, a stop gap method to fill the void for pilots. He got off the train at the L&N depot on East Wright Street and caught the bus out to NAS Pensacola where he reported in on February 4th to begin his flight training. While stationed here, he also met a young 21-year-old Milton girl by the name of Lucille Campbell. Things progressed into a proposal and then an acceptance of marriage on August 17, 1942.
As the war progressed, Lloyd was destined to be shipped to the South Pacific as soon as his flight training was complete. He was assigned to Patrol Squadron VP-24 that flew missions out of the Solomon Islands. One of those was the island of Tulagi, which had been captured from the Japanese by the Marines on August 9, 1942. Wasting no time, it was quickly turned into one of the finest naval harbors in the South Pacific. In addition to a refueling station and navy base, the Seabees also built a seaplane base on Florida Island nearby.
On July 12, 1943, LTjg Robert Chalvent Allen was in the process of landing his PBY-5 into Tulagi Harbor when he crashed and burned. All aboard went down with the sinking aircraft. Aboard was Allen, Ensign Archie H. Pate, Ensign William E. Leming, AMM2 William C. Henderson AMM2 Robert E. Neuman, AMM3 Agmar E. Voge, RM3 Otis T. Severson, and AP1 Lloyd Berry Maxwell. No bodies were recovered.
His parents and wife were notified but given the circumstances there was little else that could be done. In 1948, a memorial grave marker was sent to his parents in Berryville, Arkansas and placed near where they planned to be buried themselves. However, there is little evidence that his body was ever recovered.
Comments