Lloyd W. Michael
Rarely in a person’s life do you have the chance of knowing a great individual. Such a meeting can come while meeting the President of the United States, a Nobel Prizewinner, a popular television star, an award winning scientist, or a fortune 500 business executive.
Few would think that a common home was a suitable place for meeting such a person. The backyard is rarely a location to learn a person’s importance. Yet that is what has happened over the last 24 plus years while getting to know Lloyd Michael. The following stories show the extent of this dry humored, fun loving family man. Lloyd lived through the depression, fought in WWII, raised a family (Four children in one marriage) and did this through the changing times of the “hippie” era. He had his own business, was president of a Water District (Rancho Cucamonga) and has loved and supported many grandchildren and great grandchildren. Lloyd died December 6, 2013 but his memories will be with this friend for a lifetime. Lloyd’s birth was August 20, 1923 in Pomona, California.
Normandy
Lloyd served as a mechanic on P47 fighter planes and on the beaches of Normandy during the invasion in WWII. During one attack a plane could not drop its 500 lb. bomb. It hung, armed, on the plane dangling from its mount as the plane landed. Lloyd said, “We scattered for cover while it approached the runway, knowing the bomb may drop and or explode at any moment. The pilot did manage safely to land the plane but before it stopped the bomb exploded. Somehow the pilot remained unharmed by the explosion, only jumping from the plane injured him afterwards! (See the photo)
Lloyd spoke of another 500 lb. bomb that came in a similar way but when the plane landed this bomb came loose from the mount spinning like a top on the tarmac. Lloyd mentioned how the mechanics, he included, ran for cover. He praised the bravery of the men working on the explosives with these words, “The men on the bomb squad were the ones with real balls!”
The dead bodies of soldiers at Normandy When Lloyd served at Normandy, he wasn’t with the first groups who went in but saw the results of the terrible war. He said, “One evening I heard tractors working nonstop, lights, bright lights, off in the distance over a hill and loud. They were under blackout conditions at the time so he thought he’d peak over-the-hill to see what was going on. When he did, he saw the tractors digging the mass graves of the dead soldiers. His buddies were among the dead.
Just before Lloyd went to battle in Normandy he received a letter from President Eisenhower. (All the troops received the same letter) Military experts expected an 85% casualty rate of the invading force and informed the soldiers of such. (See picture)
Liege Belgium
Lloyd spoke of the biggest aerial dogfight of WWII. It took place in Belgium in the city Liege. He said the Germans lost 38 planes in this dogfight. Lloyd watched a pilot shot down, ride a bike back to base, grab another plane and go back into the fight. He never knew if the pilot survived the battle.
Lloyd’s Choice to Serve
Lloyd volunteered for the service. He said that those who volunteered had a serial number starting with 1900. Those drafted had a serial number starting with 2000. His number began with 19!
Bronze Star award for Service Lloyd shared how long it took to repair and rebuild a P47 engine, explaining it could take 3 days to rebuild because they had to move the engine to the hanger. He shared how he came up with an idea to build an engine mount that would allow them to work on the engine without leaving the plane. He built it and managed to cut the time of rebuilding the engine from three days to eight hours! His commanding officer told him to draw up the plans so they could reproduce it. When he did the commander submitted Lloyd’s plans with the commanders name as the originator of the idea. The commander received the Bronze Star for his accomplishment and left Lloyd to guard the tarmac when the area came under German attack and they had to leave. Lloyd then, the last men to leave the base said, “I learned quickly that my life had little value!”
While all of this was going on Lloyd never lost his sense of humor, carried any malice or lost his faith.
The Sherman Tank and the Truck
After the war ended the Germans turned their weapons and vehicles over to the allies for demolition. A Sherman tank was part of the pile of material Lloyd received. The motor was in good working condition. Lloyd a mechanic couldn’t pass up the opportunity to put this motor to use. He and a couple of his buddies decided they would put that huge motor into one of their trucks. Lloyd explained the difficulty installing the engine as they altered even the front seating to make it fit. Then he spoke about the truck drivers. Black men had duty to drive the trucks as they did not have permission to fight. He spoke of the great job they did and how proud they were of their work even though they couldn’t fight. He said, they did everything possible for the war effort!
As soon as they finished installing that Sherman tank motor into the truck, they looked for someone they could race. They soon found another truck waiting at a light onto the autobahn. Lloyd goosed the engine suggesting he wanted to race. Being proud of his job, the guy, now egged on, cooperated and when the light turned green, they both hit the gas. Lloyd, said, “All I could see in the mirror was the big whites of his eyes and his teeth as his mouth had dropped to the floor, at how quickly they passed him!
Lloyd spoke of the trucks they used for picking up the downed U.S. planes. The trucks displayed painted white silhouettes of the planes, they picked up on their sides, similar to what pilots do on their planes as a trophy. All these paintings represented U.S. planes! Not all the silhouettes represented salvaged planes. The trucks also held silhouettes of brooms. The brooms stood for cleanup only as there were no salvaged parts. One picture shown was full of white silhouettes. Nearly half were brooms.
Lloyd shared a funny story of a couple of guys who drove their parts truck into Paris to get plastered (drunk). (Lloyd said it was about 30 miles from camp. The truck carried a bunch of rivets and screws.) When they returned, the driver rolled the truck over an embankment. His buddy dislocated his shoulder, which the driver pulled back into place. They waited for help so his buddy could get to the hospital. Then the driver stayed with the truck waiting for help. When help arrived, they rolled the truck over and he drove the busted, dented, caved in and beat-up truck back to the base where he later received a commendation for bravery. Lloyd said the Sergeant who put the driver in for a commendation had a few loose screws.
When Lloyd and his buddies told the driver “he must have had the Lord with him,” the driver said, “Iffin I did, da Lord sure musta ben shook-up!”
The Hat Story
Lloyd’s army buddies knew he was chaste (Faithful to his wife) and tried on several occasions to get him to fool around. While overseas, soldiers went everywhere with their hats. The hat identified the soldier, any military personnel not wearing a hat would be shot. One day in a restaurant bar, his buddies stole his hat from him and gave it to a woman, who said he could only have it back if he had sex with her. (His buddies paid extra for her services if she could get him to do the deed.) He shared the long difficult task of getting the hat back, soiled by the woman, without soiling his reputation (losing his chastity) all while bombs dropped on the city! His “buddies” left him for the shelter during the raid. Lloyd said, “I wasn’t going back to my girl, soiled by the sins and diseases of the day!” He remained faithful to her his whole life!
Lloyd said, “My buddies went home with VD, while I came home, clean, integrity and health intact”. Lloyd and Marian would have reached their 71st wedding anniversary New Years Eve.
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
(John 15:13)
Lloyd Michael served his God, his Family and his Country. He volunteered to die for the cause, he gave his life to his family, sacrificing desires, and peer pressure for his “future.” He gave his time and energy for his God, his Family and his Country, remaining faithful to them his whole life.
Rarely in a person’s life do you have the chance of knowing a great individual. Such a meeting can come while meeting the President of the United States, a Nobel Prizewinner, a popular television star, an award winning scientist, or a fortune 500 business executive.
Few would think that a common home was a suitable place for meeting such a person. The backyard is rarely a location to learn a person’s importance. Yet that is what has happened over the last 24 plus years while getting to know Lloyd Michael. The following stories show the extent of this dry humored, fun loving family man. Lloyd lived through the depression, fought in WWII, raised a family (Four children in one marriage) and did this through the changing times of the “hippie” era. He had his own business, was president of a Water District (Rancho Cucamonga) and has loved and supported many grandchildren and great grandchildren. Lloyd died December 6, 2013 but his memories will be with this friend for a lifetime. Lloyd’s birth was August 20, 1923 in Pomona, California.
Normandy
Lloyd served as a mechanic on P47 fighter planes and on the beaches of Normandy during the invasion in WWII. During one attack a plane could not drop its 500 lb. bomb. It hung, armed, on the plane dangling from its mount as the plane landed. Lloyd said, “We scattered for cover while it approached the runway, knowing the bomb may drop and or explode at any moment. The pilot did manage safely to land the plane but before it stopped the bomb exploded. Somehow the pilot remained unharmed by the explosion, only jumping from the plane injured him afterwards! (See the photo)
Lloyd spoke of another 500 lb. bomb that came in a similar way but when the plane landed this bomb came loose from the mount spinning like a top on the tarmac. Lloyd mentioned how the mechanics, he included, ran for cover. He praised the bravery of the men working on the explosives with these words, “The men on the bomb squad were the ones with real balls!”
The dead bodies of soldiers at Normandy When Lloyd served at Normandy, he wasn’t with the first groups who went in but saw the results of the terrible war. He said, “One evening I heard tractors working nonstop, lights, bright lights, off in the distance over a hill and loud. They were under blackout conditions at the time so he thought he’d peak over-the-hill to see what was going on. When he did, he saw the tractors digging the mass graves of the dead soldiers. His buddies were among the dead.
Just before Lloyd went to battle in Normandy he received a letter from President Eisenhower. (All the troops received the same letter) Military experts expected an 85% casualty rate of the invading force and informed the soldiers of such. (See picture)
Liege Belgium
Lloyd spoke of the biggest aerial dogfight of WWII. It took place in Belgium in the city Liege. He said the Germans lost 38 planes in this dogfight. Lloyd watched a pilot shot down, ride a bike back to base, grab another plane and go back into the fight. He never knew if the pilot survived the battle.
Lloyd’s Choice to Serve
Lloyd volunteered for the service. He said that those who volunteered had a serial number starting with 1900. Those drafted had a serial number starting with 2000. His number began with 19!
Bronze Star award for Service Lloyd shared how long it took to repair and rebuild a P47 engine, explaining it could take 3 days to rebuild because they had to move the engine to the hanger. He shared how he came up with an idea to build an engine mount that would allow them to work on the engine without leaving the plane. He built it and managed to cut the time of rebuilding the engine from three days to eight hours! His commanding officer told him to draw up the plans so they could reproduce it. When he did the commander submitted Lloyd’s plans with the commanders name as the originator of the idea. The commander received the Bronze Star for his accomplishment and left Lloyd to guard the tarmac when the area came under German attack and they had to leave. Lloyd then, the last men to leave the base said, “I learned quickly that my life had little value!”
While all of this was going on Lloyd never lost his sense of humor, carried any malice or lost his faith.
The Sherman Tank and the Truck
After the war ended the Germans turned their weapons and vehicles over to the allies for demolition. A Sherman tank was part of the pile of material Lloyd received. The motor was in good working condition. Lloyd a mechanic couldn’t pass up the opportunity to put this motor to use. He and a couple of his buddies decided they would put that huge motor into one of their trucks. Lloyd explained the difficulty installing the engine as they altered even the front seating to make it fit. Then he spoke about the truck drivers. Black men had duty to drive the trucks as they did not have permission to fight. He spoke of the great job they did and how proud they were of their work even though they couldn’t fight. He said, they did everything possible for the war effort!
As soon as they finished installing that Sherman tank motor into the truck, they looked for someone they could race. They soon found another truck waiting at a light onto the autobahn. Lloyd goosed the engine suggesting he wanted to race. Being proud of his job, the guy, now egged on, cooperated and when the light turned green, they both hit the gas. Lloyd, said, “All I could see in the mirror was the big whites of his eyes and his teeth as his mouth had dropped to the floor, at how quickly they passed him!
Lloyd spoke of the trucks they used for picking up the downed U.S. planes. The trucks displayed painted white silhouettes of the planes, they picked up on their sides, similar to what pilots do on their planes as a trophy. All these paintings represented U.S. planes! Not all the silhouettes represented salvaged planes. The trucks also held silhouettes of brooms. The brooms stood for cleanup only as there were no salvaged parts. One picture shown was full of white silhouettes. Nearly half were brooms.
Lloyd shared a funny story of a couple of guys who drove their parts truck into Paris to get plastered (drunk). (Lloyd said it was about 30 miles from camp. The truck carried a bunch of rivets and screws.) When they returned, the driver rolled the truck over an embankment. His buddy dislocated his shoulder, which the driver pulled back into place. They waited for help so his buddy could get to the hospital. Then the driver stayed with the truck waiting for help. When help arrived, they rolled the truck over and he drove the busted, dented, caved in and beat-up truck back to the base where he later received a commendation for bravery. Lloyd said the Sergeant who put the driver in for a commendation had a few loose screws.
When Lloyd and his buddies told the driver “he must have had the Lord with him,” the driver said, “Iffin I did, da Lord sure musta ben shook-up!”
The Hat Story
Lloyd’s army buddies knew he was chaste (Faithful to his wife) and tried on several occasions to get him to fool around. While overseas, soldiers went everywhere with their hats. The hat identified the soldier, any military personnel not wearing a hat would be shot. One day in a restaurant bar, his buddies stole his hat from him and gave it to a woman, who said he could only have it back if he had sex with her. (His buddies paid extra for her services if she could get him to do the deed.) He shared the long difficult task of getting the hat back, soiled by the woman, without soiling his reputation (losing his chastity) all while bombs dropped on the city! His “buddies” left him for the shelter during the raid. Lloyd said, “I wasn’t going back to my girl, soiled by the sins and diseases of the day!” He remained faithful to her his whole life!
Lloyd said, “My buddies went home with VD, while I came home, clean, integrity and health intact”. Lloyd and Marian would have reached their 71st wedding anniversary New Years Eve.
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
(John 15:13)
Lloyd Michael served his God, his Family and his Country. He volunteered to die for the cause, he gave his life to his family, sacrificing desires, and peer pressure for his “future.” He gave his time and energy for his God, his Family and his Country, remaining faithful to them his whole life.
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