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 Colonel
(USAF Retired)
Lloyd Ronald "Chief" Humphreys (1911-1986)
was born in Wheeler County, Oregon on 13 December 1911 to Rhys and Loula
Bebber Humphreys. He attended schools at Dayville and Oregon State College
at Corvallis, joining the Navy as a Naval aviation cadet, 8 August 1935. He
received his Navy wings at Pensacola, Florida on September 1, 1937 and
served three (3) years duty, his highest rank being Ensign. He left the Navy
in 1940 for employment with the Royal Netherlands East Indies government as a civil
flight instructor in Soerabaya, Java. With the Japanese invasion of the islands in
1942, he returned to the United States and re-entered the service in May
1943, being commissioned a First Lieutenant in the Army Air Corps. Using his
previous flight instructor experience, (before being commissioned) he took
the instructor's course and began teaching in the B-17 Flying Fortress at
Lockbourne, Ohio at the rank of Private! He returned to the Southwest
Pacific in 1944 and flew 560 combat hours with the 2nd Emergency Rescue
Squadron. He went on to fly in Korea and Vietnam as well.
He was a commander of Dover Air Force Base from 1962 until his
retirement from active duty in 1967. He had over 31 years of active
military service. Among his decorations and awards were the Legion of
Merit, the Distinguised Flying Cross, the
Air Medal with oak leaf
clusters, and two Presidential
Unit Citations. He was also awarded the
Conspicous Service Cross, Delaware's highest award given by the late
Governor Charles L. Terry Jr.
After his retirement from the Air
Force, he worked as assistant to the President of Delaware Technical and
Community College from 1967 to 1973. He was a member of Dover Elks Lodge
1903, the Retired Officers association of Dover Air Force Base and the
National Air Force Association.
He passed away on 21 June 1986 in
Dover, Delaware at age 75. See
the
letter written to his wife when he was awarded the Air Medal.
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