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Note: d Clifford ran away from home around 1918, never to be heard from again.
There is, however, a WWI enlistment card on file for Lloyd Clifford in the Missouri State Archives. It shows that he enlisted in the Navy as a Fireman 3rd Class on March 9, 1917, and that he deserted the military as a Fireman 1st Class on February 22, 1919, after hostilities had ceased.
Lloyd’s military file contains a letter which explains that he and several of his shipmates went AWOL together after they got into a heated argument with their superior officer. Lloyd’s file also suggests that he was an exemplary sailor up until the time he went AWOL.
While in the Navy, Lloyd served aboard the U. S. S. New Hampshire, and his record suggests that he was fairly well traveled for a farm boy from Missouri back in those days:
"Between 25th May, 1918, and 11th November, 1918 cruised in the North Atlantic on board the U. S. S. New Hampshire; also made two trips as far as Longitude 15 ° W., escorting troop convoys, and visited Ponta Delgada, Azores Islands."
There is a family story that when Lloyd Clifford’s mother, Mary L., died in 1933, a plane flew over the funeral service and tilted a wing in salute. Some family members present at the time said that it must have been Lloyd Clifford saying goodbye to his mother.
There is a cryptic note in some of Uncle Noel's (Glen Noel Blackwood) papers which states that Lloyd died in 1935, though we do not know where he got this date or if it is correct. Lloyd seems to have vanished into history after deserting from the military.
(If anyone has information regarding Lloyd Clifford, or any possible descendants, please contact B. A. Blackwood at: blackwood204@hal-pc.org .)
Note: Family lore, as related by Glen Noel Blackwood and Everett Earl Blackwood, has it that Lloy
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