Scope and Contents

The collection consists of postcards, a newsletter, a US Naval Schools Construction graduation program, a course completion certificate, letters, and photographs documenting John Lloyd-Davies' service in Vietnam as a SeaBee from December 1967 to December 1968. Some letters include accounts of an excursion into eastern Canada that Lloyd-Davies made after his tour of Vietnam. The photographs also include scenes from Lloyd-Davies' post-Vietnam life.

Biographical / Historical

John Arthur Lloyd-Davies was born in September 1944 in Fort Worth, Texas, the son of Arthur and Pauline Lloyd-Davies. In early 1945, the family moved back to Aberdeen, South Dakota, the hometown of both parents. John grew up there and graduated from Central High School in 1962. He did a lot of construction work with his father, and also worked on a road survey crew with the US Forest Service in the mid-1960's. He intermittently attended Northern State College in Aberdeen.

John enlisted in the US Navy in April 1967 and was honorably discharged in October 1970. Commensurate with his construction experience, he was trained as a Seabee (Construction Battalion) and achieved the rank of BU-3. He was deployed to Vietnam in December 1967 and served a one-year tour there. He was there during the Tet Offensive of January 1968. He was stationed in northernmost South Vietnam, close to the Demilitarized Zone. He spent several months at Dong Ha, but the bulk of his tour was at Cua Viet, a small port. Cua Viet was within range of North Vietnamese heavy artillery in the DMZ, and John experienced relentless shelling and rocketing. When asked how often they were shelled, he replied, "Every other day, and always on Thursday, or anytime new supplies were landed." The Seabees were kept busy rebuilding, as the enemy destroyed buildings as fast as the Seabees could put them up.

John was the oldest of seven children. He wrote many eloquent and descriptive letters to his family. People referred to in the letters include his siblings Kathe (Mary Kathleen), William, Jeanie (Jean), Paul, Stephen, and Philip; his father Arthur; his mother Pauline; his maternal step-grandmother RoseEllen Gerber; and his maternal grandfather Henry P. Gerber (referred to as Dude or Dood).

John was very considerate and thoughtful, and even while deployed to Vietnam, would send birthday presents and cards to his family.

Upon discharge, John returned to Aberdeen and resided in the family home. He resumed construction work and intermittently attended Northern State College. He eventually earned a BS in Mathematics in 1982, but never practiced in that field.

Like many Vietnam veterans, John struggled with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the effects of Agent Orange, and alcohol. He insisted on sleeping in the basement of the family home, as it offered the protection of concrete walls. He eventually left that home in the late 1980's and did itinerant construction work in many states. He was homeless for much of three decades, despite the efforts of siblings, parents, and veterans groups such as the Vietnam Veterans of America to get him into housing. He lived for about 10 years on the street in Seattle, Washington, where he could be reliably found camped between two concrete pillars of the Alaskan Way Viaduct just off the wharf. He had a concrete roof above him, concrete underneath, and concrete on two sides. His siblings regularly mailed or delivered care packages to him.

John eventually suffered medical problems from his Agent Orange exposure, and was hospitalized several times. In September 2011, he entered a nursing home in Ipswich, South Dakota. He was awarded full VA Disability as a result of his Vietnam exposures. He passed away in April 2017.

In John's letters, he refers to the many photographs and movies he took in Vietnam. Unfortunately, these were lost during his years of homelessness.