WOMEN VETERANS HISTORICAL COLLECTION

Rebecca Lloyd Collection, 1946-1972, 2006

#WV-346

• Name: Lloyd, Rebecca Ann
• Branch: United States Navy
• Served: 1950-1972
• UNCG: Class of 1950

ACQUISITION: Gift of Rebecca Lloyd in April 2006.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE: Rebecca Ann Lloyd, the daughter of Aubrey Paul and Georgia Garrison Lloyd, was born on 29 May 1929 in Greensboro, North Carolina. Her father operated a grocery store and her mother was a seamstress. She graduated from the Curry School in 1946 and then attended the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina. Lloyd graduated with a degree in recreation in 1950.

Lloyd joined the navy in 1950 and attended Officer Training School in Newport, Rhode Island. After six months of training she was sent to the Brooklyn Navy Yard in the Registered Publications Issuing Office and then to the Naval Correspondence Course Center, where she was a course instructor. At the same time, Lloyd earned a degree master's degree from New York University.

Lloyd became an engineering assistant for Admiral H.G. Rickover in Washington, D.C., and stayed with him for three years. She was then sent to the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. After two years as an administrative officer at the naval station in Norfolk, Virginia, from 1957 to 1959, Lloyd returned to Monterey for Navy Management School. She then went back to Washington, where she was stationed at the Office of Chief of Naval Operations in communications and budgeting from 1960 to 1963.

In April 1963 Lloyd was stationed in Yokohama, Japan. She returned to the United States in late 1964 and was sent to the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, California, where she was the comptroller. Lloyd then worked for the Commander, Amphibious Force, Pacific Fleet in the late 1960s and early 1970s. She retired from the navy in 1972.

Lloyd relocated to San Diego, California, when she left the service and became a commercial realtor.

COLLECTION OVERVIEW: Oral history interview, artifacts, military certificates and plaques, and slides

Primarily documents Rebecca Ann Lloyd's background; her education at the Curry School and the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina in the 1930s and 1940s; her twenty-year career in the U.S. Navy; and her commercial real estate career.

Lloyd discusses growing up in Greensboro, North Carolina, and attending the Curry School and the Woman's College. She talks about her father's grocery store; the teaching program at Curry; the city of Greensboro during the Depression; working on campus; Walter Clinton Jackson; and her professors.

Lloyd speaks primarily about her career in the navy and her various duty stations. She explains her decision to join the navy in 1950; her parents' reaction; and the impact of the Korean War on her decision. She also describes her officers' training at Newport, Rhode Island, including the instructors; the reactions of the men; and her course of study.

Lloyd discusses her first assignment at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in the Registered Publications Issuing Office. Topics include having a boss who didn't believe in women being officers; working in the library with classified materials; and the civilians and navy personnel that she worked with. She also briefly recalls teaching with the Naval Correspondence Course Center in Brooklyn.

Lloyd speaks about her work with Admiral H.G. Rickover in Washington, D.C., in the mid-1950s. She recalls her interview with Rickover; what it was like to work with him; the controversial nature of their work; and being involved in the development of the first nuclear-powered submarine.

Lloyd briefly discusses attending school in Monterey, California, and her duty stations in Norfolk, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Topics mainly include her collateral duties at Norfolk, including being involved in design and furnishings of new women's barracks and shore patrol. Lloyd recalls an incident of racial discrimination and assault on one of a navy woman. She also describes a trip to Puerto Rico when naval communications took over for the army and air force and comments on interactions with army and air force personnel.

Lloyd also recalls her duty in Japan in 1963. Topics include her work in administration and personnel; interactions with the Japanese; sightseeing and travel; Japanese culture; and finding out about President John F. Kennedy's assassination while visiting Thailand.

Lloyd speaks about her work at the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, California, in the mid-1960s. She discusses her work as comptroller; the impact of the Vietnam War on her work; her thoughts about the war and the U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia; and her final duty station working with the Commander, Amphibious Force, Pacific Fleet, in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Lloyd talks about changes in the navy over the course of her career; changes in opportunities for women in navy; women in combat positions; and the importance of her military service in her life.

Lloyd also discusses her career in commercial real estate.

LOCATION:
Women Veterans Historical Collection
#WV-0346

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Last updated Monday June 30 2008 .