The cold murky waters of Puget Sound snuffed out the life of a Watsonville marine.

Lloyd Benson was born in Mississippi in 1922. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. L. W. Benson, moved to California about 1934 and settled in the Pajaro Valley. The family ultimately grew to include his brothers Perry, Lewis and Lenwood, and a sister, Mrs. Ray Anderson. Lloyd attended local schools and graduated from Watsonville High School about 1940. Following his graduation, he was employed in the Pajaro Valley until 1943.

Lloyd Benson enlisted in the US Marine Corps in September 1943. He received his basic and school-of-infantry training at Camp Pendleton, California, near San Diego and was then posted to the Keyport Naval Torpedo Station near Bremerton, Washington. While at that naval facility, Benson served as a member of the US Marine Corps security force.

On November 18, 1944, while on liberty, Private First Class Benson was driving a car that crashed through a safety gate on the ferry dock at Suquamish, near Bremerton, Washington, and plunged into Puget Sound. Lloyd Benson drowned in the accident. His body was recovered and returned to Watsonville for a funeral service and burial in the Pajaro Valley Memorial Park.

(WRP 1944/11/20 1:2, 1944/12/11?, Pajaro Valley Cemetery Headstone 5/12/08)