The life of Lloyd P. when he was young:

A small town boy in Libby, Montana, he started down the road to alcoholism when he was 16. His uncle used a nearby creek to cool his wine, and Lloyd sneaked down to try it out. "I got good and sick, but I also found I could do things drunk I was too bashful to do otherwise. Put the make on my cousin, for one. She didn´t let it go far."

The next year, he quit high school and joined the navy. That was in the spring of 1944. Assigned to a troop transport, he joined in beer busts on the beaches of New Guinea (the navy thoughtfully provided free beer to the crews) and participated in the assault landing on Luzon in the Philippines. He came home on leave just as the war in Germany ended. As a man in uniform on VE (Victory in Europe) Day, Lloyd was the toast of Libby, and did some heavy toasting in return.

Still only 18 years old, he was inducted into the local post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and got all the liquor he could handle, and then some. "The legal drinking age was 21, but as long as you were in uniform, there were no questions asked," he recalled. Except when he got "out of line," as he did a couple of times, and was thrown out of the hall.

His leave over, Lloyd and his ship returned to the Pacific to participate in the last battle of the Pacific war, the invasion of Okinawa. He went onto an invasion beach with a load of combat Marines from the Fifth Marine Division.

Back in the States just before VJ (Victory over Japan) Day, his ship was docked in Oakland when he had a seizure on shore leave. He woke up in the sick bay, but went out on leave again to join his buddies in "Frisco" for some major celebrating. He put away a quart of whiskey and woke up in Hayward, on the other side of the bay, in the hands of the shore police.

"By this time, I was getting drunk all I could. They put me in the hospital to see what was wrong, and I found out I had epilepsy." He received an honorable medical discharge and headed home for Montana, a journey that took him eight days.

"I was drinking nearly every day when I got home. That cotton-pickin´ bed of mine would go round and round. I´d throw my foot over the edge to try to stop it, but it never worked. My mother had to get up more than once to clean up after me. I realize now she was an enabler.

"I tried going back to high school, but that didn´t work so I got a job in a sawmill. We worked two weeks nights, two weeks days. I spent the days drinking and raising hell when I was on nights, and spent the nights drinking and raising hell when I was on days.

"I wanted to get married. I figured it would help me get straightened out. We had a boy, but I was still drinking, and we got divorced. Finally, it got so bad I quit my job and went to work for the Forest Service building trails and hauling brush. I found that wasn´t the answer either. We could still get to town."

Lloyd came out to Fall City in 1952 for what he thought would be a short vacation, but instead went to work at the Weyerhaeuser mill in Snoqualmie and spent 37 years there. He retired in 1989.

The drinking continued into his second marriage in 1958. "I really drank it up good, but I worked too. Had to, to get the money. I´d been going to the VA Hospital every once in awhile for seizures. That´s how I had Dilantin, my seizure medicine, when I decided to commit suicide. The marriage was on the rocks; money was real hard to come by. Finally, I thought, ´What the hell, this is the end of the line.´ At first, I was going to drive my car off a bridge down by Redmond, but I lost my nerve and came home and took a whole bottle of Dilantin. I ended up in a padded cell on the fifth floor of Harborview Hospital and from there, to 90 days in the nut ward at the VA Hospital.

"It was there I first heard about Alcoholics Anonymous. Some patients were standing around talking about AA and what went on in meetings. One of ´em saw me and asked if I was interested. ´No, no, I just wanted to find out what an alcoholic is,´ I told him. He asked me how much I drank, and I gave him my standard reply: ´Just a little bit.´ They invited me to come in. I did, but I didn´t get too close to anyone. I didn´t trust anybody at that time. But it was while I was there I got onto the program."

VA staff told Lloyd he and his wife could never live together successfully, but they tried again when he left the hospital. That was in 1961, the start of his sobriety. Three years and two more children (they already had one) later, "We split up. I almost lost my sobriety, but I was working the program and I didn´t. I´d been writing my fourth step. My wife got hold of it and used it in court against me. She wasn´t supportive of my sobriety. Probably that´s one reason the judge said that I may have been sober for five years, but I was no different as a person. "

Single again, Lloyd spent a lot of time in the old Big Hall at 915 E. Pine St. and became more and more involved with service work. He started out as secretary for his home group, North Bend-Issaquah, then became Intergroup representative and after that, GSR. He also served as area DCM, District 36 DCM and the area Corrections chairman. He is currently GSR for his group.

Lloyd´s strongest interest down through the years has been Corrections. "I started going to Corrections meetings in the prisons after three years of sobriety. A gang of us would get a bucket of chicken and head for Walla Walla. We´d make a meeting in minimum security at 6 and then go inside for another meeting. We´d head back after that and get home about 2:30 in the morning. We went to McNeil Island a lot too. I still go when I can. We people on the west side don´t go to Walla Walla much anymore, but I was over there in April and they´ve invited me back again this month. I still go to meetings at Monroe and Twin Rivers Correction Camp."

Lloyd and his third wife they married in 1980 live in a trailer park in Fall City. He still manages to make three or four meetings a week even though he no longer drives. Buses and old AA friends get him where he needs to go.

One of the special persons in his AA life is Mary B. of Renton. "She was one of those who carried the message to me when I was in the hospital. I´ve known her ever since. Now she´s the last one left who carried the message."

Lloyd stopped taking seizure medicine in 1965 and has not had a seizure since. Another plus for his sobriety. His other great interest in life is the VFW, where he was post commander in 1997 and ´98. He is a member of the honor guard which participates in burial services at the national cemetery in Kent.

"The VFW is important to me, but AA comes first," Lloyd said. "I´m very grateful to AA and to the Veterans Hospital. If it hadn´t been for the VA, I wouldn´t have found this program. And now it´s going on 39 years of sobriety and counting."

Interviewed and written by Dick S.