Naval History and Heritage Command

Finding aid (PDF)

Biography

Lloyd Stephenson Charters was born in Brooklyn, New York, on the 20^th of December 1894. He attended St. Stephen’s College in Annadale, New York, from September 1912 until he graduated in June 1917 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Charters enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War I on the 28^th of April 1917. He attended the training camp at Madison Barracks in New York as a candidate officer from the 8^th of May to the 15^th of August 1917. He was commissioned a 2^nd Lieutenant, Infantry, on the 15^th of August 1917 and went on to serve in the 78^th Division, 3^rd Battalion, 310^th Infantry at Camp Dix in New Jersey and the 153^rd Depot Brigade. Charters was promoted to Captain, Infantry, on the 24^th of August 1918 and commanded companies 12, 64, and 24. He was discharged on the 3^rd of July 1919.

Shortly after his discharge, Charters enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve where he served for 10 years, leaving service on the 26^th of August 1929. During his time in the U.S. Army Reserve, Charters attended the General Theological Seminary at New York from 1919 until he graduated in May 1922. Charters completed his education in June 1924 when he graduated from Columbia University with a Master of Arts degree.

Charters was ordained by Bishop E. H. Lines in the Protestant Episcopal faith on the 11^th of March 1923. He would serve as rector of the Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Norwich, New York, from 1924 until the 1950’s. On the 5^th of September 1923, Charters married Ethel Barrett. They had 2 children.

When the United States entered World War II, Charters again entered service, enlisting in the U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps on the 26^th of April 1943 as a Lieutenant Commander. He attended the Naval Chaplain School in Williamsburg, Virginia, from the 10^th of May to the 4^th of July 1943. Charters graduated as a member of Class 9 of 1943 before being assigned to active duty. During the war he was assigned to the Naval Air Technical Training Center in Norman, Oklahoma, and the 115^th Naval Construction Battalion at Receiving Station #3205 on Manus Island, Admiralty Islands. In June 1945 he would finish his service in the Philippines before being discharged from service on the 22^nd of December 1945.

Shortly after his discharge, Charters enlisted in the U.S. Navy Reserve as part of Composite Company 3-35. He entered as a Lieutenant Commander and served for 9 years before retiring from service on the 1^st of January 1955. He retired as a Commander, a promotion he had achieved on the 1^st of January 1953. Chaplain Lloyd Stephenson Charters died on the 4^th of July 1979.

Scope and Content Note

This collection consists of personal papers that document the naval career of Chaplain Lloyd Stephenson Charters. The majority of the correspondence, photographs, newspaper clippings, and other material document Chaplain Charters's time in Papua New Guinea and the Philippines during World War II. Also included are Chaplain Charters's Army records from World War I and some personal non-military documents. Of particular note is a book of burials from March 1944 to April 1945 that documents the burials of an unidentified cemetery, possibly in Papua New Guinea.

Preferred Citation

This collection should be cited as the Papers of Lloyd S. Charters, Archives Branch, Naval History and Heritage Command, Washington, D.C.