CLOUD-BENJAMIN

Excerpts from obituary published in San Diego Union Tribune on 9/5/2021:

Captain Benjamin Wallace Cloud, USN (Ret), passed away peacefully at his home in El Cajon on August 3, 2021.  He was born in San Diego on November 6, 1931, the son of San Diego’s first minority police officer.  As a student in El Cajon, he became a violinist, eventually playing for the State of California Youth Symphony.  While in high school he developed an interest in flying and after attending San Diego State College he joined the Navy and became an aviator.  His career of thirty-two years with the Navy included many illustrious positions.  He served as the Executive Officer and Commanding Officer of a jet reconnaissance squadron, Protocol Officer for Presidents Kennedy and Johnson in the White House, fighter pilot of F-4 Phantom aircraft and the F-8, Executive Officer of the carrier USS Kitty Hawk, Commanding Officer of the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps at Texas A & M University, Commanding Officer of the U.S. Naval Support Activity in Naples, Italy, and Chief of Staff to the Commander, Naval Base, Pearl Harbor.  Following retirement, he served on the board of the San Diego Air & Space Museum.  Many friends have remarked that they are better people from just knowing him.

               

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)