Captain Loren M Dierdorff USN Retired

November 2, 1928 - December 5, 2023

SAN DIEGO — On Dec. 5th, 2023, the spirit and soul of Captain Loren M Dierdorff USN Retired, left this earth. He passed away peacefully in his sleep.

He was born during the great depression in 1928 in a house in the Golden Hills District of San Diego. He was the 2nd of 4 brothers.

Loren was predeceased by his lovely wife, Joyce, also a native San Diegan. He is survived by his children Michael, Lorrie, and Mark, 2 granddaughters, Sarah and Amy, and 4 greatgrandchildren, Charlotte, Henry, Sadie, and Audrey.

He earned 2 Varsity Letters in football and wrestling at San Diego High School. Then known as “The old gray castle”. And he was the Southern California Grappling Champion for 2 consecutive years.

Loren participated in both football and wrestling until his graduation at San Diego State College in 1952.

During his tenure at SDSC he was voted freshman class president of 1947.

During college, he worked part-time and summers on fishing boats, and with UPS, to assist his family financially.

Loren met the beautiful Joyce Purkins at SDSC and they both fell in love.

After graduating in 1952 he saw a sign that said “Join the Navy and see the world”. That he did!

The Korean War was on. Loren promptly entered the “Naval Aviation Flight

Training Program” in Pensacola, Florida, in June of 1952. After 18 months of training, he won his highly coveted “Wings of Gold” and was commissioned as an Ensign in December 1953.

Loren and his love Joyce were married in the Chapel at the Naval Training Center in San Diego on December 27th, 1953.

Loren served in the Navy for 30 years. 24 years were flying in 3 different Squadrons on 5 different Aircraft Carriers with tours of 6 to 8 months each all over the Pacific.

In addition, he was a “Catapult & Arresting Gear” Officer on the Aircraft Carrier Coral Sea for 2 years. That was tough on the family.

Then he spent 2 years being a “Flight Instructor” in Pensacola. This was shore duty.

Since Loren had qualified previously at sea as a “Landing Signal Office”, or LSO, he then trained students how to land on Aircraft Carriers for 2 years in Pensacola.

Loren later commanded Attack Squadron VA-127 at Lemoore, CA. They flew A4 Skyhawks!

He recorded 873 day & night carrier landings, and accumulated well over 4,000 hours of flying time.

After being promoted to Captain, he was ordered to shore duty at the “Defense Mapping Agency” (DMA) headquarters in Washington, DC.

There he designed a Miniature Escape and Evasion Device, or E&E, for aviators to use if they were downed in enemy terrain. It was slightly larger than a pack of cigarettes. This E&E contained 4,500 sq. miles of miniaturized map of the area, a magnifying glass, light, mirror, and a compass.

He improved the previous version by adding a map. All to assist in evading the enemy. He used to joke that the only thing it couldn’t do was protect you from the rain!

Loren was sent to introduce the E&E device at a joint NATO Headquarters conference in Brussels, Belgium. He also convinced our NATO partners to use the color red, therefore only needing to print 1 map, not 2. The device proved to save the Navy a tremendous amount of money.

The Secretary of Defense awarded him a “Joint Service Commendation Medal” on Sept., 8th, 1975, for improving the device.

Then as a full Commander he was back to Sea Duty on the Aircraft Carrier Saratoga out of

Mayport, Florida, as “Air Boss” of all operations for 2 years.

He visited the Mediterranean Sea quite often, allowing him to invite Joyce over to see Italy, Greece, Malta, and the island of Majorca, Spain. These were well overdue trips for Joyce!

Loren’s final Duty Station was the

11th Naval District Headquarters in San Diego as Chief of Staff.

Loren has a total of 8 Service Medals, including serving gallantly in Korea and Vietnam. And also a Gold Star for Command at Sea!

Once he retired, he enjoyed playing golf with Joyce, and they both visited saltwater fishing locations from Alaska to Mexico.

His family suffered a heartbreaking loss with his passing, but they will carry on in his honor, he would expect nothing less. He dedicated his life to the Navy and his family. He lived his life to the fullest, and was an inspiration to us all.

We couldn’t have asked for a better Father, Grandfather, or Great Grandfather. And we couldn’t be more proud. He will be sadly missed and will always hold a place in our hearts.

Services will be held at Miramar National Cemetery on Monday, Feb. 5th, at 11:30am.