Born in Bossier City, Louisiana, as one of eleven children, Lloyd entered the U.S. Army Air Forces on May 24, 1942, and served until late 1945 in the European Theater. As a pilot in the 397^th Bomber Squadron of the Eighth Air Force, Lloyd flew eight missions in a B-26 bomber. On his ninth, on December 23, 1944, German fighters show down his plane. Captured, Lloyd was sent to prisoner of war camps, first in Neu-Brandenburg, then in Hammelburg. He was freed towards the end of the war near the Austrian border after a forced march. Burns left the service as a captain, and worked in civilian life as an accountant.