Clayton enlisted into the U.S. Marine Corps at the age of 17
because he liked what the Corps stood for! He reported for duty on March 20,
1944.
During Clayton’s career with the 2nd Marine Division, 8th
Marine Regiment, he took part in the invasions of the islands of Tinian, Saipan
and Okinawa. Tinian was the airbase that the B-29’s “Enola Gay” and “Bocks Car”
flew from in the dropping of the atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Saipan was particularly brutal since the Japanese threw everything
they had in the attempt to stop the assaulting Marines on the beaches
themselves. Later on, Clayton participated in the battle for the island of Okinawa,
again as a machine gunner, the first island in the chain of Japanese home
islands.
After the surrender of the Japanese to the Allied nations in
September 1945, Clayton landed on the shores of mainland Japan as part of the
occupations forces.
Clayton was discharged from the Marine Corps on July 27,
1946 with the rank of Corporal.
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