MARTIN, CLARENCE July 27, 1944 age 24 KIA France

CLARENCE DANIEL MARTIN,  b. May 19, 1920 Chippewa, Isabella Co., MI d. July 27, 1944 Killed in Action St. Giles, France  

Pvt 36878324 Army Medic 3^rd Armored Div 36^th Armored Inf Reg

Buried Normandy American Cemetery, France

Parents: Perry Encil & Christina (Lackie) born Canada

Siblings: Elsie M., Bertha Marguerite, Thelma E, James H, Clare V
Spouse: Shirley Elizabeth Alverson

The parents married 1907 in Clare Co., Michigan, where Perry was born in 1885, he a laborer and she a housekeeper. Christina was born in Canada. They moved around several Michigan cities with children born along the way. In Detroit he worked in the auto factory and she a laundress in private homes; they seemingly didn’t benefit from the growth in Detroit. In 1940 the 3 children still living at home were the only ones employed; Clarence had a job as a rough carpenter.

Clarence graduated Redford in 1939. He married Shirley Elizabeth Alverson in Aug 1941 the month after he did his draft registration. They lived in Inkster and he worked at Ford Motor Co. He was a strapping young man of 6’1”, 195 lbs with brown hair and eyes. Shirley did remarry; she died 2006.

The movements of Medical Personnel are hard to tract as they were attached to various army units. He did serve along with the 3^rd Armored Division, 36^th Armored Inf. Reg. As a ‘heavy’ division the unit had 3 regiments instead of 2, 232 medium tanks instead of regular 168, and numbered over 16, 000 men as opposed to 12,000.

The Normandy American Cemetery is located on the site of the temporary American St. Laurent Cemetery, established by the US First Army June 8, 1944 and the first American cemetery on European soil in WWII.

Combat medics are normally co-located with the combat troops they serve in order to easily move with the troops and monitor ongoing health. Their protection is covered by the Geneva Convention from 1864. Knowingly firing at a medic wearing clear insignia is a war crime. In practice it often made medics a target, for both sides. For this reason some removed their distinguishing red cross. War is ugly – normal protocol fall by the wayside in combat.

Clarence received both a Silver Star and Purple Heart.