It
wasn’t long until the family moved to
Safford where Harry continued his schooling
through high school. Harry skipped the
second grade and was thus a year younger
than his classmates.
Harry was an
adventurous and extremely active young man.
He loved a challenge and a thrill. He could
take the normal everyday life and make it
into his own exciting and fascinating world.
He built a tree house in the top of a very
huge and tall cottonwood tree so high that
very few climbed up to see his handiwork. He
slept in this house and would swing out on a
rope "Tarzan style" as soon as he awoke in
the morning. He was testing his ability to
make his body function quickly. It was as if
he were preparing for the day he became a
Paratrooper. He loved height and would climb
the armory flagpole and rock back and forth
on it.
Bernard, his younger brother, remembers a
trip when Harry took Max Hundley and him to
Bonita Creek. They went on foot with no food
nor water, only a .22 caliber rifle. They
drank the rain water left in holes in the
rocks along the way. Harry killed one rabbit
and an old prospector cooked it for them.
That night Max and Bernard sat scared and
shivering while Harry snored! They went
exploring cliff dwellings the next day
before heading home.
Harry was probably the number one cyclist in
the Gila Valley. He was the first to ride a
bicycle to the top of Mt. Graham and back.
He and Burl Booth bought the first
balloon-tired bikes in the valley and were
they proud of them! They went all over the
valley and mountains on those bikes. Harry
could do all kinds of tricks on his bike. He
could ride backwards sitting on the handle
bars; he could "pop a wheelie" as they say,
riding on just the back wheel; many times he
rode his bike to Eden, twenty miles from
Safford, to see Melba Busby, without handle
bars on the bike.
DARING! That was a way of life with him! He
built his own canoe and when the river was
flooding, he took it out for the first test
run. When he worked for Cardon Oil Company,
he raced Bernard between Clifton and Safford
on the gravel roads. They were driving
gasoline trucks!
As a Scoutmaster, he made Scouting exciting
for his boys. He didn't mind spending much
extra time for his Scouts. Scout camp then
lasted ten days. He took his boys to camp
three days early, all of them riding
bicycles. Anything that he could do to make
the boys happy, he did. The next year, he
had moved to Clifton but still came back to
camp for three days to show the boys how to
use the climbing equipment he was using as
Bechtel's. Many of his Scouts went on to get
their Eagle rank because of the start he had
given them. Harry loved Scouting. He earned
his Eagle rank after Bernard had earned his.
Harry got every merit badge that Bernard had
gotten just so he could use Bernard's merit
badge sash.
To earn his Eagle rank, Harry had to hike
alone at night to a special spot on the
mountain where a book was permanently kept
at that time. It was hidden under a rock and
was to be signed by the Scout. Harry was
bitten on the knee by a rattle snake, but he
stayed the night and wrote in the book that
a "guardian" on the path had tried to keep
him from his destination. It was afternoon
the next day before he had medical help for
his leg.
Physical challenges were sought by Harry.
The college at Thatcher had a picnic around
the mountain at Stockton Pass. He decided to
walk home over the top of Mt. Graham which
reaches over ten thousand feet and then
drops to the valley at three thousand feet.
The snow was already deep on the mountain
and his feet were frost bitten before he
reached Cactus, seven miles from Safford on
the other side, and was given a ride home.
He could do one legged squats on either leg
until people grew tired of watching. He
could do a hundred or more push-ups. His
body was hard as a rock!
Harry met Melba Busby, daughter of Lettie
Hunt and John David Busby, at a motion
picture show in Safford. He sat behind he
and couldn't keep his hands off her hair,
which was long and red. When he asked what
grade she was in, she answered, "A
Freshman." He assumed she was in high school
and Melba didn't tell him she was in college
for quite some time. He was a senior in high
school. On their first date they went to a
carnival where "Pop" Clawson went along and
paid for all their rides. One of the rides
was the ferris wheel. It scared Melba to
death and Harry loved every minute of it!
Harry, Melba, Louise, Harry's younger
sister, and Grant Mulleneaux double-dated
many times and to keep it interesting, Harry
was always thinking of something different
to do. He bet Louise and Grant one night
that he could go all night without talking
to Melba. So he made up a set of 3 x 4 cards
with questions on them and when he wanted to
have some conversation he handed Melba one
to answer.
Harry and Melba were at the Clawson home one
Sunday afternoon when Milan Larson and Vera
McBride came by and asked them to go to
Lordsburg, New Mexico, with them so they
could get married. Well, by the time they
returned home, both couples were married 9
May 1937. Because of the love and support of
Mom and Pop Clawson and LDS Stake President
Harry L. Payne, Harry and Melba were sealed
in the Arizona Temple on 2 June 1937 for
time and all eternity.
Harry and
Melba borrowed $300 from Melba’s Dad, and
bought Sam Skousen’s bicycle business. Sam
was a brother of Ethel Skousen Clawson, wife
of Leslie Clawson, Charles Clawson’s
brother. Charles took over the bike
business when Harry went to work for Pat
Cardon delivering fuel oil in Clifton and
Morenci. Harry worked for Byron Lewis at
Gila Valley Laundry on routes and delivering
clothes to Clifton where Harold Alexander
had a pickup station. One evening the two
of them were coming back to Safford after a
flood and Harry volunteered to walk across a
wash to see how deep the water was. He had
his shoes off and his pants rolled up. He
kept jumping around, even though the water
wasn’t very deep and the problem was rocks
and boulders were rolling down with the
water and going over his toes. Harold
thought Harry put on quite a show hopping in
the water.
There
were three children born to this union.
Sharon Clawson Porter, born 25 Oct. 1938,
was Harry’s pride and joy. Ronald Allen
Clawson was born 26 Mar 1940 and he was
“Butch” to his Dad. Rodney was born 9 Oct
1942.
Harry joined the army
a month before Rodney was born, on 2
September 1942, and volunteered for
the paratroopers.
Harry came
home when Rodney was three months old and
again when he was nine months old.
Harry and
Melba were the custodians of the new Safford
LDS Ward Church house, which Harry had
helped to build while he and Melba were
dating. When Harry went to work for Pat
Cardon, the family moved to Clifton into a
duplex where his brother, Bernard, and his
wife, Olive, sister of Melba lived in the
other side. Yes, the brothers had married
sisters and the families have had a very
close bond ever since. This was a nice time
in Clifton for the two families. Harry then
went to work for Phelps Dodge copper mining
company and on 7 Dec 1941, Pearl Harbor Day,
Melba knew that Harry would join the Army.
All the family kept him from joining for
almost a year, then in September 1942, he
joined the paratroopers and went to Camp
Toccoa, Fort Benning and Fort Bragg for
training. He became a staff sergeant and
helped train men to be paratroopers. He was
hard on his men to help them withstand the
stresses of battle. Many of them gave
thanks to him later for being tough on
them.
Harry’s
outfit, Company H, 3rd Battalion,
506th Parachute Infantry
Regiment, 101st Airborne
Division, was shipped overseas in 1943.
Harry could have stayed stateside and
trained more men but chose instead to go
with the men he had trained. Their first
action was on 6 June 1944, D-Day, in the
invasion of France when the 101st
parachuted into Normandy just after
midnight. Harry and SSgt Fred Bahlau lead
their group of men onto a 283 foot bridge
about two and a half miles east of Carentan.
In the face of strong enemy machine gun and
small arms fire they forced the enemy to
withdraw and thus enabled their own forces
to reorganize against an enemy
counterattack. For this Fred and Harry
received the Silver Star on 20 June 1944 in
the town square of Carentan along with nine
other paratroopers including Robert Wright,
a medic, and Brigadier General Anthony C.
McAuliffe. The day after receiving the
Silver Star, Harry was threatened with a
court martial for not wearing a dress tie in
public. He also received the Purple Heart
and Bronze Star.
The next
action was in Holland. The 506th
PIR was dropped into Son, 17 Sept 1944, and
the bridge they were to secure was blown up
before they got to it and a Bailey bridge
was build in its place. In a letter dated
28 Sept 1944, Harry wrote to Melba: “You can
let Dad know that I’m in the land of Milk
and Honey – the most beautiful country in
the world. I wish very much that I were
home with you now. Gee that would be
heaven. It shouldn’t be too long before
that happens. Take good care of our kiddies
until I can get there to help you.” Charles
Clawson had been in The Netherlands for two
years as a missionary in 1909 to 1911 and
always referred to Holland as the land of
Milk and Honey.
After weeks of
fighting the 101st Airborne Division had
achieved its objectives, but the operation
itself was a failure due to the fact that
the final bridge at Arnhem could not be
taken. The Allies dug in on the new
frontline which was established along the
Waal and Rhine Rivers. The 101st Airborne
held the line on what was called "the
island", the peice of land between Arnhem
and Nijmegen and between the Waal and Rhine
Rivers. They would stay here till early
November in a more or less static frontline
situation. However, the division was to
receive many casualties over the weeks due
to enemy artillery shelling and German
counterattacks. At the time they took over
the line on the Island, 506th had already lost
40 officers and almost 300 men.
the Regiment's
3rd battalion held the line from the town of
Opheusden to Dodewaard. G Company was locate
dnorth of the railway line, I company south
of it and S/Sgt Clawson's H company was in
reserve (see map). The British division from
who were relieved from these positions told
the 506th that the sector was quiet and that
the opposing Germans were from the 363rd
Volksgrenadier Division, which was badly
mauled in Normandy, but now believed to be
back on strength.
In the early
morning of October 5th, trip flares in front
of the defenses of the 3rd Battalion
signaled the start of the large German
attack. The first attack was held. This was
soon followed by a second attack and the 3rd
battalion commander Major Horton committed H
company to the fight. They took up position
between Opheusden and Dodewaard. The Germans
attacked fiercely, supported by artillery
fire and divisionary attacks by SS troops.
The attacks were repelled with heavy
casualties. H company was now reinforced
with two platoons of A company. Major Horton
was hit by artillery fire just after 10.00
in the morning and died a few hours later.
Early in the
afternoon the German attacked again. At
first I company held, but they had to
retreat due to being outflanked by the
Germans. A strong counterattack threw the
Germans back. 506th lost 6 officers and 86
men that day.
Map of the
situation in which S/Sgt Clawson was
killed (map from the book
Rendezvous With Destiny)
In the evening
Colonel Sink ordered 3rd battalion to
positions south of the railway line. When H
company left their positions to take up
their new ones, the opportunity was used by
the Germans to advance over the railway
tracks and take up positions in an area
around a small railway station. Besides
heavy fighting the regiment also experiences
very heavy artillery barrages on their
position. The day continues with heavy
attacks and counter attacks. In the evening,
3rd battalion was ordered to fall back to
defensive positions, 1200 yards to the rear,
leaving Opheusden. This would leave the area
clear for rocket firing Typhoons and
artillery. On October 6th, the 506th lost 11
officers and 91 men. The fighting was far
from over. Until October 14 the Germans
tried almost daily to attack and force the
Americans east and off the island. They
would no succeed, though to heavy casualties
to both sides.
Harry was
defending an observation post located in a
farmhouse out of Opheusden. This building
was also serving as a first aid station.
The enemy was thrown back but Harry
received shrapnel wounds in the forearm and
forehead. Captain Stanley Morgan, M.D.
reported that Harry’s wounds were not life
threatening but that he was temporarily
blinded because of the bandages. Captain
Morgan told Lt. Alexander Andros to take his
men and move back and he would stay and care
for the wounded. Captain Morgan was taken
prisoner and never saw his wounded again.
The aid station received a direct mortar hit
and was destroyed. When the position was
retaken five days later, SSgt Harry A.
Clawson and PFC Morris Thomas of
headquarters company were not found. They
were declared “Missing in Action.”
Melba said “We
hadn’t heard from Harry for awhile and we
were all very tense. I woke out of a sound
sleep one night and to my mind came ‘Harry’s
gone’, and then there was a feeling of
peace! I didn’t tell this to many, but
Bernard knew and he would say, “ I don’t
know why you would say that.” But the night
Bernard was trying to get his little
daughter, Carol, to Tucson to the doctor and
she passed away in his arms, he had the same
feeling of peace, and later told me he knew
how I felt. It was a week or so after that
when I got the telegram that Harry was
missing.
The next
months and years were very hard on Melba,
their children and all of Harry’s family.
People reported seeing Harry from time to
time in various parts of the world. Some
said they had recognized him even with his
disfigured face and this unknowing kept the
family most anxious. They knew Harry was a
very proud person, and wondered if his face
was so disfigured that he did not want to be
seen by anyone he knew. With the many
reports of people seeing him, they also
wondered if he was OK mentally, etc.
A year after
he was reported missing in action, memorial
services were held in the Safford Ward and a
stone marker set in the family’s cemetery
plot. One week later – while watching the
soldiers marching by in the Armistice Day
Parade, 11 Nov 1945 – his father, Charles M.
Clawson, Jr. died of a heart attack. His
grief over the loss of Harry was just too
much for him!
He was missing
in action for a year, declared dead in 1945
and his remains were deemed unrecoverable in
1950.
(picture
courtesy of Rodney Clawson)
At first a
memorial was erected in his honor at the
Thatcher Cemetery.
In December 1971, Karel Huibers, a nineteen
year old Dutch tree nurseryman found the
remains of two paratroopers in an unmarked
grave in his tree nursery. The Dutch
authorities were notified and the U S Army
sent a team from Germany to Holland to
recover and escort the remains to the United
States Army Mortuary in Frankfurt, Germany
for identification and processing. His
remains were identified by his dog tags and
by one of his boots and other physical and
dental characteristics. The military sent
an officer to visit with Melba and with
Bernard. Both agreed independently that his
remains should be brought home. Bernard
called Rodney in Utah on the phone to inform
him of the discovery of his Daddy. Bernard
asked Rodney if he had told his Aunt
Angeline, Harry’s sister, just the previous
month about the dream. Then told him that
his Daddy had been found. It had been
almost 28 years of waiting. Harry’s remains
were escorted home and his memorial service
was performed with only members of the
family taking part. His funeral was
held May 8, 1972 in Thatcher, Arizona.
S/Sgt Harry
Clawson's grave in Thatcher, AZ. (Picture
courtesy of Rodney Clawson)
Margraten, The Netherlands
(The rosette
indicates that the person has been found and
reburied)
See also:
Pfc Morris Thomas
Acknowledgements:
Mr. Rodney Clawson
Sources:
Leonard
Rapport & Arthur Norwood,
Redezvous With Destiny, Konecky & Konecky,
Old Saybrook, CT, 2001
S/Sgt Harry
Clawson tribute page on
Band-of-Brothers.nl
Directions to
Margraten American Military Cemetery
If you have any suggestions, comments or
additional information, please
contact me.
This website is
dedicated to the men and women who died
and/or are buried in The Netherlands during
World War II.
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