Elden "Cliff" Walter Clifford

2021-03-23T15:34:59-05:00
Marine Corp Badge
  • Name: Elden "Cliff" Walter Clifford
  • Location of Birth: Bovey, Minnesota
  • Date of Birth: March 22, 1920
  • Date of Death: October 18, 2011
  • Parents: Edward Clifford & Lena (Kuhn) Clifford
  • High School and Class: 1937 Greenway High School, Coleraine, Minnesota
  • College:
  • Highest Rank: S SGT (Staff Sergeant)
  • Branch: Marine Corp
  • Other Branch:
  • Date Sworn In: May 11, 1942
  • Place Sworn In:
  • Date of Discharge: October 1945
  • Place of Discharge:
  • Military Awards:

  • Military Highlights:
    WW II Draft Registration Cards – 10/16/1940 – 03/31/1947
    State: Minnesota
    Name: Elden Walter Clifford
    Race: White
    Age: 21
    Birth Date: March 22, 1920
    Birth Place: Coleraine, Minnesota, USA [all other records indicate Bovey as birth place]
    Residence Place: Coleraine, Itasca, Minnesota, USA
    Registration Date: July 1, 1941
    Employer: A. P. Peterson & Son, Coleraine, Itasca, Minnesota
    Weight: 174
    Height: 5-9
    Complexion: Light
    Eye Color: Brown
    Hair Color: Brown
    Next of Kin: Lena Clifford, Coleraine, Minnesota

    Newspaper article: Jul 1945 – Elden Clifford, one of our local boys, was recently promoted to Staff Sergeant. In a letter to his mother he said his was one of the first two units to land on Okinawa. He came through the entire campaign without a scratch. A cut on his hand resulting from cutting fire wood was his only mishap.

    Newspaper article: Nov 1945 - Mr. and Mrs. Elden Clifford are visiting in Coleraine. Mr. Clifford has secured his discharge after three years, seven months service, twenty-five months of which were spent overseas in the Pacific area, retiring with the rank of Staff Sergeant.

  • Wars Involved:
    World War II

  • MIA / POW:

  • Civilian Life:
    Elden Clifford married Bernice Johnson in 1941. They lived in Robins, Iowa and then Denver, Colorado, where he retired from Bell Telephone in 1975. The family spent winters in Texas and summers in Minnesota. Elden married Mary Lou Schafer in 1990 and they moved to Garrison, Minnesota.

    Elden died in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He is survived by his daughters, Charlene (Gary) Albertson and Sandra Johnson; step-children, Marvelene (Rick) Forman and John Schafer (Cari Pitcher); nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents; his first wife, Bernice, in 1988; his second wife, Mary Lou, in 1997; sisters, Elva McClintick and Dorothy Cedarberg; and brother Leonard Clifford.

  • Tribal Affiliation(s):

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