World War II Honoree

Clyde Lynton Popejoy

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

Paint Rock, Alabama

Honored By

Marilyn J. Carney

Relationship

Daughter

SERVED AS SUPPLY CLERK, 885TH CHEMICAL COMPANY AIR OPERATIONS, AT AN AIR FORCE BASE AT TIVETSHALL, NEAR NORWICH, ENGLAND FROM JUNE 1943 TO AUGUST 1945. AS SUPPLY CLERK, HE MAINTAINED SUPPLIES BY DAY THEN ALONG WITH THE OTHER SOLDIERS, HELPED TO LOAD BOMBS ON THE FIGHTER PLANES AT NIGHT. MANY OF THE BOMBS WERE MADE AT REDSTONE ARSENAL, HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA, NEAR HIS HOMETOWN. FOR A LITTLE COMIC RELIEF, HE PAINTED 'FROM MOM, DAD AND THE GANG' ON ONE OF THEM AND HAD HIS PICTURE MADE WITH IT. IN HIS MILITARY DIARY HE WROTE OF THE BITTER COLD NIGHTS, OF THE THE RAIN, SNOW AND WIND AS THEY LOADED THE B-17 AIRCRAFT AND LIBERATORS, THE LACK OF SLEEP DUE TO GERMAN AIR RAIDS OVER THE BASE AS WELL AS THE LONG NIGHTS SPENT STACKING BOMBS ON U.S. BOMBERS, OF BEING SO SLEEP DEPRIVED THAT HE LAY ON HIS BUNK AND LISTENED TO THE BOMBS HIT ALL AROUND HIM, BEING TOO EXHAUSTED TO TAKE COVER, OF THE RELIEF AMONG THE MEN WHEN THE PILOTS BROUGHT THE BOMBERS BACK SAFELY AND OF THE DISPAIR WHEN SOME OF THE PLANES DIDN'T COME BACK AT ALL. HE WITNESSED BOMBERS TRAGICALLY CRASH AS THEY CAME IN FOR A LANDING AT THE BASE, SO CLOSE TO SAFETY. RETURNED HOME ON THE GREAT SHIP HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH.