World War II Honoree

Clare Howe Oliphant, Jr.

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

Silverdale, Washington

Honored By

Chelsea Young

He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force on 9 November 1942 in Silverdale, Washington. He served as a Staff Sergeant until May, 1945. His emphasis and specialty training was as a top gunner and maintenance engineer. He was sent overseas in July, 1944 to fight in the European Theatre of Operations. The majority of his service was spent in England, France, and Germany. He flew many missions as a top-gunner and worked as a service-maintenance engineer on the B-26 bomber. While flying a mission in late December, 1944, his plane was hit by a German plane while completing a mission over Germany. The German plane flew up beneath their plane, breaking off the tail and killing the tail gunner. The remainder of the crew parachuted down to the ground, somewhere in Germany. Though separated at the crash, they were all taken as prisoners of war by the Germans and were taken to Stalag Luft Barth on the Baltic Sea on 23 December 1944. He was a prisoner of war until 9 May 1945 when the camp was liberated by the Russians. The freed prisoners went to Camp Lucky Strike in France. He was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army Air Forces and returned home in May, 1945.