| TOM “CLEM” CLEMENTS |
| As a 20-year old guy from Lancaster, California, I joined the Marine Corps and went to boot camp in San Diego. Two years later, I was in the F Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines, attached to the 2nd Marine Division. |
| Looking back 67 or more years, I have tried consciously to forget what happened at Tarawa. I remember I was in the 1st wave to Red Beach #2. I had a Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) and, frankly, everything I saw, heard, smelled and did there was pure hell. It was then; it remains so today. |
| I was wounded there and was just damn lucky to get out there alive! |
| Before Tarawa, I was at Tulagi, Florida Island and Guadalcanal in the Solomons. I then went to New Zealand for rest, refit and training for Tarawa. It was all over for me at Tarawa because of my wounds, and I just don’t want to go back there for any reason now. |
| Medals I received are, if I remember correctly, the Presidential Unit Citation for my participation in the action at Tarawa; the Purple Heart for my wounds at Tarawa; and a couple of others that guys tended to get for being out there in the Pacific at that time. I’m no hero. Tarawa is part of my past. It has no place in my present or my future. |
| PURPLE HEART |
| A PHOTO OF THE PURPLE HEART MEDAL COMES HERE SOON. |
| PRESIDENTIAL UNIT CITATION (Tarawa) |
| A PHOTO OF THE PRESIDENTIAL UNIT CITATION (Tarawa) COMES HERE SOON. |
| Thanks for asking. |
| Sarge, thank you for your service when your country called. Best wishes for your present and your future. That is a great orientation in life to have. We will remember. |
| SEMPER FI, CLEM ! |
| Received 10 December 2010 |
| Return to ROSTER |