Soldier’s sacrifice

A display at Museum of the Soldier in Portland honors Pfc. Milo William “Bill” Ludy, who died when his plane went down in the D-Day invasion in 1944. Adjacent is another display of another soldier with Jay County ties who lost his life that day.

John M. Clifton, a Jamestown native whose niece Debbie Shreeve still lives in Portland, was killed in action in France during World War II.

John’s father, Marion Clifton, received a letter Jun 25, 1944, notifying him of his son’s death. He later received letters from U.S. Sen. Raymond E. Willis of Angola and U.S. Rep. Noble J. Johnson of Terre Haute honoring his son’s sacrifice.

“I know you are justly proud of your son — he has made the supreme sacrifice and given his life for his country,” said the Johnson letter, which is on display at Museum of the Soldier.

Clifton is a Purple Heart recipient, with the award being presented July 31, 1944. The accompanying certificate is signed by Sec. of War Henry L. Stimson.

A member of the U.S. Army Rangers, Clifton, a technician, second grade, was part of the group assigned to overtake the German defenses at Pointe du Hoc, France, which is about 3 miles west of Omaha Beach, during the June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion. The site features a cliff about 100-feet tall overlooking the English Channel.

While specifics about Clifton’s death are sparse, the Rangers that day made their way up the cliff after an initial error in landing calculations, according to information from the National Museum of the U.S. Navy. (The Navy provided gunfire support for the invasion.)

“They continued to fight the enemy who kept popping out of craters accessed by tunnels until reinforcements from 1st Battalion 116th RCT arrived the following day,” the Naval museum’s display adds.

By 11:30 a.m. June 8, Pointe du Hoc was under Allied control.

“They took heavy casualties,” notes the display at Museum of the Solider. “Clifton was one of them.”

His death came three years after he was activated for military service in 1941 as a member of Indiana National Guard’s 38th Division and sent to Camp Shelby, Mississippi. He was there when the United States was attacked at Pearl Harbor, extending his scheduled year of service.

Clifton was buried in France, and a photo of his grave site is on display at Museum of the Soldier. Portland’s Michael McBride took the photo during a trip and also brought back sand from the beach that is also on display.

Seventy-five years after the conclusion of the war that Clifton helped to win, his sacrifice and those of all others who gave their lives for the cause continues to inspire, especially as the nation prepares to honor them Monday on Memorial Day.

“It’s very emotional for me,” said Jim Waechter, a volunteer and former director for Museum of the Solider, “not only having served in Vietnam and having friends killed … but over the years doing programs since the 80s when their contemporaries were all in their 70s, we talked to a lot of guys that were at the places where history happened. You absorb all this information. It gets really, really tough and emotional.”