US Army Sergeant Cleveland "Cleve" (NMN) Clausell was born in Tunnel Springs, Alabama on October 18, 1920, the likely son of Charles Clausell (1893-) and Annie Laura Johnson (1906-). There is very little information about his family or early upbringing but his parents appear to have married in c1920-21 and lived in Burnt Corn, Monroe County, Alabama in 1930. His father was a farm laborer there and they were living with his maternal grandfather Elijah Johnson (1870-). By 1940, they had relocated to Evergreen, Conecuh County, Alabama where his father was still a farmer. And it was there that he would register for the draft on February 16, 1942.
Clive next appeared in Pensacola in or before 1944 and listed himself as married although there is no information on his wife. He also lists his civilian occupation experience as a driver with a grammar school education. At this point, Clive enlisted in the US Army in Pensacola on May 30, 1944 and was sent to Ft. Benning, Georgia for processing and orientation. At some point during the war, he was assigned to the 3704th Army Air Base Unit. This unit was under the Air Corps Technical Training Command that was responsible for teaching technical skills to incoming Air Corps students. After the war began, recruits were coming into the military at such a high rate that the training facilities had to be rapidly expanded. During this period in September 1944, he was admitted to a military hospital for a male condition and released several weeks later. He was admitted again in October 1944 for an inflammation of the eye called "uveitis." He was treated and released back to duty shortly afterwards.
With the war now over, the command was reduced in October 1945 to seven training schools with the 3704th being placed under the 3380th Technical Training Wing at Keesler Air Field in Biloxi, Mississippi. By this time, Cleve was a sergeant in charge of a squad of soldiers. On December 10. 1945, Sergeant Clausell was killed or died from non-battle causes. His death is listed as "DNB or Death Non Battle" that encompasses everything from disease, accidents, or any other cause not resulting from combat with the enemy. No other information is listed as to the cause of his death. Regardless, he died defending his country in her time of need and his remains were shipped to Tunnel Springs, Alabama and buried with military honors in the Amity Cemetery.
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