Navy AMM3c Clyde Mathis was born in Atmore, Alabama on March 27, 1923, the son of Joseph Selman Mathis (1879-1954) and Arrie Irene Vickery (1880-1970). His father was the postmaster in Canoe, Alabama in 1930 and had been for years. By 1940, his father was working as a groceryman at a retail grocery in Gonzalez, Escambia County, Florida. Clyde attended Atmore High School and also Tate High School in Gonzalez in the Class of 1941. He enlisted in the US Navy on December 11, 1942 and received basic training in San Diego, CA. He was eventually sent to the fleet in the Pacific.
On March 22, 1944, Clyde was killed on the island of Bougainville in the Solomon's. The actual battle for the island had begun on November 1, 1943 and by late December the main part of the fighting was over. But it is unknown as to Clyde's exact cause of death, although he is listed as killed in action. With his rating of AMM3c, he very likely served aboard one of the Dauntless dive bombers as a gunner, but this fact is unknown for sure. Regardless, he perished in duty to his country and was returned home after the war and buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery in his hometown of Atmore.
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