By Deborah Larsen
Clarence Henry Carpenter
Clarence Henry Carpenter was born in Rochester, Michigan, on September 27, 1919, the son of Harry and Lorena Gottschalk Carpenter. Clarence’s father died when Clarence was 14, and his mother then married George Saam. The family lived in the Stoney Creek area, and Clarence attended Stoney Creek School, where he was salutatorian of his eighth-grade class in 1934.
Before the war, Clarence was employed as a foundry worker. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in July 1941 and was trained as an aerial photographer. He was assigned to the 762nd Bomb Squadron of the 460th Bomb Group operating from Spinazzola Air Field in Italy.
On May 31, 1944, Clarence was flying his fifth mission as part of an 11-man crew assigned to bomb oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania. Clarence’s B-24 was hit by anti-aircraft fire and crashed. Only four crew members were known to have survived bailing out of the stricken bomber. Clarence Henry Carpenter was first reported as missing in action and was declared dead in October 1944.
Clarence’s remains were originally interred in Europe, but were recovered and returned to the U.S. in 1952. He is buried at the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri, and a cenotaph on the Carpenter family plot in Stoney Creek Cemetery also memorializes him.