Image
Description
Photograph of Clement with jeep. 12.5 x 8.5 cm. 1940's.
Photo-postcard with Clement's induction photograph, perhaps at Camp Perry. 13 x 9 cm. 1940's.
Photograph of Clement with sister Valerie "Rae" Marion (Bires) and mother Eva Marion, at Percy Jones Hospital, Battle Creek, Michigan. 11.5 x 7 cm. 1940's.
Photograph of Clement bearing a rifle, possibly at basic training at Fort Bragg (NC). 9 x 7.5 cm. Circa 1942.
Induction photograph of Clement standing. 12.5 x 8 cm. 1940's.
Scan of Clement decorated with his Purple Heart. 1940's.
Donation of son Clement P. Marion.
Clement "Kelly" Marion was born on November 22, 1913 in Sharon, Pennsylvania to Eva and Sylvester Marion, immigrants from Romania. He attended schools in Sharon and Brookfield, Ohio until the eighth grade, when he stopped to help raise his five siblings during the Depression. Prior to World War II he worked as an auto mechanic and at Emil Dimitru's bakery. After being discharged from the service, Clement worked for Sharon Steel in Farrell, Pennsylvania until 1979. In November, 1955 he married Lucy Ritch of Warren, Ohio at St. Joseph's Catholic Church, and had one son, Clement Paul Marion, born January 30, 1958. Clement passed away while residing in Masury, Ohio on April 17, 2012, and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, in Hermitage, Pennsylvania.
Clement was inducted into the United States Army in January, 1942 at Camp Perry, Ohio, and completed basic training at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. He arrived in North Africa in November, 1942 and saw action under General George S. Patton in the Algerian and Tunisian campaigns. He participated in Operation Torch and at the battle at Kasserine Pass, where he was wounded by German gunfire. He returned stateside to recuperate at Baker General Hospital in West Virginia. In July, 1943 Clement was sent to Sicily and Palermo to serve under the leadership of General Mark Clark. He participated in the landing and subsequent Battle of Anzio on Italy's mainland and was part of the attack on Monte Cassino. Clement was wounded for the second time by German artillery fire outside Rome, and his arm and shoulder were so severely wounded that amputation was considered. He returned to Baker General Hospital to recover in April, 1944, and was honorably discharged from the Percy-Jones Convalescent Hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan in December, 1944. He was awarded the Purple Heart with an Oak Leaf Cluster, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal and Bronze Star attachment, a Good Conduct Medal, an American Campaign Medal, a World War II Victory Medal, a Combat Infantryman Badge 1st Award and an Honorable Service Lapel Button, World War II.