Clif J Cormier Page

Clifton J. Cormier joined the Marine Corps in 1938 at the age 19. Cormier, as many young men of his generation, viewed the military as an excape from the dim future of a small town with no job because of the Great Depression.

Clif a resident of Gainesville, Florida is a native of Lake Arthur, Louisana. After boot camp, he was asigned to an artillery regiment in San Diego and remained an artilleryman through most of his career. At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Cormier was off-loading supplies in Reykjavik, Iceland. His brigade was dispatched to relieve the British Garrison as part og Roosevelts's undeclared war in the North Atlantic.

In 1942 Clif took his first home leave to his visit parents and friends. It was not long before he was assigned to a newly formed THIRD MARINE DIVISION that was activated Sept. 16, 1942. The Fighting Third would be involved in some of the bloodiest battles in the South Pacific. The Third Division and Cormier participated
in three South Pacific campaigns: Bougainville, Guam, Iwo Jima

In early 1943 the Third Marine Division moved to Auckland, New Zealand. By August 1943 the Division was stationed on Guadalcanal where Cormier and his men rehearsed for the Bougainville Invasion.

Before the landing on Bouganville, Gunnary Sergeant Cormier was promoted to Warrant officer. On November 1, 1943 Warrant Officer Cormier landed on Bougainville. The battle took approximately two months to secure the island.

Following the Bougainville operation the Division returned to Guadalcanal to begin training for the next campaign. The Division trained for a number of operations that were subsequently cancelled. In June, 1944 the Division sailed for the Marianas and remained afloat off Saipan as part of the reserve force for the Saipan operation. With the situation on Saipan in controll, the Division returned to its restaging area awaiting the target date for the Guam operations.

Guam is the largest of the Mariana Islands. The conquest Of Guam was nesessary for the construction of airfields for the legions of B-29's that were to come. Three airstrips would be built. To read more about this and the Iwo Jima invasion, click on the links below. Five years later Cormier found himself fighting communist aggression in Korea.

Clifton Cormier remained in the Marine Corps for 22 years and retired in 1959 as a Captain. He attended the University of Florida majoring in journalism and for the next 20 years worked as an investigative reporter for the Gainesville Sun. After a year on the job he would become city editor.

After retiring from the Gainesville Sun, Clif went on to write a book "A Postcard From Joseph." The book is an autobiography of Cormier"s dual lives-first as a marine and then his reinvention as a newspaperman. Clif said he found himself uncomfortable writing about himself, so he wrote the book in the third person using Joseph, which is his middle name.

Today Clif is involved in the many veterans organization in the Gainesville, Florida area. To meet this man see "The Iwo Trio."