Clever, Robert Stevenson, born on 22 05-1914, in Portland, Oregon, 
United States, the son of Clarence C Clever 
and his wife Ruby Clever. He had one older sister and one older brother Harold Clever and Marian Clever. After he left the university he went to the aviation school, then enlisted in the Aviation Cadet Program of the Army Air Corps for Bombardier training 
on 15-03-1941, and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Forces 
under command of General Henry Harley “Hap” Arnold 
from 16-12-1941. Lieutenant Clever’s first assignment was as a B-25 Mitchell 
bombardier with the 95th Bomb Squadron 
under command of Alvin Culem York, at McChord Field, Washington, from December 1941 until he was selected for the Doolittle Mission in February 1942.
Crew No. 8 in front of B-25#40-2242, on the deck of Hornet, 18-04-1942. From left to right: (front row) Captain Edward Joseph York, pilot; Lieutenant Robert Gabel “Bob” Emmens, 
copilot; (back row) Lieutenant Nolan Anderson “Sue” Herndon, 
navigator/bombardier; Staff Sergeant. Theodore Henry Laban, 
flight engineer; Sergeant David William Pohl, 
gunner.
Robert was the bombardier on the 7th B-25 to take off for Operation Doolittle,from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) 
on 18-04-1942, and after bombing its assigned targets in Tokyo, the crew crash landed off the coast of China. The Doolittle Raid (also known as Doolittle’s Raid or the Tokyo Raid) was an air raid by the United States Army Air Forces on the Japanese capital of Tokyo and other places in Honshu during World War II.
He made a daring day light raid on Tokyo and came through not without a scratch; he was severly injured when he was throwned through the plexyglass of plane’s cockpit when plane 7 crashed near the coast of China after bombing Japan. Robert’s life was saved by his crewmember David Jonathan Thatcher. 
Thatcher brought his crew to safety after the crash. After partly recovered from his injuries in China he flew back to the USA and he had with him a mighty exciting story to tell his Dad, Clarence C. Clever.
Of the 80 crew members (spread across 16 B-25 Mitchell bombers), a total of 7 pilots lost their lives during or shortly after the mission:• 3 crash victims: They died immediately during emergency landings or parachute jumps over China, Corporal Leland Dale Faktor, 
Sergeant William Dieter,
and Corporal Donald Fitzmaurice.• 8 prisoners of war: Eight Americans were captured by the Japanese army in China. Of these, 3 were executed by firing squad (William Glover Farrow “Bill”,
Spatz, and Dean Edward Hallmark) 
and 1 died in captivity from malnutrition and illness (Robert John “Bob” Meder). 
The remaining 4 survived the war in solitary confinement.
Death and burial ground of Clever, Robert Stevenson.
After returning to the United States and being treated for his injuries in the crash, Lieutenant Clever served as a B-26 Marauder navigator with the 432nd Bomb Squadron of the 17th Bomb Group 
at Barksdale Field, Louisiana, until he was killed in the crash of a B-26 near Versailles, Ohio, on 20-11-1942. age 28. What exactly happened is unknown to me, but seems an engine failure was the cause of the plane crash. As navigator-bomber on the ill-fated plane on a routine trip over Ohio when it crashed, Bob was one of seven who died. Army officials have not released full details concerning the accident.
Robert was buried at the Lincoln Memorial Park in Portland, Oregon, 11801 SE Mt Scott Boulevard, Portland, Oregon, 97086. His Distinguished Flying Cross Citation reads: For extraordinary achievement while participating in a highly destructive raid on the Japanese mainland on 18-04-1942. Lieutenant Clever volunteered for this mission knowing full well that the chances of survival were extremely remote, and executed his part in it with great skill and daring. This achievement reflects high credit on Lieutenant Clever and the military service.
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