Clever, Robert Stevenson.

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Clever, Robert Stevenson, born  22-05-1914, in Portland, Oregon   to  Clarence Clever and his wife Ruby Clever, He had one brother  and one sister, Harold Clever and  Marian Richs-Clever. a graduate of Cleveland High School. He attended the University of Oregon for two years before leaving to go to aviation school just before Pearl Harbor. Robert enlisted as Aviation Cadet at Vancouver Barracks, Washington on 15-03-1941. 

Clever was, by all accounts, a cut-up, witty and fun to talk to. In the Tokyo raid, he served as bombardier on Crew 7. In an interview for his home-town Portland Morning Oregonian later, in August 1942, he told of watching as fishermen on the coast of Japan waved cheerfully at him as the planes roared overhead. “I looked at that guy, and I said to myself: Why, the darned old fool, he’s waving at us! It was our welcome to Japan, and we didn’t expect it, no sir. I didn’t wave back, though.”  Doolittle Tokyo Raider Force  Crew No. 7 (Plane #40-2261, “The Ruptured Duck”, target Tokyo) 95th Bomb Squadron .

L-R: Lieutenant. Charles L. McClure, navigator, he died 19-01-1999, age 81, in Tucson, Arizona,  Lieutenant. Ted William. Lawson, pilot; he survived the war and  died 19-01-1992 (aged 74) in Chico, California, Lieutenant. Robert Stevenson. Clever, bombardier; Lieutenant. Dean Davenport, copilot; he died, age 81 on 14-02- 2000, and was buried at Barrancas National Cemetery at NAS Pensacola, Florida. Sergeant. David J. Thatcher, flight engineer/gunner.  Thatcher also survived the war and died  22-6- 2016, old age 96, in Obituary.

The Doolittle Raid, also known as the Tokyo Raid, was an air raid on 18-04-1942 by the United States on the Japanese capital Tokyo and other places on Honshu during World War II. It was the first air operation to strike the Japanese archipelago. Although the raid caused comparatively minor damage, it demonstrated that the Japanese mainland was vulnerable to American air attacks. It served as retaliation for the 07-12- 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor   and provided an important boost to American morale. The raid was planned by, led by, and named after Lieutenant Colonel James Harold “Jimmy”Doolittle (later a Lieutenant General in the US Army Air Forces and the US Air Force Reserve).

Under the final plan, 16 B-25B Mitchell medium bombers, each with a crew of five, were launched from the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Hornet,

in the Pacific Ocean, off Japan. There were no fighter escorts. After bombing the military and industrial targets, the crews were to continue westward to land in China.

Death and burial ground of Clever, Robert Stevenson.

But roughly a month later, he was killed in an airplane crash near Versailles, Ohio, on 20-11-1942, age 28.  His flying career had lasted less than two years. In that short time, though, he earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Chinese Army, Navy, Air Corps Medal.Robert. Robert Clever is buried at Lincoln Memorial Park Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon, VS. 10713 SE Mt Scott Boulevard, Portland, OR 97266,

Message(s), tips or interesting graves for the webmaster:    robhopmans@outlook.com

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