Valor Friday

Clarence Byrle Craft

This week’s subject comes to us by way of the Encyclopedia of Arkansas;

Clarence Byrle Craft, a native of California, received the Medal of Honor for his actions on Hen Hill during the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. He moved to Arkansas after World War II and died in Fayetteville (Washington County).

Clarence B. Craft was born on September 23, 1921, in San Bernardino, California, the son Louis E. Craft and Pearl Collins Craft. His father, a railroad engineer, died in an accident in 1929 or 1930. His mother worked as a cook in the Harvey House restaurant chain, which led her and her children to move frequently. When World War II began, Craft joined the U.S. Army at Santa Ana, California, and shipped out as a private first class in Company G, 382nd Infantry Regiment, Ninety-Sixth Infantry Division.

U.S. troops invaded Okinawa on April 1, 1945, and began a bloody advance against Japanese forces holding a series of defensive lines in a last-ditch effort to defend their homeland. By the end of May, elements of the Ninety-Sixth had been held for twelve days before Hen Hill northeast of Shuri—the key to the Japanese Naha-Shuri-Yonabaru line—suffering heavy casualties.

On May 31, 1945, Craft and five others from Company G were sent as an advance to another attack on the Japanese defenders. Japanese rifle and machinegun fire and grenade attacks quickly wounded three of the men and pinned down the others. Craft then attacked on his own, standing exposed and shooting at any available targets. According to the Medal of Honor citation, he advanced “unhesitatingly facing alone the strength that had previously beaten back attacks in battalion strength.” Craft reached the summit of Hen Hill and stood silhouetted, throwing grenades into the Japanese trenches. His stand allowed other American soldiers to advance and hand him additional grenades; he hurled a total of two cases at the Japanese defenders.

As Craft stood atop the hill, American and Japanese troops threw grenades over him toward each other. He then attacked the main Japanese trench “as confusion and panic seized the defenders.” His point-blank fire killed many Japanese soldiers while others fled. Continuing to advance, he destroyed a heavy machinegun position with rifle fire and grenades. Pursuing the fleeing Japanese to a cave, Craft hurled a satchel charge after them. When it failed to explode, he went into the cave, retrieved the explosives, relit the fuse, and tossed the satchel back in, collapsing the mouth of the cave.

President Harry Truman presented Craft with the Medal of Honor in a ceremony on the White House lawn on November 1, 1945. The medal citation concluded: “In the local action, against tremendously superior forces heavily armed with rifles, machineguns, mortars, and grenades, Pfc. Craft killed at least 25 of the enemy [about 70 Japanese soldiers were killed in all], but his contribution to the campaign on Okinawa was of much more far-reaching consequence for Hen Hill was the key to the entire defense line, which rapidly crumbled after his utterly fearless and heroic attack.”

Following the fighting at Okinawa, Craft was brought back to the United States to train troops at Fort Ord, California. His term of service ended in 1946, but he reenlisted the next year, serving with the occupation forces in Japan before going into the Korean War with the Second Infantry Division from 1950 to 1953. He mustered out at Barstow, California.

Craft married Betty Jane Morgan, and they had a son, Ray. After their divorce, he married Tamae Ban, adopting her four sons from a previous marriage; they had a daughter, Sally Ann, together.

Craft moved to Arkansas around 1963 to be near his mother, brother, and sister, who resided in Rogers (Benton County). He worked in the construction industry and was a member of the Laborers’ International Union of North America in addition to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, and American Legion. After his retirement, he was a volunteer orderly at the Fayetteville veterans’ hospital. In 1995, the City of Fayetteville acquired a 4.75-acre park in the Hidden Lake Subdivision; it was named Clarence Craft Park in 1999.

Clarence Craft died of complications from cancer on March 28, 2002, at the Fayetteville Veterans Administration Medical Center and is buried in the Fayetteville National Cemetery.

Here’s the award citation in full;

Medal of Honor
World War II
Service: United States Army
Rank: Private First Class
Batallion: 2d Battalion
Regiment: 382d Infantry Regiment
Division: 96th Infantry Division
Action Date: May 31, 1945

War Department, General Orders No. 97 (November 1, 1945)

The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Private First Class Clarence Byrle Craft, United States Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty on 31 May 1945, while serving with Company G, 2d Battalion, 382d Infantry Regiment, 96th Infantry Division, in action at Hen Hill, Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands. Private First Class Craft was a rifleman when his platoon spearheaded an attack on Hen Hill, the tactical position on which the entire Naha-Shuri-Yonaburu line of Japanese defense on Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, was hinged. For 12 days our forces had been stalled, and repeated, heavy assaults by one battalion and then another had been thrown back by the enemy with serious casualties. With five comrades, Private First Class Craft was dispatched in advance of Company G to feel out the enemy resistance. The group had proceeded only a short distance up the slope when rifle and machinegun fire, coupled with a terrific barrage of grenades, wounded three and pinned down the others. Against odds that appeared suicidal, Private First Class Craft launched a remarkable one man attack. He stood up in full view of the enemy and began shooting with deadly marksmanship wherever he saw a hostile movement. He steadily advanced up the hill, killing Japanese soldiers with rapid fire, driving others to cover in their strongly disposed trenches, unhesitatingly facing alone the strength that had previously beaten back attacks in battalion strength. He reached the crest of the hill, where he stood silhouetted against the sky while quickly throwing grenades at extremely short range into the enemy positions. His extraordinary assault lifted the pressure from his company for the moment, allowing members of his platoon to comply with his motions to advance and pass him more grenades. With a chain of his comrades supplying him while he stood atop the hill, he furiously hurled a total of two cases of grenades into a main trench and other positions on the reverse slope of Hen Hill, meanwhile directing the aim of his fellow soldiers who threw grenades from the slope below him. He left his position, where grenades from both sides were passing over his head and bursting on either slope, to attack the main enemy trench as confusion and panic seized the defenders. Straddling the excavation, he pumped rifle fire into the Japanese at pointblank range, killing many and causing the others to flee down the trench. Pursuing them, he came upon a heavy machinegun which was still creating havoc in the American ranks. With rifle fire and a grenade he wiped out this position. By this time the Japanese were in complete rout and American forces were swarming over the hill. Private First Class Craft continued down the central trench to the mouth of a cave where many of the enemy had taken cover. A satchel charge was brought to him, and he tossed it into the cave. It failed to explode. With great daring, the intrepid fighter retrieved the charge from the cave, re-lighted the fuse and threw it back, sealing up the Japs in a tomb. In the local action, against tremendously superior forces heavily armed with rifles, machineguns, mortars, and grenades, Private First Class Craft killed at least 25 of the enemy; but his contribution to the campaign on Okinawa was of much more far-reaching consequence for Hen Hill was the key to the entire defense line, which rapidly crumbled after his utterly fearless and heroic attack.

The 96th Infantry Division didn’t enter combat until 20 October 1944, less than a year before the end of the war. From that day until the end of June 1945, the division lost more than 1,500 men in action, with total casualties numbering nearly 9,000 men.

Craft was one of only five men of the 96th Infantry Division to receive the Medal of Honor during World War II. He is just one of two men to have lived to receive the award. Of the five men of the 96th ID to earn the Medal of Honor, Craft and three others received theirs for actions at the Battle of Okinawa.

Category: Army, Historical, Medal of Honor, Valor, We Remember, WWII