Captain Lyle N. Clemens U.S.M.M 1920-2005.

CLEMENS, PAULY, KERSTEN

Posted By: cheryl Locher Moonen (email)
Date: 8/4/2019 at 21:05:08

elegraph Herald (Dubuque, IA) - Sunday, August 28, 2005

Captain Lyle N. Clemens U.S.M.M., 84, of 335 Garden St., Hoboken, N.J., formerly of 1839 Washington St., Dubuque, died Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2005.

Services will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at St. Mary's Catholic Church, Dubuque. Burial will be in Resurrection Garden Mausoleum at Mount Calvary Cemetery. Friends may call from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday at Hoffmann-Schneider Funeral Home, 1640 Main St.

He was born on Sept. 15, 1920, in Dubuque, son of Matt and Gertrude (Pauly) Clemens.

His mother died in 1922, so he lived with his grandmother, Kate Pauly.

He attended St. Mary's Grade School and Dubuque Senior High School.

After his graduation, he moved to Chicago, and joined the United States Maritime Service in 1942.

He made the D-Day invasion at Normandy Beach in France on an Army Troop ship. One ship in his group of five was sunk in the English Channel.

He graduated from Officer Candidate School in 1945, and was assigned as an officer on a ship in San Francisco, Calif. He was in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, when the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan. He was on the way to the Invasion of Japan when the Japanese surrendered.

He attended various Maritime schools and was promoted to Captain in 1963, and continued sailing to ports around the world. He delivered supplies twice to Thailand and Saigon during the Vietnam War. He delivered 11,325 tons of various explosives to a Mediterranean port. In 1980, a relief Captain took command of his ship. The ship departed from Philadelphia bound for Egypt and was never heard from again.

After 40 years of service, he retired in 1982, and lived in Hoboken, N.J. across the Hudson River from New York City. He continued as a volunteer at the USO Servicemen's Club in New York.

He was chosen as an escort at a Valentine Dance by Cover Girl and model, Candy Jones. He appeared in thirty-two shows on stage with the Rockettes at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City, singing and acting. (He could not dance with the Rocketts in their famous line dance because he could not raise his legs high enough).

In 1947, he and a friend broke the bank on the radio show "Break The Bank".

Surviving are two brothers, Clarence (Evelyn) Clemens, of Parker, Ariz., and Eldon (Jeanne) Clemens, of Dubuque; a sister, Hazel Kersten, of Dubuque; and nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents and a brother-in-law, Larry Kersten.