Percy W. Clarkson: from a Houston household to major general

Percy W. Clarkson was born in Texas on December 9, 1893, the son of William Banton Clarkson, a Liverpool-born cotton merchant, and Alice Ann (Peaple) Clarkson. In June 1900 the census found the family in Houston's Third Ward, William buying cotton, with Alice and all seven children at home: Florence, Dora, Alice, Herbert, Percy, Laurel and Phyllis. By 1910 they had moved to San Antonio, where Percy still appears in his parents' household. His older brother, Herbert Slayden Clarkson, was also an Army officer; his career is in Clarkson-line military service and Herbert Clarkson and the report on Patton, 1943.

Army service

The Official Army Register for January 1, 1946, lists Percy's decorations, education and promotions. It records a Texas A&M degree in 1915 and Army War College attendance in 1934. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in November 1916, made captain in July 1917, major in 1928, colonel in October 1941, brigadier general in June 1942 and major general in December 1942. His decorations were the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Air Medal and Purple Heart.

Assignments at home and overseas

The Infantry Journal of April 1917 lists him as a second lieutenant of the 19th U.S. Infantry. A secondary account describes service in France during the First World War, a wound in the Ansauville sector and a tour as assistant to the inspector of the Eighth Corps Area; those have not been found in a record of the time. His teaching at West Point has: the Military Academy's official registers for 1932 and 1933 list "Major Percy W. Clarkson, Infantry, Assistant Professor," serving from August 13, 1928. The Army and Navy Journal follows him in 1934 from the Army War College, and in 1937 to the Inspector General's Department from the 3rd Brigade at Fort Sam Houston.

According to the same account, after Pearl Harbor he became chief of staff of the 36th Infantry Division during its reorganization, then activated two new divisions in turn before taking command of the 33rd Infantry Division in Hawaii in October 1943 (the division history, The Golden Cross, says he reported on October 18 and took command at once). He led it through jungle training in New Guinea, a counterattack on Morotai, and the Philippines campaign, landing at Luzon in February 1945 and taking Baguio, General Yamashita's wartime headquarters, by late April. The Army's own histories bear this out: its 1949 Combat Chronicle lists him as the 33rd Division's commanding general from October 1943 to November 1945, and its campaign history Luzon names him as the division commander directing its advance. After Japan's surrender, the account continues, he commanded X Corps during the occupation of southwestern Japan, served briefly on General MacArthur's staff in Tokyo, then returned home to command the 3rd Infantry Division (the Army and Navy Journal reported the change in March 1947) and later serve as deputy commander of U.S. Army Pacific, where he also commanded the joint task forces running the Pacific atomic and hydrogen-bomb tests of the early 1950s.

The 1950 Official Register places him at Fort Benning with the 3rd Infantry Division, and a 1952 joint government release announces his command of Joint Task Force 132 on February 18, 1952. The obituary dates his atomic-test work from 1950; the official record found so far, like the secondary account, begins in 1952.

The 1955 register gives his retirement as a major general on December 31, 1953; some secondary accounts say July 1954. The secondary account describes his return to San Antonio as chairman of the board of Fort Sam Houston National Bank.

Percy's death at Fort Sam Houston, 1962

Percy died at Brooke Army General Hospital at Fort Sam Houston on September 14, 1962, after a brief illness. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that he had chaired the Fort Sam Houston National Bank since his Army retirement. According to the secondary account, his wife was Lucy Kent and his son William Kent.

About the evidence

The obituary calls him 69, while the December 9, 1893, birth date used for him would make him 68 at death.

Sources

• 1900 U.S. Federal Census, Houston Ward 3, Harris County, Texas.
• 1910 U.S. Federal Census, San Antonio Ward 8, Bexar County, Texas.
• Official Army Register, 1 January 1946, Vol. I (War Department, The Adjutant General's Office), Internet Archive, "Active List," p. 127, entry "Clarkson, Percy W. (O4676)."
• "Percy W. Clarkson," Wikipedia, citing (among others) the Houston Post, Express and News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, generals.dk, and the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets "Aggie Stars." Secondary source, not independently re-traced to its original newspapers.
• Percy Clarkson obituary, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 15 September 1962.
• Texas, U.S., Death Certificates, 1903-1982.
• Official Register of the United States (1950), p. 152.
• Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952-1954, vol. II, part 2, p. 1025.
• Infantry Journal, April 1917 (2d Lieutenant, 19th U.S. Infantry). archive.org/details/sim_infantry-journal_1917-04_13_7
• Official Register of the Officers and Cadets of the U.S. Military Academy, 1932 and 1933 (Major Percy W. Clarkson, Infantry, Assistant Professor, 8-13-28). archive.org/details/officialregister1932west
• Army and Navy Journal, 28 April and 5 May 1934; 6 February 1937; 8 March 1947. archive.org/details/sim_armed-forces-journal_1947-03-08_84_27
• Combat Chronicle: An Outline History of U.S. Army Divisions (1949), 33rd Infantry Division. archive.org/details/combat-chronicle-history-of-u.-s-army-divisions-in-world-war-ii-with-foreign-awards-1949
• Robert Ross Smith, Luzon (U.S. Army Center of Military History, CMH Pub 72-28). archive.org/details/Luzon