Clifford Campbell was born in Oklahoma in November 1924. His family was poor growing up. In 1936, his father bought a new truck and a tractor for their a farm. He walked two miles to school every day. He had three brothers and two sisters. Two of his brothers were in the Navy in World War 2. One was in the Normandy invasion [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. His third brother was in the Korean War [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953]. He was a senior in high school when the Pearl Harbor attack [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] happened. They listened to President Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] declare war on Japan. He got a job at an airfield in the last part of his senior year. He was drafted into the Army in July 1943. By December he was in New Guinea. He wanted to volunteer for the Navy because his two older brothers were in the Navy. Then he wanted to go into the Army Air Corps as a mechanic. He went to Texas for training.

Clifford Campbell took infantry training at Camp Fannin [Annotator's Note: in Tyler, Texas] in Texas. He had to walk 20 miles a day. He had basic and advanced individual training in Texas. Then he was shipped to California where he boarded a ship and went to New Guinea in December [Annotator's Note: December 1943] where he joined th 128th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Infantry Division as a first scout. He was on board with 8,000 troops. They were on their way to Australia but ended up in New Guinea. The weather was hot. They sat in the bay for about a week before they got their assignment. His back blistered in the sun. As a scout, Campbell was the first man in. They lived in pup tents [Annotator's Note: small sleep tents often shared by two soldiers] or hammocks in the jungle. They did not get into tents until they were back in a rest area. They were in a battle in southern New Guinea and took over a hill. Campbell and seven others went over to the other side and were put into foxholes. The Japanese were shooting at them. He was in the foxhole with a guy from New York. By morning the Japanese were firing machine guns into their foxholes. Campbell had a grenade thrown into his foxhole which landed on his foxhole mate's head. Campbell did not get injured. Out of the eight men that went, Campbell was the only one that did not get wounded or killed. He was in New Guinea for a year and a half. From there he went to Leyte in the Philippines.

Clifford Campbell did not go ashore on Leyte [Annotator's Note: Leyte, Philippine Islands] until the island was secure. He did not have any battles in the first six days. They marched across Leyte. He would sleep in a pup tent [Annotator's Note: small sleep tents often shared by two soldiers]. They found a house full of chickens. They were looking for 2,500 Japanese. The natives thought the Americans were kings. When they landed on Luzon [Annotator's Note: Luzon, Philippine Islands] the natives were happy to see them. He went to Manila [Annotator's Note: Manila, Luzon, Philippine Islands] on leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. When the atomic bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] were dropped, he was in the hospital. He went out on reconnaissance to find the Japanese. They did not know the war was over. Campbell went to throw a grenade and he was sprayed down with phosphorus. He had to go to the hospital. He received a Purple Heart [Annotator's Note: the Purple Heart Medal is an award bestowed upon a United States service member who has been wounded as a result of combat actions against an armed enemy]. His hands were burnt, but they recovered. After that, he was sent back into the mountains to find the Japanese. The Japanese surrendered to them. Then he went to Japan as an occupation troop. He was about 100 miles south of Tokyo [Annotator's Note: Tokyo, Japan]. He was there for about a month before he was sent home.

Clifford Campbell was at Fort Lewis [Annotator's Note: now part of Joint Base Lewis–McChord; near Tacoma, Washington] in Washington after Christmas [Annotator's Note: Crristmas 1945]. He was put on a troop train but prior to going aboard they had all quit taking their medicine to prevent malaria [Annotator's Note: disease caused by a parasite that commonly infects a certain type of mosquito which feeds on humans]. Every time they stopped, they were dropping someone off to get treated for malaria. Campbell had malaria in the Pacific and had a relapse on his way home. He was plowing a field and felt like he was going to have an attack. Malaria hit him with the chills and then the shakes. And then he got a 104 degree fever. He had a ten percent disability because of malaria. Eventually, the malaria attacks went away. He went back into the Army for the Korean War [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953]. He used the G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment] to go to farm school. He was in the Reserves after the war. He did not have a hard time adjusting to civilian life. He thinks the World War 2 veterans were treated well when they came home.