Clifton Trahan was born in October 1922 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was put in an orphanage at five years old. His father had died, and his mother could not care for their four children. He stayed at St. Mary's in New Orleans until he was ten then went to Hope Haven in Marrero when he was 15 or 16. His mother was getting help and got them all together. He went to school in the seventh grade, but he had not been in school until then and was completely lost. The orphanage had not taught school properly. He did graduate with a certificate. He tried to go to high school, but he was so far out of it he ended up working instead. He was a delivery boy before getting a job as an assistant to a photo engraver. He was being groomed to be an engraver and then the war started. He was 19 years old when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He remembers everybody being in a panic. His friend Ralph was going to join the Navy and told Trahan to come along. He went and was getting his eyes examined and they would not take him. His right eye is nearly blind. The examiner sent him down to the US Merchant Marine. Trahan joined them right then. Around the middle of January 1942, he was on a ship and gone with no training whatsoever first. He became an assistant cook on the first ship, the USAT John L. Clem, an Army Transport Ship out of New Orleans. He stayed on this ship for three months, never leaving the Caribbean Sea. He would go to Trinidad, Curacao, and more moving soldiers around.

After being turned down by the Navy for being blind in one eye, Clifton Trahan was accepted into the US Merchant Marine and assigned to the USAT John L. Clem. He had never been to sea, but it worked out okay. He got seasick the first time out. He later transferred to a tanker out of Galveston, Texas to New York City, New York. A guy told him he was crazy to work on a tanker. If a torpedo hit it, they will not even find your shirt. When he got to New York, he got off the tanker. He then went on the Trimountain or the Virginia. He served on ten different ships and has trouble recalling which was which. This was a big ship and had train tracks on the deck [Annotator's Note: some ships used to ferry locomotives and other types of train cars had sections of railroad tracks installed on the upper deck]. They carried cargo to Italy on it. He did get shore leave at any port, usually the place would be a mess from the attacks. In Italy, there were no docks so they used barges to unload. On another trip to Italy they carried mules on deck, three mules per cubicle [Annotator's Note: mules and horses were used to overcome terrain that mechanized units had trouble in]. It was in Naples, Italy, near Pompeii. It was shocking to see half-sunk ships and other destruction.

While serving in the US Merchant Marine, Clifton Trahan signed up for the ATS [Annotator's Note: Army Transport Service] for the Army. He joined a crew being made in New Orleans, Louisiana. They went up to Minnesota and got a boat, brought it down the Mississippi River and then took it to Australia. That took a year to do. It was a good, enjoyable trip. It was called an F-boat, freight boat, and belonged to the Army. It was freezing cold in Minnesota and he had no coat for that weather. They got supplies in New Orleans then went through the Panama Canal to Long Beach, California. They stopped in Hawaii and ended up in New Guinea to deliver the boat. He then got a month shore leave in Australia. He had a good time, money in his pocket in Sydney, Australia. Some of the best times of his life. The Australians got along really well with Americans. A young family took him on a tour and to a beer garden. He did not like the black beer they drank. They were very aware of the war. Most young Australian men were in uniform. He took a tug boat back to New Guinea for about a month, working in the engine room.

On the big merchant ships, Clifton Trahan was a fireman and water tender [Annotator's Note: Trahan worked in the engine room of ships for the US Merchant Marine]. He would keep the water at a lowered level and keep the fire going to make the desired speed. Lighting up more torches to get more steam, or putting them out to stop. He liked that job. It was challenging, hard work and hot as hell. It was a fight to get decent air. He took salt pills because he perspired so much. They were fed very well. Trahan asked "what's not to like?" He had been an orphan with no food and now had plenty of food. The better the ship, the better the food. He always got along with his crews. Trahan was in New York City looking for a ship. He joined a crew for a new Liberty ship Annotator's Note: a class of rapidly produced cargo ship]. He went by train to Wilmington, North Carolina to crew the brand new American Steam merchant ship SS Flora MacDonald. They boarded it there and took it to Recife, Brazil. They then went to Ascension Island, between Africa and South America. They dropped cargo there and then went to Africa to Lagos, Nigeria where they loaded up with coffee beans, mahogany, and rubber to return to the United States. They then headed towards Casablanca, Morocco. The crew would sleep on the deck because it was so hot below. They had a large canvas for rain protection. About 10:30 at night they were hit by a torpedo [Annotator's Note: 30 May 1943]. The canvas caught fire from the hot oil from the engines. The men all caught on fire too. The engine room crew died instantly. Trahan was pretty badly burned. They abandoned ship by going down a rope. Trahan could not close his hand and fell onto the guy beneath him. There was water in the bottom of the lifeboat that felt good on his burned feet. A small escort boat picked them up [Annotator's Note: the HMS Fandango (T 107)]. The worst burned men were given morphine. They were taken to a hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Africa.

Clifton Trahan was hospitalized in Africa after being burned in a submarine attack while serving aboard the merchant ship SS Flora MacDonald. He was in a hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone for six to eight weeks which was run by the British. He had very good care there. The nurse would make him bend his fingers despite the pain, so his hand would work when healed. As they recovered, they were released. He was discharged with another man and they boarded an airplane to Marrakesh, Morocco. They were then put on a hospital ship back to New York City, New York. They had not spotted any submarines when the ship was sunk. They never ran with lights on so the Germans must have been waiting for them to leave port. The U-126 was the sub. It was sunk the next year. [Annotator's Note: The German submarine U-126 was a Type IXC u-boat and was responsible for sinking 25 ships during its combat career. The vessel was sunk on 3 July 1943 by British aircraft off Cape Ortegal, Spain.] He went home for a month after returning. This was June 1943. The last ship he worked was the John Creole [Annotator's Note: unable to verify ship name]. He was on it out of San Francisco, California with P-38s [Annotator's Note: Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft] on the deck. The hull was loaded with ammunition and other war goods. This was the beginning of 1945. They were heading to the Philippines and stopped in Hawaii. As they left there, he heard the war was over on the loudspeaker. The ammunition was dumped at sea and the aircraft were unloaded in the Philippines. They then went to Okinawa, Japan for his last port. He was there a couple of weeks. There, he could buy cigarettes at the PX [Annotator's Note: Post Exchange] and use them to get things. He bought a silk kimono for a carton of cigarettes. His mother loved them. He brought swords home too. He bought six kimonos for his mother. He returned to San Francisco and then back to New Orleans, Louisiana. He had no trouble adjusting other than finding a decent job. He missed being on the sea for a little while. He enjoyed being on ships and it was a good life, except when he got torpedoed. For a kid who came from nothing to having three meals a day, it was a good thing.