Pervy L. ''P.L.'' Clearman

P.L. Clearman, passed away on Thursday, November 15, 2012.

Mr. Clearman was born in Union, Mississippi, on August 22, 1923. He began school in County Line, Mississippi, before moving to Duffee in the fourth grade, growing up there and going to Center Ridge High School until enlisting in the National Guard's 153d Observation Squadron at Meridian, Mississippi in 1940. With war brewing in Europe and then the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, his unit was extended on active duty indefinitely. He did training maneuvers in Louisiana; flew on submarine patrol missions in Wilmington, North Carolina; and attended Aerial Gunnery School in Harlingen, Texas, before sailing with others to Glasgow, Scotland, in August 1942 aboard the Queen Elizabeth. The 153d wound up in Keevil, England, and joined with RAF crews to fly early missions in the RAF's Douglas Boston 7 (DB-7) light attack bombers, designated as A-20 Havocs by the Americans. His squadron later split into eight crews scheduled to receive their own A-20's at Weatherford, England, where they began regular missions as a Group under the Ninth Air Force that included D-Day runs over Nazi-occupied areas and later missions to Amiens, Abbeville and other targets near Paris and in western Germany. He was sent back to the States in October 1944 after sixty-eight missions. Mr. Clearman considered himself to be a fortunate survivor of WWII.

After trying civilian life for about a year after the war, he reenlisted in April 1946 for what would be another sixteen years in the Air Force before retiring in 1962 as a CMSgt.

Mr. Clearman resumed his Air Force career in 1964 as a civilian in aircraft inventory management at Robins Air Force Base. He retired in 1981 with a total of thirty-eight years of honorable military and civilian AF service. His later endeavors included golfing, completing his private pilot's license, selling real estate, and being a courier for a bank and a medical services company. Mr. Clearman was a long-time member of Trinity United Methodist Church where he often ushered and worked in the Food Bank.

Mr. Clearman was preceded in death by his father, P.L. Clearman, Sr.; mother, Mary Ellen (Herrington); and younger brothers, Dulette and Kenneth. He is survived by his wife of sixty-one years, Velma Carleen Clearman (Clark) of Warner Robins, son, Brian (Pamela) of San Antonio, Texas, son Alan (Melanie) of Byron, granddaughter, Audrey of Savannah; and several nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, November 17, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. in the chapel of McCullough Funeral Home with Pastor Bill Bagwell officiating. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service at McCullough Funeral Home. Interment will follow in Parkway Memorial Gardens. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to Heart of Georgia Hospice, 103 Westridge Drive, Warner Robins, Georgia 31088.


Funeral Home:
McCullough Funeral Home
417 S. Houston Lake Rd.
Warner Robins, GA
US 31088