Clay Shaw Military Records

[Peter Lemkin]

Clay Lavergne Shaw was born on March 17, 1913, in Kentwood, Louisiana, a small town near the Mississippi border, to Glaris and Alice Shaw. An only child, Shaw moved with his parents to New Orleans when he was five. He attended public schools, including Warren Easton High School, from which he graduated in 1928. His career goal was to be a writer, but in order to make a living, he went to work as manager for the local office of Western Union.

In 1935, Shaw was transferred by Western Union to New York City, where he took courses at Columbia University, and became district manager of Western Union's mid-city area, overseeing approximately forty branch offices. He left Western Union to pursue a career as a freelance public relations and advertising writer, and subsequently accepted a position with the prestigious Lee-Keedick Lecture Bureau.

With the onset of World War II, Shaw enlisted in the US Army and was assigned to the Medical Corps as a private. He trained at the Medical Administration Officers' Candidate School in Abilene, Kansas, received his commission as a second lieutenant, and was shipped off to England.

After a stint as Administrative Officer with the 127th General Hospital Unit, he was transferred to the Supply Corps and made aide de camp to General Charles Thrasher, Commanding Officer of the United States Forces in the southern half of England. He was soon promoted to be Thrasher's Deputy Chief, and continued on with Thrasher when the general took command of forces in northern France and Belgium. According to Shaw, his unit was responsible for stockpiling supplies for the Normandy invasion. He would later credit his organizational skills to the time he spent coordinating supplies for three armies at that time.

At the time of his discharge in 1946, Shaw had reached the rank of major and received decorations from three nations. In Belgium he was named Chevalier of the Order of the Crown of Belgium; from France he was the recipient of the title of Chevalier de l'Ordre du Merite and the Croix de Guerre; from the United States he received the Bronze Star and Legion of Merit.