Iwo Jima hero shot to death in motel parking lot [God Bless Clair C. Chaffin, 83]

scnow ^ | June 9, 2009 | staff reports

[Flavius]

Florence County sheriff’s deputies have arrested two suspects, including a 16-year-old, they say were involved in a fatal shooting outside a Florence hotel room Monday morning. *snip*

A native of Jackson, Mich., Chaffin landed at Iwo Jima on Feb. 19, 1945, according to a February 2008 report in The Gainesville (Fla.) Sun.

He dropped out of high school in the 10th grade to join the Navy and “even the score” for the death of his two brothers, Elmer and Kenneth, in the war, according to the September newsletter of the Gator Detachment of the Marine Corps League Inc. in Gainesville, Fla. He also sang in the Great Lakes Naval Choir.

[Salamander]

Prunes and diapers.

Works for me.

[ETL]

I think this is a fairly recent pic of him, in this article:
http://www.alligator.org/articles/2008/11/12/news/campus/081111_panel.txt

I think you're right. Nice find.

Harrison Diamond / Alligator Staff) Julian Pleasants, director emeritus of the UF Samuel Proctor Oral History Program, listens to World War II veteran Clair Chaffin speak during a panel discussion at "Testimony of War" in Pugh Hall Monday night.

http://www.alligator.org/articles/2008/11/12/news/campus/081111_panel.txt

[wolficatZ]

“Okay okay....send their punk ass into the military..”

No, not “okay”.

Cripes, that was a dumb thing to post.

[Old Professer]

We're going to have to stop this line of posting.

There's nothing special about old guys and nothing wrong with young guys eking out a living, what do we need pictures for?

Pretty soon this site is going to be known as an extremist, right wing site populated by separatists.

[Rannug]

My prayers and heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Clair C. Chaffin.
Thank you for your service and sacrifices Marine.
Rest in Peace
Salute

“There can be no triumph without loss, no victory without suffering, no freedom without sacrifice.” David Randolph
“Day is done, gone the sun, from the hills, from the lake, from the skies. All is well, safely rest, God is nigh. Go to sleep, peaceful sleep.”

Patriot Guard Rider

[Rannug]

And now I wish I dared print what I really feel about those two, whatever you want to call them, and their ilk. But I enjoy posting here. If I could only have spent a little, very little required, time with them, this tragedy would never have occurred.

[Charles Martel]

We’ve got some pacifist nurses here in Alabama who carry a glass vial of deer urine (or from a gland, I forget) in their purses.

When they leave a night shift and have to walk to the edge of the hospital parking lot, they hold the vial in one hand.

Dropping the vial breaks the glass and emits an aroma several times more offensive than ou de skunk, detering most criminals and providing a physical erection barrier to rapists.

Sounds like a product I've seen at some of the places that sell pepper spray and stun guns, called "REPULSE Rape Deterrent". This stuff supposedly creates a truly appalling stench that has to be removed with an *antidote*.

[Salamander]

Buck lure doesn’t really stink that bad.

If that’s what they’re carrying, I sure hope they’re not betting their lives on it.

There’s always the chance of people who can’t smell.

[I’m one of them and a thousand stinky skunks wouldn’t even faze me]

If they were carrying male bobcat urine [used as a garden pest deterrent] I could *maybe* see that helping...a little.

People always comment on the “unique” key chain I carry.

There’s a 7 inch pointy spike buck antler on it.

[it’s just “decorative”]....:)

The rest of your post, I whole-heartedly agree.

[”Pacifists”....good Lord, what idiots]

[Salamander]

I assume that was sarcasm.

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.

[rottndog]

The gentleman shown facing in your pic is Julian Pleasants. Clair Chaffin is the man facing away from the camera in the lower left corner of the picture.

Here's another picture from a different angle of the same event (Clair Chaffin is on the right):

WW II panel members at "Testimony of War" program in November 2008. From
left to right: Clif Cormier, Iwo Jima survivor; Victor Cote, ex-POW held by the
Japanese; moderator Julian Pleasants; Frank Towers, Operation Cobra and
Battle of the Bulge survivor; and Clair Chaffin, corpsman on Saipan and Iwo
Jima. (photo by Ira Fischler)

[Blue Jays]

"...send their punk ass into the military and let them fight over in Iraq and maybe, just maybe they will learn some respect..."

---

Military service is voluntary. Our brave men & women in uniform are among the most-respected people within our society.
Why would we place two idiotic, worthless, lower-than-whaleshit, murderous, criminal thugs in the midst of those honorable people? Morgana, yours was an absurd statement.

[Rocketwolf68]

Mr. Chaffin, your heroism will not be forgotten.

I want just five minutes with these two cockroaches to set things right.

It's time to lower ourselves to their level and fertilize the good earth.

[Eagles6]

Prayers for his family and loved ones. Any other thoughts would get me banned.

[Southack]

http://www.bugs411.com/rape-deter-411.htm

[savedbygrace]

Thanks for the correction.

[savedbygrace]

Wow, he was in both Saipan and Iwo Jima. Two of the deadliest battles in the Pacific.

[ETL]

Thanks for the clarification. They didn’t make it at all clear which one he was in the earlier pic.

I tracked down the link for your photo:
http://web.history.ufl.edu/oral/publicprograms.html

[ETL]

"Clair Chaffin, corpsman on Saipan and Iwo Jima."

Source:
http://web.history.ufl.edu/oral/publicprograms.html