Clarence Subs for Another Author and Pleases Crowd

Clarence Oliver, Jr., expected to listen to another author when he came into the Broken Arrow library for Tuesday's Lunch Box series. Instead, he found himself telling war stories from a book he's writing with working title Tony Dufflebag and other Tales from Korea. The author scheduled to speak, Hannibal B. Johnson, did not show up· for unknown reasons.

No problem. A larger-than­ usual crowd listened with great interest to what Oliver had to say. One of these stories was about a need for light. As Oliver was serving in Korea during the fall and winter of 1951 and into 1952, having light after dark in the bunkers was a challenge. Back then, portable generators were not available and candles were scarce.

But there were times when soldiers had to read, write or talk after dark. At first, a radio operator suggested using a radio battery to solve the dark problem. "We would wire into that battery and use a socket electric light bulb. It worked really well until supply people began to wander why we were using so many radio batteries because we were not making that many combat patrol operations and finally cut off our supply," he said.

Oliver and his fellow soldiers burned candles they received in care packages, but they were not enough. That's when a company clerk suggested making candles. "At that time, the Army supplied butter to kitchens in big gallon cans. So we thought this will make a big candle which will last a long time," said Oliver with a smile. They used a quarter-inch cotton tent rope for a wick. "We cut it off, stuck it in the butter, lighted the wick and got it burning," He said with the stink and smoke that followed, they quickly learned that butter is not good for making candles. "It was a stinking mess," said Oliver as the crowd laughed. "You would have thought that two college-educated guys would know better. We later learned about making candles out of wax."

Not all of Oliver's stories were light-hearted. He talked about one of the most dreaded assignments - writing letters to parents of soldiers killed in action. "You go through the belongings of the deceased soldier and sort out those things that have to be kept in the Army and those personal things that need to be sent to the family. The thoughts that go through your mind as you deal with that," he shook his head, "it is a sad time."

Oliver said he remembers one of such moments vividly. He was going though the belongings of a killed draftee from New Jersey and found a stick of salami. "He had obviously been saving it. So what do you do with that? So we decided that he would want us to eat it, so we had a party to celebrate his life," said Oliver as he paused for a moment, overwhelmed with emotion.