Text from Lakeview Junior High School History teacher Rebecca A. Duda (November 2017) : “In 1938, Dracut native Clarence Buxton Nichols dropped out of Dracut High School to enlist in the Army for a three-year enlistment. He served in the infantry and was discharged in October 1941. Nichols served with distinction being cited for meritorious service in 1939. [ The 1940 US Census has him posted with the US Army at the Paraiso Military Reservation in Balboa District, Panama Canal Zone. ] Clarence reenlisted on December 8, 1941–the day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He didn’t have to, but he did. There’s no way to know now, but I wonder what his father, Herbert thought or said when his son told him he was going back into the military. Clarence had served his three years and now the situation was much more dangerous and the future of the war unknown, unsure. In addition, Clarence Nichols had a twin brother, Edmund, who had also enlisted in 1938 and like his brother decided to reenlist after the bombing at Pearl Harbor. The Nichols family had two sons serving during World War II. Sadly, only one of them would return home to Dracut. Upon reenlistment, Sergeant Clarence Nichols was assigned to the Air Corps as a truck driver but petitioned for a different assignment–flight gunner–and his request was honored. In 1942, Nichols was assigned to serve overseas in England and the plane [ 41-9090 ] crashed just off the coast of England. Fortunately, the crew survived. However, Nichols would not be so lucky in January 1943 off the coast of northern Africa. [ Note: it was not January 1943 but 18 December 1942, in the crash-landing of 42-5715.]

Herbert and Sarah Nichols last heard from their son in December 1942 when they received a letter from him. He was in Northern Africa. On January 22, 1943, they received a telegram from the U.S. War Department informing them of their son’s death. Clarence Buxton Nichols was 23 years old and the first Navy Yard boy to lose his life in World War II. Nichols’s twin brother, Edmund, survived World War II. However, when the Korean conflict began, Edmund enlisted and was killed in Korea in 1953.” [Note: it was not in 1953 but on 11 August 1950. He was a Sergent in the 27th Infantry Regiment.]