Clifton was a farmer prior to World War II. He was serving with the U.S. Army 200th Coastal Artillery on Corregidor, an island off the coast of Luzon, Philippines when the Imperial Japanese Army attacked on 8 December 1941. The Japanese drove the American and Philippine Army from the Bataan Peninsula on 8 April 1942. The Japanese Lt. General Masaharu Homma then concentrated on silencing the big guns on Corregidor. On 6 May 1942 the American General Jonathan Wainright surrendered Corregidor. The Japanese were very brutal with the captured prisoners. They were marched 60 miles from Mariveles to San Fernando railway junction where they were put on trains for Camp O'Donnell located near the Zambales Mountains. This march became known as the "Bataan Death March". The starving and exhausted soldier were driven to the railway in the blazing equatorial sun. Many thousand of the soldiers died of disease, thirst, starvation or Japanese brutality. Soldiers that dropped were bayoneted or shot by the Japanese soldiers. About 75,000 men started the march but only 54,000 reached the camp. Around 12,000 of the 75,000 men were American soldiers, sailors, and Marines. During the three months at Camp O'Donnell around 40% of the prisoners died of starvation, disease or maltreatment. Tim was sent to Nakida, Japan camp 5 for the remainder of his captivity. He was assigned a Number 416. When he was liberated he only weighed 89 pounds. After the war he worked for Western Auto, State of New Mexico Motor Vehicle Department and finally with the National Cemetery Administration. He retired to Anson, Jones County, Texas. On 23 May 1999 in Anson, Jones County he died and was buried in Fairview Cemetery at Tuxedo, Jones County, Texas.

As a side note, Nakida was the original target for the second atomic bomb. Due to bad weather the secondary target of Nagasaki was bombed.

This is a famous picture taken in 1945 from a B29 that was dropping food parcels. The prison was first spotted by pilots off the USS Lexington.

Many of the POW's worked at the docks unloading ships from Korea, China, and Tiawan. Others worked at Rinko Coal and the Shintetsu Foundary