Very shortly after his crash, a Frenchman inspected the crash site of Lieutenant Palmer. He found that Palmer had taken a machine gun round to the temple and that German soldiers had taken his wallet but left his dog tags, which is how he was identified. Only a day after his crash, June 13, 1944, Palmer was buried temporarily by the French in the cemetery at Glos, a very small French town about 21 miles from the Normandy coast and just southeast of Lisieux. His grave was not discovered by Americans until February 20, 1945, and he was quickly re-interred to La-Cambe US military cemetery February 23, 1945. On November 17, 1947, Palmer’s body was once again disinterred. This time his body would be moved to its current, permanent resting place, in the Normandy American Cemetery. Lieutenant Palmer was awarded a Purple Heart. Given the brief duration of his deployment, it seems likely that this medal was awarded posthumously.
Over a year after his crash, on July 6 1945, Clarence’s mother wrote to Washington asking for details of her son’s death. Unfortunately, they did not have any details to give her at that time, but Mrs. Palmer would get updates from the army whenever Clarence’s remains were moved. |