Purvis, Mississippi, Palmer's hometown, shown within a map of MS
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Clarence Burton Palmer was born sometime in 1919 in Purvis, Mississippi to his parents Edward and Eula. He was the youngest of six children, with one sister, also named Eula, and four brothers, Henry, Elmore, Damon, and Chester. Palmer’s parents were married on May 1, 1900 in Leflore county MS. Clarence’s father worked many jobs. In the 1910 census, he put himself down as a carpenter. In the 1920 census, he wrote he had no occupation. In the 1930 census, they were farmers. Clarence’s highest education was 4 years of high school, which he received at Purvis High School, where he would have graduated in the class of 1938 or 1939. Both of Clarence’s parents outlived him. Edward died September 26, 1945 and Eula died November 10, 1968. Both Edward and Eula were buried in Purvis’s Coal Town Cemetery. Henry Palmer, the eldest brother, died Feb 7, 1972 and was buried in Talowah cemetery. In 1940, after all of her children had grown, Clarence’s mother strangely began living away from her husband with her sister and brother-in-law in Solano County, California. However, she would move back to Mississippi, perhaps due to her husband’s failing health. According to his enlistment records, Clarence had been married and divorced by the time he enlisted into the army, but he had no children.
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