Published by the VVA Veteran magazine in their September /October 2015 issue. (Photo layout: VVA)
Read the article online at http://vvaveteran.org/35-5/35-5_clever.html
BY HOLLY SHANKS
In December 2012, more than four decades after his father’s funeral, Paul Clever, 52, was sitting on an embankment in the Laotian jungle. He was exhausted, drenched in sweat, and feeling hopeless. He considered giving up after two days of wielding a machete through dense jungle.
He asked himself if he had honored his father’s memory enough to be satisfied with his efforts. If he chose to quit, it meant going back to Mississippi without finding what might be left of his father’s remains. His answer: “No, I’m not there yet. Not yet.”
Clever picked up his machete and went back to hacking his way through the jungle. The next day, his perseverance paid off: He found the crash site of the aircraft his father had been aboard when it was shot down during the Vietnam War.
