Vero Beach veteran was a high flyer in 3 wars

Clemenzi, a veteran of World War II, Korea and Vietnam, came to Fort Pierce in 1925, at the age of 3 with his family. He graduated from Fort Pierce High School in 1934, and went to work with his father. When he learned he was about to be drafted in September 1941, he volunteered.

Sent to Chanute Field in Texas, he trained as an aviation mechanic. He might have stayed on the flight line, but his sergeant told him to take the flight cadet examination. He took the test and ranked 13th out of 165 applicants, but there was a delay and he went to bombardier's school.

While in training, he served in a crew with movie star Jimmy Stewart, who was learning to fly. Stewart was a "regular guy," according to Clemenzi. "He was friends with everyone. Later I met him when he was a general, and he was just the same. A really great guy."

Clemenzi was sent to MacDill Field in Tampa to fly as bombardier in the B-26 Marauder, a low- and medium-level bomber with a reputation of falling out of the sky. The saying at MacDill with the B-26s was "a plane a day in Tampa Bay." Because of his mechanic's training, Clemenzi figured out the plane would be more stable if flown at an angle of eight degrees above horizontal.

The squadron went to England in May 1942 and began bombing runs over Europe. On one of his 71 missions, his plane sustained 311 hits from anti-aircraft fire. Mechanics found a piece of a German shell, which had knocked out most of Clemenzi's bombsight controls, lodged in the insulation of the plane two inches of above his head. On D-Day, he was lead bombardier in the attack on German guns in Normandy.

In 1945, Clemenzi came home to Fort Pierce to operate a cement block company. He and his wife, Novella, had five children. As an Air Force Reservist, he was recalled for the Korean War. He was assigned to B-52 bombers during the Cold War.

Arthritis grounded him and he was sent to Vietnam to serve as deputy director of the 315th Special Operations Wing.

Since he retired, Clemenzi says he spends his time fishing, boating and driving his camper between his children's homes.