CHAPTER 1
Not Finished With Me Yet ... Early Years
Life brings many surprises. It all started for Clyde when he grew up on a small farm in northern Texas. The family farm was located three miles from Jermyn, Texas, near the Winn Hill Community. After graduating in 1938 from Jermyn High School in a class of seven, Clyde later began attending college in September 1941 at Howard Payne College in Brownwood, Texas. It was at Howard Payne that he had the great fortune of meeting his wife-to-be, Larue Vivian Haley. They were married on October 17, 1943, and were blessed with about 61 years together. The Lord also blessed them with four children, two boys, Aaron and Stanley, and two girls, Fawncyne and Kathy. Larue and Clyde were so bonded together that when she died in 2004, Clyde felt like he could not go on living without her. However, through friends and prayer, he survived, and he is still able to shout from the housetops that God is good and that He still keeps the world going, speaking to His children through the Holy Spirit.
For the years between 1951 and 1962, Clyde was in active duty as a member of the USAF, serving as a chaplain. His first duty assignment was in 1951 at Chanute AFB, Illinois. Following that, from 1952 to 1955, he was stationed first at Hickam AFB and then at Wheeler AFB in Oahu, Hawaii. After returning to the mainland, he served at Harlingen AFB, Texas, from 1955 to 1957. It was while at Harlingen that he believed that he witnessed one of God's miracles involving the family. At that time, his dear mother-in-law, Marintha Haley, Larue's mother, lived at Hargill, Texas, which was 31 miles away from Harlingen. Granny Haley, as she was known to everyone, had lived alone since her husband, Abraham Haley, had died in 1953. Because of her age and situation, Larue felt it was important to be near her mother during this time. To Clyde's surprise, in 1957 he was re-stationed to Moore AB, another airbase in the area near Mission, Texas. Of all the bases they could have sent him, Moore AB was the only other base that was near to Mrs. Haley. In fact, Mrs. Haley lived about 31 miles west from Harlingen and 31 miles east from Moore AB. For another two years until 1959, they were able to stay near Mrs. Haley. Clyde has always thought that this assignment was by divine appointment.
Throughout his years of ministry Clyde has witnessed the Lord's gracious hand in times of need. His timing is always flawless, and as the saying goes, "God is never in a hurry, but He is always on time." That was never experienced more powerfully than while on his next military assignment. In May 1959 he received orders for an overseas tour to Misawa Air Base, Japan. He was forced to leave his family in Texas until he could secure housing in Japan. For the trip from Texas, he drove the 1955 Dodge family car to San Francisco, California, where the car would be transported by ship to Japan. Leaving the car behind in California, he travelled by military air transport to Tokyo, Japan. Then he reached his final destination at Misawa AB by train as of July 6, 1959.
After about a month, the family car arrived at Hachinohe, Japan, which was located about 15.5 miles from Misawa along the northeastern coastline of Honshu, the main island of Japan.
Having newly arrived in Japan Clyde's surroundings were strange to him, and he did not know any of the Japanese language. The trip to Hachinohe to pick up his car was by a military bus, and so long as he was around the 20 to 30 other military personnel on the trip, this was not a problem. The ride was on a winding and dusty road, and it was bumpy and uncomfortable. When the bus arrived at the pick-up location, which was a large flat area where the cars were parked, the bus quickly emptied as everyone exited the bus in search of their vehicles. The others found their cars, started them up, and headed on the road back to Misawa behind the bus transport. Clyde was not so lucky with his car, which he found and started, but it then died and would not restart. He could see the last car in the group, besides himself, as it went over a hill and out of sight.
It was a frightening feeling being all alone in this strange land, not being able to speak the Japanese language and in a country that had been in a hostile war not many years earlier. It was in the evening with the sun already low on the horizon, and he had no idea how he was going to get back to Misawa AB. He was surrounded by a field of vacant cars, and he could see the houses of many Japanese people in the area, but he had no effective way of communicating. In his frustration he did not know of anything that he could do but to pray.
However, it was just in his point of desperation that help arrived. Just before the sun dipped over the horizon, a helicopter flew in and landed nearby. As it turned out, an Air Force pilot had arrived by helicopter to get his own car, and he was happy to take Clyde back to the base with him. What a relief it was for this "Good Samaritan" to rescue him in his time of great need. He was a black man, and Clyde did not remember his name, but he will always remember his kindness and the Lord's provision at the right moment. In addition to teaching him that the Lord does indeed provide for His own, it reminded him that it was important to be a Good Samaritan himself whenever he saw others struggling and in need of assistance.
There was another experience that happened in that first year in Japan while he was still struggling to learn the Japanese language and to communicate with the Japanese people. Part of his duty as a chaplain was to make periodic trips to remote radar sites in northern Japan for spiritual instruction and worship with military personnel. On one of his first trips, beginning November 5, 1959, he made a 14 day trip to 5 different military outposts along Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan.
For most of the trip, travel was by train. Traveling between outposts it was often very hard to communicate with civilians, still not knowing much Japanese. While making that trip, he remembers looking out of the train window and seeing all the signs written in Japanese. He wondered how he was going to know where to get off of the train at his destination. Fortunately, as in his later travel experience, he found that there were often Japanese people wanting just as badly to learn English as he was of Japanese, often having a book in hand with a main desire to be able to read and speak the English language. On the train one young man saw that he was having a problem, and he came to Clyde offering to help, and he told him the right stop where to get off. In spite of his anxiety during this trip and others, he found the Japanese people to be friendly and polite, and there was always at least one or two who took the time to try to help him with directions when they were needed. After his return to Misawa, in spite of a few anxious moments, Clyde had mostly fond memories of his travel.
On other temporary duty assignments to the Northern Island of Hokkaido, travel was sometimes by boat. On one trip the journey was by a boat that was about 20 feet wide and...
