John Marion Clifton was born on October 4, 1919, in Jamestown, Boone County, Indiana. He was the son of Marion Cecil Clifton and Alice Myrtle (Rodgers)Perry Clifton.

John had four years of high school and a civil occupation as a Waiter. He was single without dependents upon enlistment at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, on April 22, 1941. He served in Company D, 2nd Ranger Battalion, as a Technician 5th Grade during World War II. He was Killed in Action on June 6, 1944, at the age of 24, at Pointe du Hoc, during the American assault on Omaha and Utah beaches in France. T5 Clifton is now buried in the Normandy American Cemetery, Colleville-Sur-Mer, France.