Clair McKinley Conzelman, born in Bristol, Connecticut, on October 26, 1900, attended Brown University before entering West Point in 1922 and graduating in 1926. Commissioned into the Coast Artillery Corps, he served at posts including Fort Totten, Fortress Monroe, the Panama Canal Zone, Fort Barrancas, and Corregidor. Known for his expertise in heavy guns and antiaircraft artillery, he joined the 59th Coast Artillery in the Philippines in 1939. By 1941, he was serving as a staff officer in the Harbor Defenses of Manila and Subic Bays, later becoming assistant S-3 during the siege of Corregidor. He is remembered for maintaining detailed operational logs under heavy bombardment.

After the surrender of Corregidor on May 6, 1942, Lt. Col. Conzelman was taken prisoner and moved through several camps, including Cabanatuan, Davao, and Bilibid. As U.S. forces advanced in late 1944, he was among 1,200 prisoners forced aboard the Oryoku Maru, which was sunk off Luzon; he survived but was recaptured and later placed on the Enoura Maru. That ship was bombed at Takao, Formosa, on January 9, 1945, where Conzelman was wounded and, already weakened by starvation and disease, died on January 11, 1945. Initially buried in a mass grave on the beach, his remains were later recovered and re-interred at United States Military Academy Post Cemetery, West Point, Orange County, New York, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, West Point Association of Graduates