Clifford Deverl Linn was honored as the Kosciusko County Veteran of the Month during a presentation Tuesday in Warsaw.

The 90-year-old grew up in Pierceton and met his future wife, Norma Jean Rager, while they were still in their teens.

But before graduating from high school,  “the war was calling,” and at the age of 17, he and his friend, Jack Guy, joined the U.S. Navy on the buddy system. They did their basic training at Sampson Naval Training Center on Seneca Lake, N.Y.  

After finishing his training, he was stationed aboard a troop transport, the USS Queens, on which he served most of his time.  



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When called to “battle stations,” he served as a “sight setter” on a 5” 48mm cannon. This consisted of sitting alongside the cannon and setting the sight for proper aim. At sea, he worked as a “JV talker,” in which he would relay messages from lookouts to the Officer of the Deck.

While aboard the USS Queens, Linn served in the Philippines, Guam, Saipan and the Panama Canal, picking up military personnel in each port and bringing them home to California.

Linn estimates they brought 1,000 to 1,500 servicemen home.

He then returned to Virginia where he boarded the USS Guadalcanal and finished his service as a gunner’s mate.

With the conclusion of the war, he and hundreds of thousands of other servicemen were encouraged by the U.S. government to be honorably discharged.

During his short career in the Navy, Linn achieved the rank of “Seaman 1st Class” or “Gunner’s Mate 1st Class.”

After his discharge, Cliff returned home to Pierceton and resumed school for his senior year while rekindling his relationship with Norma Jean.  

He graduated high school in 1947, and two years later they were married. Together, they had three daughters, seven grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

In 1954, he began working as an operating engineer (heavy equipment operator), which he continued until he retired in 1992.  

During the early years of his chosen profession, Linn traveled from job site to job site, pulling his mobile home behind his vehicle and relocating his family as the job progressed. As a result, they lived in roughly 30 towns in four states.

In 1960, he designed a new home for his family where they still reside today on the south side of Pierceton.

Linn is a lifetime member of American Legion Post 258 in Pierceton and is a proud retiree of IUOE Local 103 in Fort Wayne.

Cliff truly loved his time in the Navy and was honored to enjoy a trip to Washington, D.C. in April of this year on an Honor Flight.  

To this day, Cliff can still recite his serial number: 2944196.