Clarence Marion Davis

Clarence Marion (Junior) Davis
(03-13-1918 -10-02-2014)

Junior was born March 13,1918 in Winter Haven, Florida and lived in Polk County his entire life having spent the last 83 years in Waverly. Although legally named Clarence Marion Davis, he was always called Junior by his family and friends. Junior started his sales career as an eleven year old delivering the Grit newspaper on his Ranger bicycle in the Dundee area. Around the age of 13, he and his family moved from Dundee to Waverly where his dad took the job as Depot Agent for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. His mother was employed as a fruit grader working in Waverly Grower’s fresh fruit packing house for 50 consecutive years.At the age of 15, he started playing fast-pitch softball for the Waverly Growers softball team and soon developed the reputation of being one of the premier fast-pitch pitchers in the Southeastern United States. He and the Waverly team traveled up the eastern seaboard all the way into Canada promoting Waverly Growers citrus products along the way. Their mode of transportation was an old school bus painted with all the different types of Florida citrus that the Waverly Growers packing house sold.
In 1942 at the age of 24, Junior and his friends Doug Clark and Marvin Black joined the army together. He was assigned to the Reconnaissance Division of the 1st Army 3rd Armored Division,
33rd Armored Regiment and eventually was part of the D-Day invasion that landed at Omaha Beach in Normandy, France.

Junior rode a Harley-Davidson motorcycle to support forward communications for the drive across France, Belgium, the Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge) and on into Germany. His primary duties were to recon the forward areas and then relay the information back to the advancing troops. During one of these recon missions he spotted a German soldier trying to hide in a canal.

He dismounted and managed to capture the soldier who was armed with a P-08 Luger pistol. Any thoughts the German had of trying to reach for his holstered Luger was quickly dismissed when he saw the barrel of Junior’s .45 caliber sub-machine gun aimed at his chest. Despite constant exposure to enemy forces in his forward communications role, Junior fortunately was never wounded. For his service, he earned five battle stars, several medals and the Luger pistol that he took from the German soldier that he had captured. The Luger was one of his favorite treasures, but unfortunately it and several other items were stolen from him during a home invasion and burglary in 2012. Although the Luger was never found, the bad guy was caught and is now serving two life terms for armed burglary, attempted kidnapping and abuse of an elderly person over 65. After being honorably discharged in October of 1945, Junior returned to Waverly, and married his sweetheart, Margie Bryant from Apopka, Florida. In April of 1947 Junior and Margie were blessed by the birth of their only child, a daughter whom they named Candee. Once back at Waverly, Junior went to work and played softball at Waverly Growers for the next twenty years. He retired from playing softball in 1966 at the age of 48. He then went to work for Hudson Burr at Sherman’s Firestone as a salesman for the next twenty plus years. During this time he turned to tennis and golf as his recreational preference and being the accomplished athlete that he was, he excelled at both including a hole-in-one at the age of 87. Junior might have been a diminutive man in stature but he was undeniably a giant in athletics.

Junior was preceded in death by both his parents (C.N. & Nina Davis) and his wife Margie Bryant Davis.

He is survived by his daughter, Candee Davis Johnson, three granddaughters,Candilyn (Ray) Steadman, Christina Lane, and Kelly Green-Daniels, six great grandchildren and one great-great grandchild. Special family friends include Larry Linton, Donny Macklin, Mickey Stanland, and the owners and employees of Shacks BBQ in Winter Haven.

A special thanks to Irene J. Dumas for not only including Junior in her book “A Salute to Our Veterans”, but for also featuring him on the cover.Junior was known far and wide, loved by many and will be missed by all and at his request no service is planned.

Condolences may be sent to P0 Box 76, Waverly, FL 33877