Clarence Clifford (Jamie) Jamison (1918–2014)

Clarence Clifford (Jamie) Jamison was a pioneering aviator who was a member of the famed 99^th Pursuit Squadron of the 332^nd Fighter Group, best known as the Tuskegee Airmen or Red Tails. On June 2, 1943, he led his flight, a tactical sub-group of the squadron, on the first combat mission involving Black pilots in World War II.

Jamie Jamison was born in Little Rock (Pulaski County) on February 25, 1918, the third son of seven children born to Richard Jamison and Sallie Stewart Jamison. In 1923, his parents moved him and the other older children to Cleveland, Ohio, leaving their younger children with maternal grandparents Edward Stewart and Callie Stewart. One year later, the entire family was reunited in Cleveland in their 85^th Street home, now with two uncles and a boarder joining the family. Jamison’s father worked as an order clerk for a wholesale drug company.

Jamison began his schooling in Cleveland at Bolton Elementary School, eventually graduating from Central High School. With an interest in medicine and an eye toward a career in that field, Jamison applied to and was accepted by the University of Chicago, where he studied medical bacteriology. To help pay for school, Jamison worked as a bookkeeping machine operator.

While living in Chicago with an uncle and attending the University of Chicago, Jamison heard about the U.S. government–sponsored Civilian Pilot Training Program. He completed his seventy-two hours of ground training and fifty hours of flight training, earning his civilian pilot’s license in 1940. He learned about the formation of the first African American squadron for the U.S. Army Air Corps, and realizing that the program offered the opportunity for him to serve as an officer, Jamison applied to the Tuskegee Army Air Field training program. He was accepted on August 21, 1941.

On April 18, 1942, Jamison married Phyllis Louise Piersawl; they would go on to have a daughter named Michal and a son named Clarence Jr.

On April 29, 1942, Clarence graduated from the Tuskegee Army Air Field training program. His class, SE-42-D, was only the second class to graduate from the program, and it would take several more classes of graduates before the 99^th Fighter Squadron had the prerequisite number of pilots to form officially. During the wait, the pilots continued to train and prepare. In April 1943, the filled unit was sent to North Africa. Jamison completed sixty-seven combat missions and was awarded the Air Medal with seven oak leaf clusters.

Jamison later served in the Korean War as an accounting and finance officer and retired from the military in 1963 with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

He returned to Cleveland and started working for the Social Security Administration (SSA), becoming an operations supervisor. He was selected to head one of the nation’s first Metropolitan Answering Services—an effort that led to establishment of SSA teleservice centers nationwide. Jamison retired from a career at the SSA after twenty-three years service.

In 2006, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Public Service by Tuskegee University. On March 29, 2007, President George W. Bush collectively awarded the Tuskegee Airmen the Congressional Gold Medal, not only in recognition of their service during the war, but also for their courage in pursuing equality in the military services.

Jamison died on March 6, 2014, in Cleveland. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

For additional information:
Christ, James. Memories from Tuskegee: The Life Story of Lieutenant Colonel Clarence C. Jamison. Chandler, AZ: Battlefield Publishing, 2008.

Clarence C. Jamison Sr. Collection. Library of Congress, Washington DC. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.56544/ (accessed July 13, 2026).

Obituary of Clarence Jamison. https://obits.cleveland.com/us/obituaries/cleveland/name/clarence-jamison-obituary?pid=170130655 (accessed July 13, 2026).

Richard Holbert
Little Rock, Arkansas