Clifton-Whittaker

1ST LT. CLIFTON WHITTAKER

Whittaker arrived at Fort Campbell, KY in May 1961 where he went to jump school. He went with the 101st Airborne Division to Vietnam, December 1967. He was not assigned to 3rd Platoon as Platoon Leader until 1968. He presently lives in Clarksville, TN.

Medals and Awards

National Defense Service Medal
Vietnam Service Medal
Vietnam Campaign Medal
Combat Infantryman Badge

Unit Citations

01 April –30 November 1968, 1LT Clifton Whittaker, was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service in connection with military operations against a hostile force. (HQ, 101st Airborne Division, Special Orders Number 123; 7 January 1969)

Written by Cliff Whittaker

Forty-three years ago we were just finishing up one of the bloodiest months experienced by A-2/501... and starting into another one. Mothers Day, 1968 we did a combat assault late in the evening. I looked down from the chopper as we approached the LZ and I saw three M48 tanks on the ground. I figured we would just sweep through this village in a combined armored/infantry attack and be done with it.

On the ground Capt Miller sent me over to make contact with the CO of D Trp, 2/17 Cav and get their radio frequencies for coordination. I took my RTO (Bulldog) and we ran across an open, dry paddy to his jeep. First time I had seen a jeep in the field. Anyway, he had his hands full because he was trying to defend against an NVA attack that was going on at the same time I was trying to talk to him. While we were talking one of the M48s was hit by an RPG and the men were trapped inside.

A medic ran over and climbed up on the tank to try to get the hatch open and he was being shot at the whole time. Bulldog and I started back to A Co and had to cross that open paddy again. It was easier this time because somebody in the tree line behind us kept shooting at us and every time a burst of AK popped past our ears we just ran faster. When we hit the edge of the little graveyard where A Co was we dived head first into a shallow, sunk in grave. I rolled over and looked back across the paddy and saw the NVA soldier crouch down behind a banana tree to shoot again. I leveled down on him but was afraid to shoot because I didn't know where the Cav troops were and he was in that same direction. About that time he got up and ran off.

More "stuff" went on then and before our attack started we had lost all three M48s. The Cav troop had five M113 armored personnel carriers and they lost four of them. A Co attacked the village twice, each time from a different direction. We didn't finish up until after 0200 and we had lost 30% of our company. That was the night my PSG, James Kyzer was hit behind the ear by a mortar fragment. There were a lot of WIAs that night and some KIAs. The enemy was gone the next day when we swept through. Our revenge came when our battalion cornered them at Fuoc Yen and we wiped out their whole regiment.

PHOTOS

In the photo with Ryan are some of our "Alpha Originals" - 67-68
(l to r) CW2 Ryan Niebuhr, Leonard M. Kaminski, Jimmy Culberson, Clifton Whittaker, Floyd Turnley, Mike Hovis, John R. Douberly

Standing Left to Right: Whittaker, Connell, Turnley, Morgan, Brander, DeSoucy, Loosen, Hovis.
Kneeling - Kaminski.

Cliff Whittaker talks about how he achieved some of his images of downtown Monday as he prepares for "Visions of My World," an exhibition of new photographs opening Thursday at the Downtown Artists Co-op.
(Beth Liggett Cogbill/The Leaf-Chronicle)

Photographer invites you to see 'Visions of My World'
Pictures show Clarksville, nearby vistas
By STACY LEISER • The Leaf-Chronicle • November 4, 2009

Cliff Whittaker had a heart attack about a year ago, then welcomed 2009 with pneumonia and a cascade of other maladies. He hasn't been fit to go on four-day camping trips or spend early winter mornings wandering the streets of downtown Clarksville shooting photographs.

"That's when you get the best pictures, when everybody else is still sacked out or the weather is too bad to get out," Whittaker said. "You get the stuff no one else gets."

Now that the year is almost done, Whittaker is the picture of glowing good health. He will soon return to carrying his backpack and 35-pound tripod into gorgeous and sometimes unseen locales in and around Clarksville, but for now, he is pausing for a brief look at where he has been. Whittaker spent much of 2009 winnowing down over 12,000 digital images to the 45 or so in a new show, "Visions of My World." His one-man exhibition opens with a reception 5-8 p.m.
Thursday at Downtown Artists Co-op Gallery, as part of First Thursday Art Walk.

About half of the show has images of downtown Clarksville, including The Roxy Regional Theatre, Blondie's, Front Page Deli and Blackhorse Pub & Brewery. The other half has mini vacations in photographic form, breathtaking scenery from Whittaker's trips to nearby natural wonderlands such as Land Between the Lakes and Big South Fork.

"When I go out and I'm working, I put the camera on a tripod and I leave it there," Whittaker said. "I want everything to be rock solid, as sharp as I can get it."

Whittaker works in color as well as in black and white, toiling for hours on a single image to get the subtle tonal variances to reproduce accurately. Now a digital convert, he was once the biggest film snob around.

"I shot film for 46 years before I ever got into digital. I was the most resistant person to digital ever," he said. "I hated it. All I could see was digital killing film." Now, he gleefully shoots with a Nikon D300, a 12-megapixel digital SLR. "Things change," Whittaker said. "I wouldn't go back and shoot film for anything. I can get better quality with digital." The photographer, who once worked with large format film cameras that required labor-intensive setup before each shot, still does the composing before he ever clicks the shutter.

"Usually when I stop and shoot something, I already have the picture done up here," Whittaker said, tapping his head. "Then, it's just the mechanical process of capturing it." Get a glimpse into Whittaker's world starting 5 p.m. Thursday and running noon-6 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays through Nov. 28.

Stacy Leiser is a features writer for The Leaf-Chronicle. She can be reached at 245-0720 or at stacyleiser@theleafchronicle.com