Clayton Johnston Hileman was born August 16, 1911, and after graduating from Lincoln High School in Portland, OR, in 1931, attended Glendale Junior College in California. In September of 1936 he legally changed his name to Clayton Hileman Mickelson. He appears to have effectively been adopted at some point – while his transcript lists C.E. Hileman as his father’s name, every other document later in life credits Henry A. and Margaret ‘Peggy’ J. Mickelsen, married in 1929, of Portland as his parents. The ‘son’ vs. ‘sen’ difference between the names would create confusion in later years; it appears this was a bureaucratic error as Clayton would use Mickelsen himself. He then enrolled at Washington State College (not far from where his mother had been raised in Colfax), where he graduated in 1939 with a PhD in Veterinary Medicine.
He went to work as a veterinarian in Pasadena, CA, and entered the Veterinary Corps Reserve of the Army in June, 1939. On Nov. 15, 1940 he went on active duty and was assigned to the 26th Cavalry, in the Philippines.
He received the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving with Veterinary Corps, 26th Cavalry Regiment, Philippine Scouts, in action against enemy forces on 22 December 1941, in the Philippine Islands. He had driven a veterinary vehicle onto a bridge under heavy assault to block enemy tanks, and remained to set it on fire, presenting the enemy from pursuing the retreating allies.
When the Japanese captured Bataan in early 1942, Mickelsen was taken prisoner, and was part of the Bataan Death March. He was in prison camps for nearly three years, dying of avitaminosis on Feb. 4, 1945 at the Fukuoka Prisoner of War Camp in Japan.
The collection consists of correspondence (letters and telegrams), papers, photographs, and published materials regarding Clayton Mickelsen, a Portland, OR, native and WSC student who served in the Army’s Veterinary Corps in World War II, dying in a prison camp in the Philippines. The items appear to have been collected by Mickelsen’s mother, Margaret J. (Peggy, or Mrs. Henry A.) Mickelsen. There are letters home from Clayton to his parents first from the Philippines, and then from prison camp. There are several letters from the U.S. government to his parents, and back. The collection also includes materials sent to WSU in 1986-1988, from people who served with or knew him.
Materials are foldered in an alphabetical subject order, with some donor information and an oversized magazine at the end. Within each folder, items are organized chronologically, with correspondence from a given day usually in its own protective sleeve, labeled by date.
This collection is open and available for research use.
Copyright restrictions may apply.
[Item description]
Clayton Mickelsen Papers, 1936-1988 (Cage 968)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.
Russell Mickelsen, a cousin of Clayton Mickelsen, donated the majority of this collection to the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine on October 9, 2006.
Lynn Haley of the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine had this transferred to the Washington State University Libraries’ MASC on August 20, 2024, where it was retained without an accession number and immediately processed.
University Archivist Mark O’English processed this collection on August 21, 2024. The entire collection was rehoused and reorganized at that time.
A small amount of materials related to Clayton Mickelsen may be found in Archives 150, WSC War Records, as may information on other war lost. A veterinary student lounge in WSU’s Bustad Hall honors Mickelsen, and contains an oil portrait, his military medals and citations, and a dedication plaque.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.