On January 17, 2023, the Department of Veterans Affairs recognized Richard “Clem” Clement (Delta Tau Delta, Stevens Institute of Technology, 1959) as #VeteranOfTheDay.
Clement was born in Woodbury, New Jersey. He attended George School in Newton, Pennsylvania, and later enrolled at Stevens Institute of Technology, where he studied engineering and participated in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program. After graduating, Clement joined the Air Force in October 1959, completing pre-flight school in San Antonio, Texas, primary flight training in Bainbridge, Georgia, and basic flight training in Laredo, Texas.
After flight training, Clement was assigned to the 55th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron. He flew the WB-50D aircraft, accumulating over 2,100 flying hours. In 1962, he served at Johnston Island and Christmas Island, where he took part in four nuclear bomb test detonations, including Starfish Prime. A year later, he completed two flights around Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis, an experience that was “as scary a thing as any [he’d] ever done.” Clement next served in Hawaii for three years, in Japan for a year, and then six months in Vietnam and Thailand. In the latter two, Clement flew the KB-50 aerial tanker and completed 27 combat support missions.
