Clarence Edwin Sutton (February 18, 1871 – October 9, 1916) was a United States Marine Corps sergeant who received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by ...

Biography

Sutton was born in

Urbanna, Virginia Urbanna is a town in Middlesex County, Virginia, United States. Urbanna means “City of Anne” and was named in honor of England's Queen Anne. The population was 476 at the 2010 census. Geography Urbanna is located at (37.637796, −76 ...

, on February 18, 1871, the oldest of four children of Thomas E. and Ellen Sutton. His father Thomas worked as a merchant. Sutton entered the Virginia Military Institute on August 18, 1885. He was forced to repeat his first year there, becoming a member of the class of 1890, and resigned from the school in 1888 before graduating. Sutton joined the Marine Corps from Washington, D.C. in June 1899, and served in the

Philippine–American War The Philippine–American War or Filipino–American War ( es, Guerra filipina-estadounidense, tl, Digmaang Pilipino–Amerikano), previously referred to as the Philippine Insurrection or the Tagalog Insurgency by the United States, was an arm ...

. By July 13, 1900, he had reached the rank of

sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...

and was serving in Tianjin (then known to Americans as "Tientsin"),

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, in the midst of the Boxer Rebellion. Sutton resigned from the military in about 1909 due to illness, after reaching the rank of first sergeant. He died seven years later on October 9, 1916, at age 45 and was buried in site 18847 section 17, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia.

The war

The small garrison of Marines stationed in Tientsin found themselves under attack and outnumbered by the nationalists (boxers), who were determined to "drive the foreign devils" out. A multinational military force from the Eight-Nation Alliance whose members were Austria- Hungary, France, Germany, Italy,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States consisting of 50,000 troops were sent to Tientsin to reinforce the troops already there. On June 21, 1900, the Boxers were entrenched on the outskirts of Tientsin. On July 13, 1900, a major skirmish occurred between Sutton's unit, the First U.S. Infantry Regiment, and the Boxers. Major James Regan was badly wounded and Sutton together with Sergeant

Alexander J. Foley Sergeant Alexander Joseph Foley (February 19, 1866 – January 14, 1910) was a member of the United States Marine Corps who was awarded the United States' highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, for having distinguished himself durin ...

and two other Marines, under enemy fire and in total disregard for their own personal safety, rescued the Major. They were able to take Maj Regan to a field hospital three miles away from the location where he was wounded. In the letter which Major Regan wrote recommending the Medal of Honor, he stated the following:

It was with the greatest of difficulty and persistence in their noble work that they got me off the field. They placed me on an improvised litter made of two flannel shirts and two rifles. I was a heavy man and with the greatest of care over the roughest kind of ground, under fire, they carried me to the Marine Hospital in the city, a distance of about three miles....Such men are worthy of all the distinction the Government can confer upon them.

After serving in the Boxer Rebellion, Sutton and Foley were sent to the Marine garrison located in Cavite, in the Philippine Islands. There, on May 11, 1902, in the presence of their units, they were each bestowed with the Medal of Honor. The two other MarinesSix Marines of the 1st Regiment were awarded the Medal of Honor for actions on the same date, July 13, 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion: Sergeant John M. Adams (born George L. Day), Corporal

Harry Chapman Adriance Harry Chapman Adriance (October 27, 1864 – January 25, 1934) was a United States marine who received the Medal of Honor for his "distinguished conduct in the presence of the enemy in battle near Tientsin, China" on July 13, 1900, during th ...

, Private James Cooney, Sergeant Alexander J. Foley, Private Clarence Edward Mathias, and Sergeant Clarence E. Sutton. were also awarded the Medal of Honor.

Medal of Honor citation

Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 18 February 1871, Middlesex County, Va. Accredited to: Washington, D.C. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation:

In action during the battle near Tientsin, China, 13 July 1900. Although under heavy fire from the enemy, Sutton assisted in carrying a wounded officer from the field of battle.

Awards and recognitions

Among Sutton's decorations and medals were the following: File:US Navy Medal of Honor (1862 original).png, File:SpainMedNavy.jpg, File:NavyPhilCampMed.jpg, File:ChinaReliefNavy.png,

References

External links