He was born at home on November 11, 1931 in Burkeville, Texas, as one of ten children of Anderson and Estella Adams Harrison. The elder Harrison worked in WPA projects and helped build Fort Polk. As a youngster, Clarence worked on the 30-acre family farm raising cotton, corn, and other vegetables. He also was employed at a sawmill. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in November of 1952. After basic training at Fort Bliss near El Paso, Texas, he shipped out to Japan. There he took an "extended" basic training course in preparation for combat in Korea, where he served in a demolitions unit, disarming anti-tank mines. He also searched for booby trap mines on night patrols. Clarence earned two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantry Badge, among other decorations from his 14-month tour of duty Korea. He once saw General Dwight D. Eisenhower. "He passed right through our company," he recalls. Clarence sailed to America in 1953 on a 14-day voyage, during which he earned extra money by ironing officers' clothes. "I just stayed down in the hole and ironed and listened to the radio," he says. Back home, he met Susie Hooks in church. They married on January 27, 1954. They would have four children; Donald, Brenda, Orlise and Donzell; eleven grandchildren, and ten great-grandchildren. Clarence finished high school in night classes, and completed work in two schools--Caddo Barber and Beauty and Spaulding Business School. After six months he re-enlisted and was stationed at Fort Carson in Pueblo, Colorado, by then a corporal. He then spent 18 months in Alaska, where he helped set up army headquarters at an air base. After leaving the service as a sergeant he worked in maintenance at Bossier Parish Schools, where he retired after 35 years, and also served as a Sunday School and Deacon at Zion Missionary Baptist Church for 40 years.