Sergeant First Class Clemons was a member of Company A, 71st Medium Tank Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division. He was listed as Missing in Action while fighting the enemy in South Korea on 24 July 1950. He was presumed dead on 31 December 1953. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

Clemons was awarded the Purple Heart, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.