Clayton Pitre is a long time Seattle, Washington-based community activist, former Chief Housing Developer for the Central Area Motivation Project (CAMP), and a retired Montford Point Marine.
Born on June 30, 1924 to Gilbert Pitre and Eugenie Lemelle, Clayton Pitre was the fourth child of seven siblings. He was born and raised in Opelousas in Saint Landry Parish, Louisiana. His father was a cotton and yam farmer, and his mother was a homemaker. Pitre attended Catholic schools until the 9th grade when he gave up his education to work in various defense plants in early World War II Texas.
Nineteen-year-old Pitre was drafted into the military in 1943. He subsequently signed up to become one of the first African Americans to join the U.S. Marine Corps and was trained at their segregated base, Montford Point near Jacksonville, North Carolina. In December 1943 he was sent overseas to Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands in the South Pacific. In early 1945 his unit was sent to Okinawa, Japan as a decoy for the other forces that invaded the south end of the island. Pitre was as an infantryman in the 1st Marine Ammunition Company sending ammunition to the frontlines. By the end of the war he had earned his Corporal stripes.
Immediately after World War II, Pitre was sent to China to oversee the evacuation of the Japanese Army. In January 1946 he returned to the U. S. and was honorably discharged on February 8, 1946. After a short time back in Louisiana, Pitre was persuaded to join one of his brothers in Seattle, where he got a job at the U.S. Navy’s Fort Lawton. Pitre later enrolled at Seattle’s Broadway Edison Technical School in a program specifically for military veterans who had not earned a high school diploma. With support from the G.I. Bill he passed his vocational tests.
In 1958 Pitre married Gloria Tony, a Seattle language teacher. The couple had three children: Clayton Jr., Michael and Paul. He later enrolled at Seattle University and graduated in 1968 with a degree in accounting. Throughout college he worked as
