James Cleary: Marine turned detective

By Wendy L. Ellis, Honor Flight Chicago Veteran Interview Volunteer

What do the US Marines, the Chicago Police Department and the Cook County Sheriff’s Department have in common?  Jim Cleary. At 96, the former Chicago PD detective, bomb and arson squad member and Cook County Sheriff’s investigator has left footprints in some of Chicago’s most memorable moments.  But it is the memories of the 30 years he spent in the US Marine Reserve and on active duty during the Korean War, that he holds close to his heart.  

Graduating from Amundsen High School in Chicago in 1947, Cleary had been too young to serve in World War II. But when a Marine recruiter showed up at Amundsen near the end of his senior year, decked out in his dress blues and tennis shoes, Cleary answered the call.  “They were setting up a new reserve unit at the Glenview Naval Air Station, so in March of ’47 my best friend and I went down and signed up.”  It was the usual Reserve schedule. Spend one weekend a month at Glenview, with a couple weeks of active duty a year. “At the time it was like being a Boy Scout,” says Cleary. Of course, they were doing a lot more than earning merit badges. 

Cleary opted for the Ordnance section because he was interested in shooting but knew nothing about it. “They had a two-seater training plane out here, and ordnance people had to be tail gunners. It was a dive bomber trainer, but they only had one, so you would sit in the back and your gun would be mounted. We’d go up and shoot at sleeves. It got interesting working with 50 caliber machine guns and training bombs.” There were plenty of drills and lectures on military tactics along with weapon and ammunition training and preparations. They’d check and load the ammunition into the guns, even down to painting the ammo tips when they went out on maneuvers. Each plane had its own color, so they’d know which pilots hit which targets when the maneuvers were over.  “We had a good time together.”

Meanwhile, in civilian life, Cleary was attending Loyola University, working on a degree in Business and Accounting.  But he graduated in absentia.  His squadron was called to active duty and sent to Parris Island for Boot Camp in the middle of his senior year, 1951. Loyola gave him full credit and his diploma while he was learning the ropes at “The Swamp”, as Parris Island is “affectionately” called.

Unfortunately, when the call-up came, Cleary’s mother had just died, and his departure was delayed.  The rest of the squadron went on to training and Korea without him.  In addition, his CO had recommended him for Officer Candidate School.  “The Marines were losing too many second lieutenants,” says Cleary. “The life of a second lieutenant back then was about two minutes. Since I was a sergeant in the reserve unit, I was eligible for OCS.” 

But first he had to survive The Swamp. No matter your previous rank, when you went to Parris Island you became a private again.

“We had sergeants who’d been decorated during WWII who dropped out. That’s how tough it was,” says Cleary. “We were there for 13 weeks living in tents. It was like an eternity.”

But Cleary survived, and was shipped off to Quantico, Virginia, with the rank of Second Lieutenant.  At Quantico the young officers were given field problems, like assault on a fortified position, or storm a beach. For each maneuver they held a different rank and position and were told to achieve their objective, whether by the book or otherwise. The final destination of his active duty was Camp LeJeune, North Carolina, where he was assigned to Headquarters and Service. He became the Battalion Mess Officer, and went from there to the Guard Company, where he eventually became the CO. “A company is not usually commanded by a lieutenant,” says Cleary. “But they were running out of officers.”  He was also sent to Naval Justice School to learn the Code of Conduct so he could handle court martials for minor offenses during his time there.   Although Cleary had put in to go to Korea, his request was never granted. The rest of his active military career was spent at Camp LeJeune. He left there in 1953 with the rank of Captain.

In the end his military service took him full circle. After a short stint at Great Lakes, he ended up back in the reserve at Glenview Naval Air Station, but this time as an officer. He was put in charge of the Ordnance section of a brand new squadron, 611, in 1958.  

As for his private life, he had joined the Chicago Police Department at a patrolman two years earlier. He became a member of the CPD Bomb and Arson squad, and was on duty on Dec. 1, 1958, when the Our Lady of Angels school caught fire. Cleary and his partner were listening to the radio in their squad car as they drove to the school, not realizing how bad it was.  “They were calling for wagons from the park district because they had station wagons for their squad cars. We could hear a lot of confusion on the radio.” Says Cleary. “When we got to the area we had to jump out of our car and double time it to the school. There was a cop in the middle of it all trying to control the crowds, and he was crying.”  Cleary said all the fire ladders had been put up at the front of the building, but the fire was at the back. He looked up and saw a firefighter carrying a small child down a ladder. “The fire had been extinguished so we went to the back where there was smoke, and we started going room to room and finding the victims.” Three nuns and 93 children died that day. “We didn’t start our investigation that day,” says Cleary, “We started recovery.”  They did start looking for the cause of the fire, but it wasn’t until years later that a young man was arrested in the suburbs for setting fires. Cleary says he was a former Our Lady of the Angels student and although he never admitted to setting the fire, he didn’t clear the polygraph.  

Cleary took a leave of absence from the CPD in1960 and went to work for the National Board of Fire Underwriters, investigating fires and bombings. But he returned to the CPD in time to work the 1968 riots at the Chicago Democratic Convention.   He worked as a detective until 1989, when he transferred to the Cook County Sheriff’s department, working as an investigator for 18 years.  This was long after he had finally retired from the Marine Reserves in 1977, with the rank of Lt. Colonel.

Along the way, he found time to marry his wife Darlene, and raise six children, four girls and two boys.  The latter were both Chicago police officers before they too, retired.  He and Darlene were married for 70 years before she passed away.  

After 40 years in uniform, we can sincerely say, thank you for your service Jim Cleary.