MOULTRIE —
Veterans in the area lost an advocate this week with the death of Clem Weldon, who was willing to go to bat any time he was needed to help fellow former military members, friends said of the retired Moultrie police officer.
Weldon, 73, died Monday, and funeral services are scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday at Riverside Holiness Church.
Weldon spent 20 years in the U.S. Army, retiring as a staff sergeant before beginning a second career with the Moultrie Police Department.
He was active for years with veterans’ groups, including the American Legion, Disabled American Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars.
“Clem was a service officer in the American Legion, which entails working with veterans who have any problems,” said Tom Davis of the Moultrie American Legion Post 324. “He would take care of them and square them away, help them with appointments.
“Clem was very unique. He was always a helping hand.”
Davis said he doesn’t remember anyone ever having an unkind word about Weldon.
“A lot of people, when they get out of the military they forget about it and don’t support it,” he said. “He was always ready to help a veteran. He was a true patriot.”
Weldon also served on the ad hoc Veterans Activities Committee, which sponsors a bus that makes weekly trips to a veterans hospital in Florida. He was part of the group that found funding to start and continue the bus trips each Thursday to Lake City, Fla., World War II veteran Hoyt Holland said. In addition to being a good recruiter for groups, Weldon was able to bend the ear of politicians to get assistance for fellow veterans, said Holland, who worked with Weldon in that group.
“Clem was a loyal, very good man,” Holland said. “He helped people get what they deserved.”
Weldon even spent a few years as master of ceremonies at an annual breakfast.
“He would just do anything,” Holland said. “We lost a great man as far as all that goes. We’re going to miss that man. He was a veterans’ advocate, if there ever was one.”
Retired Moultrie Police Capt. Tommy Rabon, who was a supervisor to Weldon during part of their time working together, said Weldon was a person always ready with a joke who was well liked by fellow officers.
“Clem was a dedicated police officer for many years,” Rabon said. “He helped me with training for a couple of years, and he did an excellent job. He was a good police officer, and we missed him when he retired.”
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Clem Weldon.
Discussion
Weldon's friends say veterans have lost a great advocate
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