Clifford Homer Scroggs was born in Rutland, Ohio, on August 18, 1893, the son of Paxton Scroggs and Sarah Almira Rayle. He had four brothers, including William Lawrence (1875-1941), Joseph Edmund (1881-1961), and Earl Leroy (1886-1941), and one sister, Kathyrn ("Kate"). Around 1917, Scroggs enlisted in the United States Army, and from May-August 1917 he attended officers' training at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, where he became a second lieutenant. He joined the 322nd Field Artillery Battalion, Battery E, at Camp Sherman, Ohio (August 1917-September 1917), and then transferred to Camp Sheridan, Alabama, where he joined the 1st Ohio Field Artillery. By January 1918, he had arrived in Europe, and he attended the Saumur Artillery School in France during the spring.
In May 1918, Scroggs was a member of the 12th Field Artillery Battalion, serving at Verdun, Château-Thierry, Soissons, Saint-Mihiel, and the Argonne Forest. He returned to Columbus, Ohio, in August 1919 and received his discharge from the army shortly thereafter. During the war, Clifford's sister Kate lived in Middleport, Ohio, with her husband, Ole W. Boyd, and their children, Kathryn and Paul. In 1920, Clifford H. Scroggs lived in Columbus with his wife, Opal Ferguson, and worked as a telephone engineer. They later lived in Zanesville, Ohio, with their children, Martha and Clifford, Jr. Lieutenant Clifford H. Scroggs died on December 5, 1960.
From the guide to the Clifford H. Scroggs collection, Scroggs, Clifford H. collection, 1917-1919, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)
