Clifford Cartee graduated from City High School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1932, and then attended Columbia Bible College, graduating with bachelors and masters degrees in Biblical Education, followed by a Bachelors of Divinity from the University of South Carolina. He attended the University of Georgia and the University of Alabama for post graduate, and also attended the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He was ordained a Southern Baptist minister. He entered military service in 1943. After attending the Chaplain’s School at Harvard, he requested assignment to the Airborne, but did not receive this until July 1944, with orders to the 196th Glider Infantry Regiment arriving just in time to travel with the 17th Airborne Division to Europe. He served through three campaigns and was awarded the Silver Star. After World War II he remained in the Army Reserves and returned to active duty in the Korean War with the 92d Airborne Division, and later with the 83d Ammunition Supply Battalion in Korea. He remained in the Army Reserve after Korea, while serving as pastor of country churches. He attended the Army Command and General Staff College, and taught a course in the Army Reserve Summer Schools for five years until his retirement in 1973, as a U.S. Army colonel.