First Lieutenant Clifford Carwood Lipton (January 30, 1920 – December 16, 2001) was a commissioned officer with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division during World War II. Lipton was portrayed by Donnie Wahlberg in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers. On the battlefields of Europe, he was promoted to Company First Sergeant and ultimately was awarded a battlefield commission to Second Lieutenant. He said "it was the greatest honor ever awarded" to him. He eventually earned a promotion to First Lieutenant before leaving the Army. Lipton was featured in the 2010 book A Company of Heroes: Personal Memories about the Real Band of Brothers and the Legacy They Left Us.
Carwood Lipton was born and raised in Huntington, West Virginia. His father was killed in an automobile accident when he was ten and his mother was involved in the same accident and was paralyzed. Since Carwood was the eldest child, she told him to be the "man of the family". After completing one year at Huntington's Marshall University, he left school due to financial troubles at home and went to work in war-related production. After reading an article in Life Magazine on the difficulty of paratrooper training, and how the Airborne was one of the most highly trained branches of the Army, Lipton enlisted and joined the paratroops on 15 August 1942 at Fort Thomas (Newport), Kentucky.
Carwood Lipton was the jumpmaster of one of the C-47 Skytrains that the paratroopers used to jump into Normandy. Lipton jumped into Normandy and was able to rendezvous with then First Lieutenant Richard Winters and several other men from the 101st, and two more from the 82nd Airborne Division. They were later reunited with several more Easy Company members and worked their way just south of their objective of Carentan.
Carwood Lipton rose through the ranks of the company, eventually becoming Company First Sergeant after the acting Company First Sergeant, James Diel, was given a battlefield commission and transferred within the 506th PIR. Lipton was always keeping the men's spirits high, pushing them to their full potential. This was recognized by the officers of Easy Company. He was also known as "The Man".
Upon Lipton's return to the United States, he enrolled at Marshall University and completed his final three years graduating with a degree in Engineering. Fresh with his degree, Lipton got a job with Owens Illinois Inc., a manufacturer of glass products and plastics packaging. He rapidly advanced in the company and by 1952 had become Chief Operator.
In 1966, Lipton moved to Bridgeton, New Jersey, where he became an Administrative Manager. In 1967, O-I purchased a 50% interest in Giralt Laporta, a Madrid glass container company, and Lipton became general manager of the company. In 1971, he and his wife moved to London, where he was the Director of Manufacturing for eight different glass companies in England and Scotland for several years. In 1982, he moved to Toledo, Ohio, and retired a year later from his post as Director of International Development. Lipton spent his retirement years in the town of Southern Pines, North Carolina.
C. Carwood Lipton died on 16 December 2001 of pulmonary fibrosis in Southern Pines, North Carolina. He is survived by his wife Marie and his three sons; Clifford Carwood III, Thomas, Michael, five grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.
