Age 55. 82 Chestnut Street (Lincolnshire Hotel apartments) #53, Boston. Born 12/15/1886, in Baltimore, MD. Died of burns (death certificate). Chief Commissary Steward, U.S. Coast Guard Receiving Station, Hotel Brunswick, Boston. Attended the club with fellow Coast Guard petty officers Timothy Keane, age 34 (Born 4/09/1908. Died 8/02/1966, age 58. Last residence Northampton, MA) and Arthur Welsh (later whereabouts unknown), both survived. A timeline was provided in written reports requested by the Coast Guard of the latter two. Trio was present only minutes, were in the foyer mens restroom when they heard shouts of "Fire." With Coast Guardsman Welsh exited the club through the revolving door to Piedmont Street then went around the block to the Shawmut Street double-door where the pair helped firemen remove the dead and injured. Made at least three trips inside before he was overcome within the building. "Chief Petty Officer William T. Clift...met a hero's death while rescuing others from the Cocoanut Grove fire, the Coast Guard disclosed today" (The Sun, Baltimore, MD, 12/06/1942). Was previously a longtime resident of Baltimore. Was formerly chief steward, Merchants & Miners Transportation Co. (cargo and passenger steamships), of Baltimore. Was married, wife former Lucy F. Bosworth, age 53 (Born 5/17/1889. Died 9/09/1970, Oak Bluffs, MA, age 81. Never remarried), wife not present. Was living with his wife in Boston as of the 1940 federal census ("salesman, automobiles"). Couple had no children. One of six Coast Guard personnel lost in the disaster (also Yeoman John Burke, age 34, Seaman Donald Delander, age 19, Electrician's Mate Jerome Estes, age 27, Lieut. Charles Fauci, Jr., age 21, and Chief Machinist's Mate Donald Lauer, age 27). Parents Mr. and Mrs. Mark and Ellen (Ruggles) Clift. One of five Grove fatalities buried at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, VA, the final resting grounds for the most casualties outside Massachusetts. Middle name Theodore.

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