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General Mark Wayne Clark


arclight
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Having graduated from The Citadel, I came to be very well aquainted with General Mark W. Clark. As former President of the school, he is buried on the campus (between Mark Clark Hall and the Howie Bell Tower), and I walked by his grave every single day I was there, and probably stepped on his wife some, too (the story was that when his wife passed, she asked that her ashes be spread across the parade deck). I never really took much of interest in the man or the Fifth Army while I was a cadet, but it has definitely grown on me!

 

The pic was another Christmas gift from my wonderful wife, tastefully framed. It has a map of the "enemy full out Drive on 17 February 1944 (Italy)" and has an original Army Signal Corps pic of Clark in his jeep entering Naples, a hotly contested decision on his part. He has signed the bottom of the map "Best, Mark W. Clark."

 

Keep in mind I NEVER said he was a great general, but he did have a very big impact on the War (not always positive, either).

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I'll post a couple of Clark related documents/pics I've gathered over the last few years. Nothing particularly special, but I think they are neat. Thanks for looking!

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One of his personal checks. I think it's pretty cool that he was well enough known that he didn't even need to have his address info on the check (or maybe that was just a common practice back then?)

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same doc, little closer so you can read it. There were a few other items in this grouping I did not take a pic of like this soldier's motor pool card and such.

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I have several signed copies of each of Clark's books (and one by his wife, too!), but this is my favorite. He doesn't exactly have the best writing style, and is largely self-serving, but the reason why I like this one is because when I got the book, an individual pic fell out. I'll show it next.

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the book signed, and the little "extra." I think the picture is of Clark and his wife in the President's Quarters on the Citadel campus while he reigned.

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I stumbled onto this yard long in an antiques shop in Hillsborough, NC. Normally I would'nt give them much more than a glance, and considering the condition this one was in I might have skipped over it altogether. Somehow, I noticed something interesting about it.

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Lo and behold, it was a young LT Clark, fresh out of USMA, and company commander of this basic training company! At the bottom is his name written, as is usually the case with these listing the CO's and of info. You can tell which one is his by his large "Roman nose," as I've heard it described.

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reviewing the troops.

 

That's all for now.

Keep in mind, I'm always interested in acquiring more Clark/Fifth Army items!

Thanks for looking,

G

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Charlie Flick

A very nice collection, G, and it is interesting that you have that personal connection to Clark through the Citadel. Are his papers residing at the Citadel?

 

I thought you might enjoy seeing this pic of General Clark escorting Secretary of War Henry Stimson through the streets of Rome shortly after its liberation.

 

Regards,

Charlie Flick

 

GenMarkClarkandHenryStimsoninRome7-.jpg

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A very nice collection, G, and it is interesting that you have that personal connection to Clark through the Citadel. Are his papers residing at the Citadel?

 

I thought you might enjoy seeing this pic of General Clark escorting Secretary of War Henry Stimson through the streets of Rome shortly after its liberation.

 

Regards,

Charlie Flick

 

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I LOVE that pic! The Citadel does indeed have his papers. I inquired a few years back (they have an archives department and museum in the Daniel Library on Campus). They are available to researchers, but you must make an appointment. The lady I had dealt with wasn't the most agreeable person to deal with, so I put that project off for awhile. I did request some good quality copies of a photo or two from them, and for a nominal fee, she got the school photographer to reproduce them for me legal page size.

When my mother took me down to see the school in the early 80's, I visited the museum. I thought it was pretty neat, but it had little to do with the school. It seemed that the museum was more of one dedicated to the General. They had a neat map that with some lights that would come on, an a recording would speak about his exploits in that particular area. They had all of his medals and some uniforms, too. They also had all of General Westmoreland's medals on loan from him (he lived in Charleston until his death several years ago). I heard that someone (probably an unscrupulous cadet, sadly, even despiet our Honor Code!) had stolen a bunch of Westmoreland's medals, and the family took them all back. But I digress.

In Mark Clark Hall on campus, is the most incredible, larger than life painting of Clark in his dress whites and all his ribbons (looks like he had more ribbons than even MacArthur!), standing by his his doggie (I think Millie was it's name). I love that painting, and would love to get a pic of it next time I go down there. Anyway, I was interested in finding out exactly which decorations he had been awarded (mostly foreign awards), so I wrote off to the NPRC. I think they mis-understood me, and sent me a form asking for something like $450 dollars to make copies of the records on hand. That quote must've been for every document they had on him. Needless to say, that was out of my budget.

Guess I rambled on a bit there. My bad.

Thanks for sharing the pic, Charlie!

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Charlie

Yes, his papers are at the Citadel, not generally open to the public but available for research. Martin Blumenson and David Irving both were there during my time as a cadet. Here is a useful link…

http://www.citadel.edu/museum/

Mike class of 1975

Did you get to meet them? I had heard about a HUGE reunion at El Cid for Fifth Army veterans, but I cannot recall when it was. Where you there at that time?

 

Gary

Delta c/o 96

 

PS I spent some time in Mike, living in the smallest room on campus (first division, small alcove). That was when I got busted for going AWOL for 5 days ;)

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Very interesting post. I have a few pics of Clark which you might like.

Thank you!

I would love to see what you have. Please post for us.

Thanks,

G

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  • 2 weeks later...
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Awesome pics, ccmax! Thank you for sharing, as I have not seen some of those before. Do any of them have captions, or any descriptive information on the backs?

Thanks again for showing!

G

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  • 1 month later...

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I've got several Fifth Army Association member cards, but none have Truscott's command. Cardstock is much heavier on this one than all the others I have.

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I got this for just a couple of dollars on ebay, thanks to a heads-up from one of our forum members, call name "316th FS 324th FG" (thanks again!!). It's a German (I think) newspaper clipping of Clark on a signed notecard.

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