General Mark Wayne Clark

[arclight]

 

This is Rest Area pass from the barn find grouping in post above. I had never seen one of these before.

[arclight]

 

and the reverse of the rest camp card.

[Custermen]

 

and the reverse of the rest camp card.

 

Do you know anything about this 5th Army Rest Camp listed as being in ALASSIO??

 

 

Steve

[arclight]

Steve, I just noticed your question. I do not know of any rest camp there, but then again, I've never really done any investigating of any rest camps other than perhaps Pavuvu.

Thanks for lookin',

G

[dogface44]

[KurtA]

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.

I wouldn't assume it was a cadet who stole those, and would certainly hope it was not. When I first saw the Westmoreland display in the mid 70's, the medals were kept in a very low quality upright case with sliding glass doors. It just sat on a table. One could easily get a hand in there, as the doors would push in. The museum was open to the public, with numerous tours going in and out of there. It very probably happened when a crowd of tourists or local grade school students were visiting.

I do recall all the medals and insignia were glued-into the case. All the badges had their prongs snipped-off so they could be better glued to the felt surface. Westmoreland had one of those large Chief of Staff "Lilly Pad" badges. All of the prongs were cut off! (I've never seen a photo of him wearing that badge). I was a member of the museum committe and once spent some time gluing them all back in being that they were all falling down into the bottom of the display case. I remember admiring his DSM with his name engraved on the reverse.

Kurt

[arclight]

I wouldn't assume it was a cadet who stole those, and would certainly hope it was not. When I first saw the Westmoreland display in the mid 70's, the medals were kept in a very low quality upright case with sliding glass doors. It just sat on a table. One could easily get a hand in there, as the doors would push in. The museum was open to the public, with numerous tours going in and out of there. It very probably happened when a crowd of tourists or local grade school students were visiting.

I do recall all the medals and insignia were glued-into the case. All the badges had their prongs snipped-off so they could be better glued to the felt surface. Westmoreland had one of those large Chief of Staff "Lilly Pad" badges. All of the prongs were cut off! (I've never seen a photo of him wearing that badge). I was a member of the museum committe and once spent some time gluing them all back in being that they were all falling down into the bottom of the display case. I remember admiring his DSM with his name engraved on the reverse.

Kurt

 

 

That would have been too interesting to be on that committee! I looked into it once, but they only wanted someone to sit outside the room with one of those clickers to count how many visitors came in. That would have been something else to have handled his medals. I just can't believe what was done to those medals so they could display them, cutting and glueing, etc. Another forum member had told me about some of the gems the museum had like a gold plated AK47, but due to various reasons, many of those incredible pieces are no longer held by the school. Sad and disgusting.

Thanks for sharing that Kurt,

Gary

[KurtA]

That would have been too interesting to be on that committee! I looked into it once, but they only wanted someone to sit outside the room with one of those clickers to count how many visitors came in. That would have been something else to have handled his medals. I just can't believe what was done to those medals so they could display them, cutting and glueing, etc. Another forum member had told me about some of the gems the museum had like a gold plated AK47, but due to various reasons, many of those incredible pieces are no longer held by the school. Sad and disgusting.

Thanks for sharing that Kurt,

Gary

Gary-

At some time in the 80's, a new curator came to the museum. Up to that point, the museum had all kinds of outstanding military items on display (and the "back storage room" was an incredible treasure trove of stuff.) Anyway, the new curator felt the museum should just be about The Citadel's history. So they shipped huge collections of items to the state museum in Columbia, SC. I hear that once it arrived there, it kind of "disappeared." The Citadel Museum storage room had all kind of German uniforms (SS, etc), Civil War items, Japanese swords, a huge gun collection, large DI collection, patch collection, edged weapons collection, etc etc.) I wonder where it is now?????

Kurt

[Ricardo]

From GLM (RIP my friend):

"Famous Chests" article in an old copy of OMSA's The Medal Collector from 1973. Here are a couple of scans of the list of Gen. Mark Clark's medals and a scan of his ribbon rack from that article. Hope it's large enough for you to read and see. Gary.
(BROKEN LINKS REMOVED)

[arclight]

Ricardo, that's pretty cool! I have an old Citadel yearbook, called The Sphinx, from when he was President with a color photo of him in uniform, but you just can't make out the detail of his rack. This is great info, as I have been considering getting a rack for Clark made by Leu's for display purposes, but haven't been able to get enough detail to pin down all the awards. Also, I don't think Leu would be able to do alot of those foreign awards, as I've not seen most in his list. Anyway, thanks for posting that!

 

Dogface44, that's a great pic! I really like the camo'd helmet in the foreground, too!

 

Thanks,

 

G

[arclight]

Very nice, Ricardo! You never cease to amaze me with the items in your collection.

 

With the baby napping, I thought I would share a few more pics of some MWC items in the collection.

First up is a framed "Illustrious Graduate" certificate I found in the trash, back when I was a cadet at El Cid.

[arclight]

Next is a neat little 15th Army Group Christmas menu. Sad to think that those HQ guys were living large while all those grunts on the lines were so miserable.

This guy either didn't have many friends at the dinner, or the drinks started flowing and these were all the signatures he got before they were too sauced to sign

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dave]

Anyone on here bid on the huge Mark Clark paper group that was on Manions?

 

Dave

[arclight]

Anyone on here bid on the huge Mark Clark paper group that was on Manions?

 

Dave

 

 

WHAT???!!! Dangit. Didn't even know.

[Dave]

WHAT???!!! Dangit. Didn't even know.

 

It must have closed already as I didn't see it on there when I checked today. It was an archive of a guy who corresponded with the General for something about 10 years up till he passed away. Had a literal ton of letters, documents, etc... I think the starting bid was around $900 or so.

 

Dave

[arclight]

It must have closed already as I didn't see it on there when I checked today. It was an archive of a guy who corresponded with the General for something about 10 years up till he passed away. Had a literal ton of letters, documents, etc... I think the starting bid was around $900 or so.

 

Dave

 

 

Well, that price (out of my budget) makes me feel a little better. Thanks Dave!

So...like Dave asked, did anyone here pick that up??

G

[dogface44]

that's a great pic! I really like the camo'd helmet in the foreground, too!

 

Hello I uploaded the reel for you:

 

[Dave]

Well, that price (out of my budget) makes me feel a little better. Thanks Dave!

So...like Dave asked, did anyone here pick that up??

G

 

 

It's baaaaack....

 

http://www.manions.com/bid/bid.aspx~itemid...26~pic~20100413

[arclight]

Hello I uploaded the reel for you:

 

 

 

Thanks, Dogface; that's awesome!

[arclight]

It's baaaaack....

 

http://www.manions.com/bid/bid.aspx~itemid...26~pic~20100413

 

 

Wow! That is a really cool grouping. I like it alot, just not the starting bid price. For such a poor general, I would imagine it would not be priced quite so hi.

Thanks for posting that, Dave!

G

[arclight]

Figured I would add some pics of a few more Fifth Army/Clark-related stuff.

Below is a neat little named booklet, for MP's. The Highway Traffic Control Code for occupied territory in Italy. First section has basic information about performing the duties of controlling traffic, then several maps.

[arclight]

This is marked "Restricted" and is numbered. The Advance on Rome. This is a large size booklet, about the size of the old Life magazines I remember from the '70's and '80's. Many B&W photos and some great maps along with a narrative.

[Custermen]

Interesting photos and items. At Fort Sam, the current HQ of the 5th Army, they have a letter in the museum that documented the origin of the 5th Army's patch. Gen. Clark's letter submitted a design from one of his staff members, as I recall.

 

 

Do you know anything about this 5th Army Rest Camp listed as being in ALASSIO??

 

I've been studying the Italian Campaign and tried to find documentation and photos on the Rest Areas. Not a well researched subject.

 

A quick Google of Alassio located it near the French Rivera coast. This was too far away to be within the area of the 5th Army during the War. It may have been established by the 6th Corps during the war and was redesignated as a 5th Army Rest center after the war.

 

A google of Hotel Minerva, which is stamped on the card, got a hit of a hotel at Alassio and also at Montecatini, which was a rest area near Florence.

 

Here is my webpage on the Rest Camps in Italy. Would like to hear from anyone who has info on these, especially the site known as the Diary Farm.

Link: http://www.custermen.com/ItalyWW2/RestCenter/Menu.htm

 

Steve

[arclight]

Custermen, that is a fantastic website! Bookmarked! Thanks for sharing that. I would love to see a copy of that design submission for the Army patch.

 

Below is a copy of a photo of Clark I had The Citadel reproduce for me. I have no idea what the giant star order on his chest is, but figured someone here might know. I also found it interesting that Clark had so many battle stars on his WWI Vic ribbon, as he wasn't in the "thick of things" for very long.

 

[arclight]

Last one for now: this book was written by one of the staff at The Citadel, and published by the school in 1994. A very limited printing, so this one will be difficult to come by, although the narrownes of it's topic likely won't lend itself to a great demand. Nonetheless, I found it very interesting.