Mark (Wayne) Clark - Early life and career, World War II, During and after the Korean War

US soldier, born in Madison Barracks, New York, USA. The son of a career army officer, he trained at West Point (1917), and fought in France the next year. He served in successive staff and operational posts through the 1930s. On 8 November 1942, he convinced Vichy Admiral Darlan to order French forces in North Africa to cease resistance to the Allied landings in Morocco and Algeria. Clark commanded the 5th Army in the Salerno landings (Sep 1943), and after a winter of hard fighting his troops entered Rome (4 Jun 1944). As commander of the 15th Army Group, he received the surrender of 230 000 Axis troops in the Alps in April 1945. He commanded UN forces in Korea (1952–3) and signed the armistice that ended the fighting there. Retiring from the army in 1953, he became president of The Citadel, the military college in South Carolina (1954–65).

Mark Wayne Clark (May 1, 1896 – April 17, 1984) was an American general during World War II and the Korean War.

Early life and career

Clark was a descendant of Revolutionary leader General George Rogers Clark and a cousin of General George Marshall.

Between the wars, Clark served as a deputy commander of the Civilian Conservation Corps district in Omaha, Nebraska.

World War II

During World War II, He was the Deputy Commander for Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa.

Clark was the youngest officer to become lieutenant-general in 1943, and was given command of the US Fifth Army shortly before the Salerno landings in Italy in September 1943. His conduct of operations remains controversial, particularly the attack on Monte Cassino, the slow progress of conquering Italy, and the failure to entrap and capture German units during the Battle of the Winter Line, when Clark sent his units towards Rome, in an attempt to be the first to enter the city, rather than to exploit a gap in the German positions. As a result of Clark's actions, the Gothic Line was not broken for another year, and the provisional governments and safe areas which the Allies had encouraged the Italian Partisans to set up were smashed by the German Army, at great loss to the partisans.

Because of problems that Americans had in Italy, some people had a low opinion of General Clark. Doctor Charles Schueller, a former Army captain who served from October 1942 to February 1946, felt Clark was wrong to attempt going up the Apennines.

Bonehead General Mark Clark;

But Clark got the idea that the Germans in the monastery were the reason they couldn't make any headway up the mountains...So they decided to bomb the hell out of it.

At the war's end he was Commander of Allied Forces in Italy and, later, U.S. High Commissioner of Austria.

During and after the Korean War

During the Korean war, he took over as commander of the United Nations forces in April 1952, succeeding General Matthew Ridgway.

After retiring from the army, General Clark served (1954 to 1966) as president of The Citadel military academy, at Charleston, South Carolina.

Mark Clark's quick rise from field officer through general officer ranks has been attributed to his relationship with Generals George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower.

Among his awards and decorations are the Distinguished Service Cross, Distinguished Service Medal, Grand Croix Légion d'honneur

Clark is buried at The Citadel.