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One Man's War Story Illuminates the Heroism of One Million

Source: NYT (12-3-09)

Until recently, Carl E. Clark, 93, was still driving his car around Menlo Park. Then came a fall, a new hip and recovery in a rehabilitation hospital. But it was another wound he wanted to talk about — one that happened 64 years ago.

“The Navy and the civilian media held back things that lots of us did,” Mr. Clark said. “For obvious reasons: the prejudice and bigotry that was going on at that time.”

He is part of “the greatest generation” whose valor remains largely invisible: he is among an estimated one million black veterans from World War II. Due to the endemic racism of the time, their wartime heroism was often not recorded in official battle reports, a history manipulated to negate their accomplishments.

Now there is a move to give Mr. Clark credit for his role in a dramatic tale of survival.

Posted on Friday, December 4, 2009 at 11:41 PM | Comments (0) | Return

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