Mark Wayne Clark

Mark Wayne Clark 1896-1984, U.S. general, b. Madison Barracks, N.Y. A West Point graduate, he served as a captain in World War I and rose to become (1942) army ground forces chief of staff. During World War II, he commanded (1943-44) the U.S. 5th Army in N Africa and in Italy, became (1944) Allied commander in Italy, and was promoted (1945) to full general. He served (1945) as head of the U.S. occupation forces in Austria. From May, 1952, to Oct., 1953, he was supreme commander of UN forces in Korea and also commander of U.S. forces in East Asia. Retiring from the army, he served (1954-66) as president of The Citadel, at Charleston, S.C. Calculated Risk (1950) and From the Danube to the Yalu (1954) are his memoirs of World War II and of the postwar period.

Clark, Mark Wayne (1896–1984) U.S. army officer. Clark was born in New York and graduated from West Point in April 1917. During World War I he was wounded as an infantry battalion commander. At the beginning of World War II he served as chief of staff of Army Ground Forces under Gen. Lesley J. McNair, helping to organize the expanding American army. In November 1942 he was made a lieutenant general and deputy commander of Allied forces in North Africa under Dwight D. Eisenhower. Clark soon moved on to take over the 5th Army, which he landed at Salerno, Italy, in September 1943. He commanded that organization through the difficult campaign up the Italian boot, until being promoted to take command of 15th Army Group in December 1944. After accepting German surrender in Italy as a full general in May 1945 he became Allied High Commissioner for Austria, gaining valuable experience negotiating with Communists that would prove very useful when he succeeded Matthew B. Ridgway as supreme commander of United Nations forces in Korea in May 1952. Clark held that post until an armistice was signed in July 1953, and retired from the army in October that year, moving on to become president of The Citadel.