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OLD WWII US ARMY PHOTO OF GENERAL MARK W. CLARK

Scarce original old World War II U. S. Army glossy 8 x 10” black and white photograph. Photo shows Mark Wayne Clark (1896 – 1984) as a 4-star General in the US Army shortly after World War II. Clark served as General during both World War II and the Korean War. Clark’s name is printed in the upper left corner of the reverse side along with “at San Francisco, California.” Also on the reverse is a printed US Army credit message. Photo is in pretty good condition, with some creases at lower left, and a chipped lower right corner (see scan). The photo also has some “curl.”

“Clark was born in Madison Barracks, Sackets Harbor, New York. He graduated from West Point in 1917. He was appointed to the rank of captain in the infantry in 1917 and served in France during World War I in the U.S. 11th Infantry, where he was wounded. Between the wars, Clark served as a deputy commander of the Civilian Conservation Corps district in Omaha, Nebraska. Clark was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1940, and in August of 1941 was promoted two grades to temporary Brigadier General, and received further promotion to temporary Major General less than a year later." "During World War II, he was the Deputy Commander for Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa. Major General Clark was promoted to temporary Lieutenant-General in November 1942 and was subsequently given command of the Fifth U.S. Army shortly before the invasion of Italy (Operation Avalanche) in September 1943. The near-failure of the landings at Salerno has been blamed on Clark's poor planning. Clark commanded the bombing destruction of the Abbey of Monte Cassino during the battle of Monte Cassino, February 15, 1944. Clark's conduct of operations remains controversial, particularly his actions during the Battle of the Winter Line, when, ignoring orders from his Army Group Commander, the British Harold Alexander, he sent his tired units towards Rome, which was captured on 4 June 1944 (two days before the Normandy landings), rather than exploiting the gap in the German positions to entrap and capture German units. In December 1944 Clark succeeded Harold Alexander in command of the 15th Army Group, putting him in command of all Allied ground troops in Italy, which resembled more a United Nations coalition - a hodgepodge of diverse cultures with conflicting interests. At the war's end Clark was Commander of Allied Forces in Italy and, later, U.S. High Commissioner of Austria. Returning home, he commanded the Sixth U.S. Army."

"During the Korean war, he took over as commander of the United Nations forces on May 12, 1952, succeeding General Matthew Ridgway. It was Clark who signed the cease-fire agreement with North Korea in 1953. 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."

Price= $95.00



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