Herbert Vanallen Clark (March 16, 1919 – January 25, 2003) was a

U.S. Army Air Force The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

/ U.S. Air Force officer, and combat fighter pilot. He first served in combat with the all-

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

332nd Fighter Group The 332d Expeditionary Operations Group is a provisional air expeditionary group of the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command, currently active. It was inactivated on 8 May 2012 and reactivated 16 November 2014. The group forms part of ...

in World War II, best known as the

Tuskegee Airmen The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of primarily African American military pilots (fighter and bomber) and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332d Fighter Group and the 477th Fighter Group, 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of the ...

. He completed two tours of duty, completing ten missions on his second tour. In 1944, Clark's aircraft was shot down over

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, and was reported as missing in action. He was picked up by the Italian resistance, evading enemies for eight months before rejoining his unit. He retired with a rank of major.

Early life, family

Clark was born on March 16, 1919, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Jefferson County, Arkansas. His mother was a high school

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

teacher and his father, Jeremiah Clark, was the pastor of the St. Paul's Baptist Church.

Military career

In 1942, he signed up for the U.S. government's Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP). After completing the CPTP, he entered basic training. Clark attended the Tuskegee Cadet Pilot program, graduating from its Single Engine Section Class SE-42-F on 3 July 1942 and receiving his wings and commission as a

2nd Lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

. He was then assigned to the 332rd Fighter Group's

99th Pursuit Squadron The 99th Flying Training Squadron (99 FTS) flies Raytheon T-1 Jayhawks and they have painted the tails of their aircraft red in honor of the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II fame, known as the "Red Tails," whose lineage the 99 FTS inherited. The ...

. He participated in several missions around Sicily, including Pantelleria and

Sciacca Sciacca (; Greek language, Greek: ; Latin: Thermae Selinuntinae, Thermae Selinuntiae, Thermae, Aquae Labrodes and Aquae Labodes) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Agrigento on the southwestern coast of Sicily, southern Italy. It has vi ...

. By 5 November 1943, he completed his first combat tour and returned to the United States. Along with other veterans of the 99th Squadron, he declined to return with the 332nd when it left for Italy on December 24, 1943; fellow veteran

Charles W. Dryden Charles Walter Dryden (September 16, 1920 – June 24, 2008) was a U.S. Army Air Force officer and one of the original combat fighter pilot with the 332nd Fighter Group's 99th Fighter Squadron,a component of the Tuskegee Airmen. Among the United ...

attributed this to low morale in his memoir. Clark was stationed at Selfridge, Michigan where he became a flight instructor for the

553d Fighter-Bomber Squadron The 553d Fighter-Bomber Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 386th Fighter-Bomber Group at Bunker Hill Air Force Base, Indiana, where it was inactivated on 8 July 1957. The squadron was first acti ...

. Clark began a second combat tour in Europe, during which he completed ten missions. On 16 August 1944, Clark's aircraft was shot down by flak north of Miane,

. He was seen parachuting from his burning aircraft, and was listed as missing in action. He suffered a head wound when he struck a tree parachuting to the ground, and was immediately picked up by the Italian resistance who sheltered him for eight months. During his time with the resistance, Clark led a group of partisans attacking German positions in northern Italy. On 4 May 1945 he returned to Allied lines. According to the Fifteenth Army Air Force, "nothing short of pandemonium would describe the reactions ... when everyone realized that the group's own 'Bud Clark' had actually returned". Clark retired with the rank of major.

Awards

* Congressional Gold Medal awarded to the Tuskegee Airmen in 2006

Death and influence

Clark died on January 25, 2003, at the age of 83. He was interred at the Westview Cemetery in Blacksburg, Virginia, Montgomery County, Virginia. The Fifteenth Army Air Force reported that Clark had innovated as a pilot by landing his

P-40 Warhawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and ...

on one wheel while returning from a dive bombing mission over the

Anzio Beachhead The Battle of Anzio was a battle of the Italian Campaign of World War II that took place from January 22, 1944 (beginning with the Allied amphibious landing known as Operation Shingle) to June 5, 1944 (ending with the capture of Rome). The ope ...

. Dr. Henry Foster knew Clark as a child and was influenced by his war stories, pursuing work at an air force base and learning to fly. When he realized that none of the Tuskegee Airmen could find work with the U.S.

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...

s due to their practice of hiring only white pilots, Foster abandoned his goal of studying aeronautical engineering and decided to focus on medicine, later serving as a doctor at the

Tuskegee Institute Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature. The campus was de ...

for eight years.

References

External links

Major Herbert Vanallen Clark
at

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Major Herbert Vanallen Clark at Geni

Tuskegee Airmen
at

Tuskegee University Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature. The campus was d ...

Tuskegee Airmen, Inc.

(

U.S. National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properties ...