Lieutenant General Albert P. Clark,
USAF (ret.) “is a 1936 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y., and completed flying training at Randolph
Field, Texas, in 1937. He then served at Selfridge Field, Mich., and in June 1942, went to England as second
in command of the 31st Fighter Group, the first American fighter unit in the European Theater of Operations. He was shot down
over Abbeville, France, in July 1942 and was a prisoner of war until April 1945.
After World War II, he progressed through
key staff assignments with Tactical Air Command, Continental Air Command and Air Defense Command prior to a tour of duty at
Headquarters U.S. Air Force. General Clark commanded the 48th Fighter Bomber Wing at Chaumont Air Base
in France, in 1955-1956, and then served as chief of staff of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe.
His next assignment was as chief of
the U.S. Military Training Mission to Saudi Arabia. He was director of military personnel at Headquarters U.S. Air Force for
four years beginning in 1959 and was then assigned to Okinawa as commander of the 313th Air Division. In
August 1965, he was named vice commander of the Tactical Air Command. He assumed duties as commander of Air University in
August 1968, and in August 1970, he was appointed superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy.
A command pilot, he is a graduate
of the Armed Forces Staff College and the National War College. His military decorations and awards include
the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, Air Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, and the Purple
Heart. Lieutenant General Albert P. Clark retired in 1974 and is the author of 33 Months as
a POW in Stalag Luft III: A World War II Airman Tells His Story.
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According to the book description of
33 Months as a POW in Stalag Luft III: A World War II Airman Tells His Story, “Many fascinating
stories of the Great Escape have been told since the end of World War II. Not until now has the story of Lieutenant Colonel
A. P. Clark, the first combat personnel captured in U.S. uniform by the Germans, been told. In his 33 months in the infamous
prisoner of war camp Stalag Luft III, Lieutenant Clark was involved in and responsible for directing escape work among American
prisoners. His tale of courage and perseverance is accentuated by the stark photographs he took from the inside with a pinhole
camera.”
According to one reader of
33 Months as a POW in Stalag Luft III: A World War II Airman Tells His Story, “Before this book, I had
no idea what it meant to be a prisoner of war in WWII. I was astonished at the things this man and his comrades survived and
endured. Crammed into these camps for months (or years, in most cases), they created a community and did their best to keep
their bodies and souls alive. I had no idea that the camps were this big or this intricate. 33 Months is an amazing piece
of history that makes the reader feel grateful for the creature comforts we all take for granted, as well as for the efforts
of the many soldiers who have sacrificed so much for our country. Reading this
book, I realized that most of the veterans of the big, historic wars are all almost gone from this earth, and that with them
a huge piece of history will become less real to us. General Clark is obviously a very honorable man with a good heart, and
I'm grateful that he shared his story with the rest of us.”
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