Stories of Gen.Wesley Clark’s background, tribulations and acts of heroism.....
Family Background--Wesley Clark was born Wesley Jay Kanne on December 23, 1944 at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago. His mother, Venteta Updegraff, was an Arkansas native from a large family. Her father was a lumber mill worker and both of her parents were born in Arkansas. Pretty and independent, she left home at eighteen and took a job as a stenographer, eventually moving north to Chicago after a short marriage and divorce. Wesley’s father, Benjamin Kanne, was an attorney who worked for the city as legal consul and in private practice. Benjamin’s parents were Russian Jews that had immigrated to the United States to escape the pogroms of the late 1800’s. His legal career was intertwined with his involvement in politics; he made a run for a seat on the city council while an assistant prosecutor and as alderman of the Fourth Ward in 1927. He was a Delegate at the 1932 Democratic Convention. When Veneta and Benjamin married in 1939, they entered into a “mixed marriage”; Veneta was a Methodist and Benjamin a Reform Jew.In 1948, the family was shocked when Benjamin died in his sleep of heart failure, despite apparent good health. He was only 51 years old. Clark remembers, “My father was a tremendous influence in my life, and then one night he read to me, and I woke up in the middle of the night and there were a lot of adults in the apartment. They kept me from going in the bedroom, and that was the night he died.”
Veneta said the memories of her surroundings were too painful and decided to return to Little Rock. She was not close to the Kanne clan and living in Chicago was expensive. Left with little after her husband’s death, she took a job as a secretary at a local bank and moved into her parent’s apartment, depending on them to watch over Wesley while she was at work (her father had now retired). Working full-time, she eventually saved enough money to buy a home in the upscale neighborhood of Pulaski Heights and brought her parents with her. “I was the poorest kid in the richest neighborhood” in Little Rock, recalled Clark.
Fearing the prejudice her son would encounter in Arkansas, Veneta made the decision to keep his Jewish ancestry hidden, even from Wesley himself. Clark would not learn of this until he was a young adult.
http://demopedia.democraticunderground.com/index.php/Wesley_Clark
Youth -- Wes joined the Boys Club when he was seven years old, originally attending a class to overcome his speech impediment, it became a central part of his life. Here he took up swimming, which he excelled in, socialized, became a camp counselor and found a father figure, Jimmy Miller. Miller, who was the swimming coach and ran the Kwanis summer camp, was committed to instilling in the boys under his charge ideals of character and leadership. He found an eager student in young Wesley, who attended his Saturday leadership classes. Clark has retold the story of Miller’s challenge to a group of boys to jump to from a high bridge to the water below, an activity Miller indulged in himself, which he assured them was safe. Those who dared would be allowed to become camp counselors. They had been skinny dipping at the time and the approach of a car full of women gave the incentive that had been floundering. Wes took the leap. “The afterglow lasted a good two weeks, at least. Or maybe forty years. You have to have courage and faith. And you have to expect to go through some trials to be a leader.” As a counselor with 16 boys under his charge, Clark found satisfaction in learning the basics of leadership. He would go on to win the Boys Club “Boy of the Year” award, chosen out of 5,400 members. http://demopedia.democraticunderground.com/index.php/Wesley_ClarkMore than 40 years ago, a high school swim team here showed up one man short for a state meet. Everyone assumed they would forfeit the relay race -- the organizers, the school, even the team, which was resigned to loser status. But the teenage captain had a different plan.
Young Wes Clark announced that he would swim twice in the relay so the team could compete.
"I just couldn't believe it -- no one could. I was ready to forfeit," said Phillip McMath, a member of that team and today a Little Rock attorney. "But the guy just won't let himself lose, and he doesn't tolerate failure in others."
Wes Clark won the relay for Hall High School that day, demonstrating the traits that would define his life and his career: a supreme confidence in himself, an absolute disregard for conventional wisdom and a relentless force of will. Those gifts, and an undisputed brilliance, would carry him through a modest childhood shaped by profound loss, through West Point to the highest levels of the Army, and into the presidential race today -- his first foray into politics.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A45166-2003Oct18?language=printer
Mr. Clark-- Veneta met and eventually married Victor Clark, a bank vice-president, in 1954. He was divorced and had one son from his previous marriage. He also had a drinking problem, which he overcame, but not before it had ruined his banking career. His employment thereafter was sporadic and Veneta was often the sole breadwinner for the family. Those periods were stressful for the family, Clark remembers. “I loved him dearly, but he hardly ever made any money because he’d been divorced and was an alcoholic. And he just had a hard time getting a job that was commensurate, really, with his ability.
Let it be known that Wes Clark, because of his academic brilliance really could have gone to college anywhere. It is clear to those who know even a little about him, he could have become whatever he chose. He liberally chose service to his country. He was quoted as saying, "It was my belief in service that led me to West Point. It was the year after John F. Kennedy admonished us to ask not what our country could do for us, but what we could do for our country...."
Choosing his path -- He chose the Army. He was offered scholarships everywhere, but he chose West Point, where he finished first in his class as a plebe, first in his class as a senior, and went off to Oxford as a Rhodes scholar. He loved the Army. He'll tell you he loved it: "I loved it too much! I loved it except for two days—the day I got shot and the day I was told I had to retire." Yes, he'll tell you that, too.After he stayed the genocidal hand of Slobodan Milosevic. After he served as the very fulcrum of the tension between military and civilian that characterized the Clinton era. The Army broke his heart, but only because he loved it so much.
http://www.esquire.com/features/articles/2003/030801_mfe_clark_3.html
Vietnam Wounds-- In 1970 Clark entered combat duty, assigned as Commanding Officer of A Company, First Battalion, Sixteenth Infantry of the First Infantry Division. While on patrol in a jungle near Saigon, searching for Viet Cong, his 25-man platoon was attacked by a group hiding in an old bunker complex. In the hail of AK-47 gunfire, Clark was shot four times, in the shoulder, hand, hip and leg. He shouted to his platoon the location of the incoming fire but he wasn’t aware, he recalls, that he had been hit until his wounded hand dropped his rifle. He looked down to see bone jutting out and realized that he was covered in blood.A sniper in his platoon, Michael McClintic, pushed him down and opened fire on the enemy, while Clark continued to order his troops from the ground to form a base of fire and called for backup. “The guy emptied an AK magazine at me, and I turned just as he fired, so he stitched me up the right side of my body instead of taking me in the throat and gut. He shot the M-16 out of my hand and put a hole in my leg and another one through my shoulder. I was lying on the ground bleeding and yelling, “Get on your feet and assault now.”
McClintic was also shot during the ambush. “The guy was actually there firing back while I was hollering at the company to come up” recalls Clark. The Viet Cong retreated and Clark and McClintic where evacuated by helicopter. Clark’s commanding officer, David C. Martin, recalls that Clark still did not realize how badly he had been shot, responding to questions about his wounds: “"I don't think I'm shot too bad”. http://demopedia.democraticunderground.com/index.php/Wesley_Clark
Rewards for Valor--The Award for Silver Star reads, "As the friendly force maneuvered through the treacherous region, it was suddenly subjected to an intense small arms fire from a well-concealed insurgent element. Although painfully wounded in the initial volley, Captain Clark immediately directed his men on a counter-assault of the enemy positions. With complete disregard for his personal safety, Captain Clark remained with his unit until the reactionary force arrived and the situation was well in hand. His courageous initiative and exemplary professionalism significantly contributed to the successful outcome of the engagement. Captain Clark's unquestionable valor in close combat against a hostile force is in keeping with the finest traditions of the military service and reflects great credit upon himself, the 1st Infantry Division, and the United States Army." http://demopedia.democraticunderground.com/index.php/Wesley_Clark
Physical Scars vs. Determination--It would take him another year of rehabilitation to recover from his injuries, which doctors had warned him would leave him with a permanent limp due to the large amount of muscle lost to his right calf. Clark refused this prognosis, teaching himself to walk again and to use his injured hand. He would go on to occasionally receive perfect scores on his physical fitness tests throughout his career. http://demopedia.democraticunderground.com/index.php/Wesley_ClarkPeople at his speeches can be heard to remark, "He's small" when he glides to the stump, but he's not really; he's around five ten and not so much diminutive as compressed, like a man who never exhales. His stride is at once jaunty and athletic and somewhat artificial, like the stride of a man who has devoted time to teaching himself how to walk . . . as, in fact, he has, after getting shot four times in Vietnam. Taught himself to walk again, without a limp, despite the fact that a quarter of his calf muscle was gone; taught himself to shake hands manfully, despite the loss of the muscle around his right thumb. He had to learn those things because, as his wife says, he was desperately afraid of being profiled out of the Army.
The only thing he couldn't do was teach himself how to play basketball again, because no matter how many hours he spent alone in the gym practicing his foul shots, he couldn't stabilize the ball. . . .
http://www.esquire.com/features/articles/2003/030801_mfe_clark_2.html
