Clark, Dick
Service: MarinesUnit: 2nd Marine Division
Dick was born in 1923. He enlisted in the Marine Corps and was assigned to the 2nd Marine Division 2nd regiment 1st Battalion A Co. The major battle that Dick was involved in was the battle of Tarawa which was the first frontal assault in the Pacific. It was a horrible little island that only measured 3 miles by 1/2 mile. There were 4700 Japanese on the Island and only 17 survived, the Marine corps had over 3,000 casualties with over 1,000 killed. The island was only two degrees above the equator so the heat and smell were overpowering. For history buffs a movie star who was already a huge star before the war, was there in the Navy. His name was Eddie Albert, later known from the television show Green Acres. He was on a small boat that went around fixing small landing craft and was under very heavy artillery fire but rescued hundreds of Marines who were trapped on a reef or pinned down under a pier. Dick Clark lost his right leg above the knee at Tarawa. According to Brian Clark his son he never let his injury slow him down. He remained active in boy scouts with his son and was also a boy-scout leader.