I'm so glad Mr. Clark finally got the recognition he so rightfully deserved.

Congratulations on your centennial Mr. Clark and thank you for your service. In our eyes your actions were meritorious of the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross.

Below is a copy of the speech I made to the Menlo Park City Council in late January 2012. I attended the ceremony at Moffett Field and was awed by his bravery.
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Last week two great American heroes were honored. On Monday we honored Dr. Martin Luther King and on Tuesday we honored Carl Clark. Both made vast contributions to the freedom and liberty of our country. Dr. King, the noble orator, spoke out for freedom and liberty for oppressed African Americans. Carl Clark, through his selfless disregard for his personal safety saved the USS Aaron Ward and hundreds of sailors’ lives.

On May 3, 1945 during the battle of Okinawa the USS Aaron Ward was attacked by a series of Kamikaze pilots. There were 8 men on the Damage Control Team. Seven were taken out in the first Kamikaze strike. The first zero’s impact hurled Carl Clark into an overhead structure with such violence that it broke his collar bone and blew off his helmet and shoes. This left Carl Clark as the lone man on the Damage Control Team. There were five more Kamikaze assaults which rained fire and shrapnel on the Aaron Ward’s deck, while the shoeless and severely injured Carl Clark continued to disregard his personal safety so that he may save the ship and the lives of his fellow sailors. For the next several hours he dragged the extremely heavy fire hoses across the deck putting out fire after fire while enduring the searing pain of a broken collarbone and cuts to his shoeless feet.

Then one Zero made a direct hit on the Aaron Ward’s ammunition locker. If the fire was not put out the ship would have exploded in blazing fireball causing all the ship’s sailors to burn an agonizing death and then slowly sink to their watery graves. Again, Carl Clark rose to the occasion. Playing Russian roulette with his own life, he bravely advanced into the searing heat of the ammunition locker and sprayed water on the boxes of ammunition and ordnance and eventually quenched the raging fire.

But he was not yet finished. After the fires were extinguished and working relentlessly through the night, the exhausted and severely injured Clark singlehandedly carried other injured sailors to the aid station so that they would receive proper medical attention. Quick medical attention was required, as many of the sailors suffered deep wounds and would have died from exsanguination had they not been attended to. They owe their lives to Carl Clark

The next day Carl Clark was personally thanked by the ship’s captain for saving the USS Aaron Ward. But when the ship report was filed there was no mention of Carl Clark’s bravery. Why? Because Carl Clark was an African American and racism was pandemic in the Navy at that time.

World War II had two positive outcomes. Most recognize the first as the defeat of Nazism and tyranny throughout the world. But the second, not widely recognized, was the end of colonialism in Africa. One by one, the African colonies were granted their liberty. France, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Portugal, and Spain relinquished their colonies and African nations were born.

Meanwhile, in the United States, we had a colony of African Americans whose rights and freedoms were subordinated. It was ironic that so many African Americans fought bravely for their country to enable freedom throughout the world but they themselves were not free. This fact was not lost on the Leaders of the Civil Rights movement. With great passion and determination many laid down their lives so that their fellow African Americans could be free.

The Irish Statesman Edmund Burke once said: “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing”. And that was what was happening in the White America. Good Men were doing nothing. But that was about to change. Colonialism had to end in America or our country would be torn asunder.

The courageous Medgar Evers valiantly tried to gain freedom for the oppressed African American and was murdered by Byron de la Beckwith for his efforts on June 12, 1963. All he wanted was for America to acknowledge the humanity of the African American and give them the freedoms the rest of America had. What is wrong with that?

Dr. Martin Luther King took notice of Medgar Evers’ courage and ultimate sacrifice and eleven weeks later, at great personal risk, made an impassioned plea on the Washington Mall on August 28, 1963 in his historic and memorable “I have a Dream” speech.

If you haven’t read that speech I implore each and every one of you to do so. It is a very moving and beautiful speech. If we deny the humanity of any person we are in effect denying our own humanity. We become hollow soulless shells devoid of feeling. Every man deserves to be free. Every man deserves to be treated as an equal to his fellow man.

Carl Clark, we honor your service to your country. You gave of yourself when your country was willing to take from you but wasn’t even willing to acknowledge your bravery and humanity. For that we are in your debt. And for that we also owe you our deepest apologies.

It is my honor to know Mr. Clark. I was introduced to him by his fellow navy veteran, Isaac Stevenson. Mr. Clark, Isaac and JoAnn Stevenson and I spent many enjoyable evenings playing dominoes in the Stevenson (both deceased) home on Westminster in East Palo Alto.

My best wishes, Mr. Clark for many more good years. Domino!

Henry Organ
Menlo Park, CA