Naval History and Heritage Command

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Clarence Floyd Clark was born in Fisher, Illinois, on May 11, 1902, son of Horace and Jennie Edith Ledden Clark, both now deceased. He attended public schools in Heyworth, Bloomington and Pontiac, Illinois, and in Palatka and Jacksonville, Florida. From 1918 until 1940 he was employed by the Western Union Telegraph Company as Telegraph Engineer, Instructor in Electricity and Automatic Telegraphy, and in Charge of Western Union Emergency Radio Network in Florida. He designated and developed three major and several minor devices for the improvement of WU Multiplex and Teletype System. In August 1939, when President Roosevelt dedicated New Found Gap National Park in Tennessee, he provided the only news link between the dedication and the outside world by installing portable W.U. radio equipment and transmitting press dispatches to the telegraph office in a nearby town.

He enlisted in the US Naval Reserve in March 1926 and while serving in ratings Rm1C and CRM, participated in Naval Communications Reserve drills and had fourteen day’s training duty in 1927. Commissioned Ensign, USNR, in December 1927, he was promoted to Lieutenant (junior grade) in 1931 and to Lieutenant in 1936, continuing in inactive status as a member of the Naval Communications Reserve in the Seventh Naval District. During the period 1927 to 1941 he received numerous commendatory letters from the Chief of Naval Operations, Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, and Commandant Seventh Naval District, and between 1931 and 1940 received four letters of commendation from the Secretary of the Navy for outstanding performance in Navy Day radio amateur competition.

Called to active duty, he reported on February 13, 1941, was promoted to Lieutenant Commander, USNR, to date from June 15, 1942, and was transferred to the US Navy in that rank in 1946. He was promoted to Commander, USN, to rank from July 10, 1945, and to Captain, from July 1, 1955.

Prior to the war, while on inactive status he served as Commanding Officer of the Jacksonville Unit of the Naval Communication Reserve and Commander Section II (North Florida), December 1927 to 1931, and for ten years thereafter served additionally as Naval Communication Reserve Commander, Seventh Naval District. In February 1941 he reported for active duty in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Navy Department, Washington, DC. There he had communication duties until May 1945, and from June of that year until February 1946 he was Officer in Charge of the Communication Security Unit on the Staff of the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, with additional duty as CINCPACFLT Assistant Security Officer. During the next fourteen months he served on the Staff of the Commander Naval Forces, Marianas, headquarters at Guam, as Officer in Charge of the CINCPAC FLEET Communications Security Unit. He was awarded the Letter of Commendation, with Ribbon, from the Secretary of the Navy in 1946, for his contribution to the Security of Naval Communications.

Detached from Guam in April 1947, he returned to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Navy Department, where he served until December 1951 as Head of Communications Security Section (Op-20k, Op 202K). While there he served additionally as a member of the Joint Communications-Electronics Committee. He next served as Commanding Officer of the Naval Communication Station, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, January 1952 to May 1955, with collateral duty as District Communications Officer and Communications Officer, US Naval Base, Philadelphia. In June 1955 he assumed command of the Naval Communication Station, Adak, Alaska, and remained in that command until December 1956. In January 1957 he returned to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, and currently serves as Assistant Inspector General (Op-82N).

In addition to the Commendation Ribbon, Captain Clark has the Naval Reserve Medal with one star; American Defense Service Medal; Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal; American Campaign Medal; World War II Victory Medal; and the National Defense Service Medal.

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