"I went down on that march and two angels picked me up." (Audio Interview, 39:09)

William Burton Clark

William Clark War: World War, 1939-1945 Branch: Army Unit: 200th Coast Artillery Service Location: El Paso, Texas; Clark Field, Bataan (Philippines); Japan; Pacific Theater Rank: Staff Sergeant POW: Yes Place of Birth: IN

William Clark joined the New Mexico National Guard as a 21-year-old who had been working highway construction jobs in New Mexico. It was only a few months before Pearl Harbor, but he knew he was going to be drafted. What he didn't know is that all of the National Guard units would get called into active duty. Clark was actually at Clark Air Field when the Japanese attacked on December 8, 1941;he was manning his 3-inch anti-aircraft gun. Since the war, William Clark has been doing his own research on those two initial Japanese attacks, and he is concerned that none of the top brass were demoted or punished in any way. After the Philippines surrendered, William Clark spent the next 1,248 days as a Prisoner of War, including 33 months in Japan.