/8th Air Force
Inspirational triumph in Chileclick to enlarge
Wow! We all witnessed on TV a fantastic rescue operation down in Chile. The two biggest heroes were President Pinera and shift supervisor Luis Urzua. One performed his magic above ground while the other took care of business some 2,000 feet below ground. If I were Pinera, I would put Urzua on my staff. This guy handled extreme pressure and made all the right decisions. Certainly he can handle any future problem Chile might face.
Urzua reminds me of an unsung war hero at Stalag Luft III. Like Urzua, General Albert Clark made many decisions which ultimately saved many lives at SLIII. Back then he was a Lt Col, Deputy Commander of a fighter group. He was the second American flyboy captured by the Germans and the first American to arrive at SLIII.
Upon arrival, Clark noticed the camp layout had many flaws which could lead to a disease epidemic. He filed a complaint with the Kommandant explaining the problems with grading, drainage, sanitation, water, sewage, etc. He told the Kommandant that these needed to be fixed or else he could very well end up with another Andersonville. The Kommandant agreed and the improvements were made under Clark's supervision. The Kommandant was impressed and had Clark review all plans before building the other compounds. While life wasn't the greatest at SLIII, it was a safe camp recording very few illnesses.
Being the American Senior Ranking Officer, Clark was in charge of commanding the American POWs. Known as Big S he helped the British Big X plan the great escape. He too would have escaped but before the big day, Clark was moved into a different compound.
The forced march from SLIII began in January 1945 and once again Clark had to organize things for the sake of his 30,000 men. He did a great job as there was only one casualty who died from sickness. When he and the men arrived at Moosburg they found their new home in complete shambles. Once again, Clark took it upon himself to get the camp cleaned up and disease free. That was really impossible as the camp was designed to handle 30,000 men and it grew to over 100,000 POWs. Most of the POWs were forced to live outdoors. The lucky ones got tents or lean-to's On top of that, the Germans were extremely low on provisions. But thanks to Clark, everybody was eating something.
Charles Arnett and Albert Clark in 2007click to enlarge
After Patton's troops liberated the camp, Clark thought he'd let them handle the evacuation. But one trip to the airstrip (a grass field) revealed total chaos. Aside from the POWs being unorganized, there were thousands of German refugees trying to get food and other supplies. The airstrip was littered with all kinds of debris. Quickly he had the MPs remove all civilians and organized the POWs into staging areas. Like Urzua, Clark was the last man out, closing the gate behind him.
It's hard to say how many men were saved due to Clark's attentiveness. Like Urzua, he had a knack for knowing what needed to be done and the leadership ability to make things happen.
If you want to read a really good book, read Clark's story. It's fanastic! We decided to add it to our webstore, although it's not about the 492nd. But many 492nd officers were in that camp. He reveals many things few POWs knew about.
My father was a POW at Stalag Luft III and sebsequently at Moosberg. With over 100,000 packed into the camp, Clark organized a lottery to process the men out in an orderly fashion. My father said it was the only contest he ever won, and he was on the first plane out of Moosberg to Camp Lucky Strike. We met General Clark up in Colorado Springs in 2007 and my brother took a picture of my father and General Clark standing together. This photo represents the first and last man out of camp.
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