A Fallen Soldier Remembered

Private William Bernice Clark, a 1942 graduate of Central High School, was only 20 years old when he faced his final battle on Omaha Beach in Normandy.

A young Army man, Private Clark was a member of the Second Battalion, Company H (Weapons Company), of the 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division ("The Blue and Gray Division)."

Private Clark was one of 3,100 United States soldiers from the 116th Regiment on the shores of France on D-Day.  He landed on Easy Red Beach, Omaha Beach, Normandy, on June 6, 1944, in part of the first assault wave. To this day, historians debate whether Easy Red or Dog Green was the worst sector on Omaha Beach that day.

By the late afternoon, 800 soldiers from the 116th Regiment had been lost to the war. Private Clark was one of them, struck by multiple machine-gun rounds and mortar shrapnel.

Private Clark is buried at the United States cemetery in the Colleville-sur-Mur commune of Normandy, overlooking the area on which he and many others were killed.

But Norval's story didn't focus on Private Clark's death. Instead, he told of the Bruceton man's lasting legacy.

Private Clark was the only child of William Clarence Park and Alvada "Vadie" Smothers. Upon news of his death, neither of his parents believed he was gone, never even having a funeral for their son. They thought he was lost and would someday return home. They kept an old country ham in their smokehouse, waiting for his eventual return.

Private Clark would never return home, but one lost artifact eventually would.

In 2002, an Englishman discovered one of Private Clark's dog tags on Omaha Beach, likely at or very near the spot the soldier was killed. The tag had been buried in the sand since the invasion. The man, not comfortable with keeping this relic to himself, donated the dog tag to the National D-Day Museum in Bedford, Virginia. The museum curators would eventually feel the same way, deciding to search for Private Clark's closest living relatives.

On June 6, 2007 — the 63rd anniversary of D-Day — Private Clark's recovered dog tag found its way home.

Private Clark's surviving family members, including his 79-year-old first cousin Lota Park, gathered for a formal presentation ceremony at Huntingdon's Thomas Park.

Private Clark's dog tag has traveled a bit since 2007, presently being held by Clark Smothers in Richland, Michigan.

Norval and Private Clark's surviving family want the dog tag to make one last trip — to New Orleans. Private Clark's second cousin, Mary Elizabeth Gilmore McCord, has been in contact with a museum curator from the National World War II Museum to donate Private Clark's dog tag and photos, memorializing his story for years to come.

In a conversation with Norval, Phyllis Taylor — a second-cousin to Private Clark — said the family donation of the dog tag would be a fitting end to Private Clark's story.

Norval begged to differ.

"This is only the beginning of the 'Rest of the Story,'" said Norval. "Hundreds of thousands of people visit this site every year from all over the world…Once secured by the World War II Museum, Private William Bernice Clark will begin his final mission. Many people will learn the story and know the sacrifice made by Private Clark and the thousands of his fellow brothers on the beaches of Normandy."

Marketing students from the Carroll County Technical Center filmed Norval's presentation for submission to the National World War II Museum. The full video is posted on the Huntingdon Historical Museum's YouTube channel, titled "Sacrifice: A Carroll County Soldier's Story."

Huntingdon TN Historical Society President Johnny McClure teased next month's meeting. Instead of listening to a storyteller, the society might interview one or two West Tennessee rock-and-rollers from the 1960s and 1970s.

The Huntingdon TN Historical Society meets every third Wednesday of the month.