Who We Are: PFC Leslie Ewing Clark 1913-1944

Leslie Ewing Clark

04 Apr 1913 -18 Sep 1944

This is my Uncle Les, brother of my PopPop John Clark. I never met him, as he died in WWII 14 years prior to my birth. I remember as a child the picture that hung in my grandparents parlor, my siblings and cousins all new the story of Uncle Les and how he made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

The 7th of 10 children born to David James and Martha Matilda (Hanson) Clark. Uncle Les and 2 of his siblings Margaret and Andrew were born in Sicklersville, NJ, From the stories shared his father wanted to try farming and they moved there from Philadelphia until eventually returning to Philadelphia for reasons unknown..

A story I wrote on Uncle Less

PFC Leslie Ewing Clark 1913-1944 SN# 33800589 US Army WWII KIA

As I sat writing my draft prior to typing this, I noted all I know of Uncle Les. You see I never
met him. He died in World War II, 14 years prior to my birth. Our family kept Uncle Les in our
hearts all our lives. Even now, 68 years after his death he is still remembered as we share the
stories with the present generations.

Leslie Ewing Clark son of David James and Martha Matilda (Hanson) Clark was born in Sicklerville,
New Jersey. He was one of 10 children. He was my grandfather’s brother. From the stories we were
told Uncle Les tried to enlist in the Navy and was then drafted into the Army. What may have
prompted this is the death of his only child at a young age.

Back rowL Herb Wicks, Edna Clark, Charles Clark, Frances Geiger, Ethel Peas, Addie Miller, Gladys Miller and Andrew Clark.

Uncle Les and Uncle David front row kneeling.

I remember as a young child visiting my grandparents with my siblings and cousins. We would always
ask about the picture of the man in uniform that hung in the parlor. I can never remember a time
when our grandparents did not stop what they were doing to tell us of Uncle Les and the sacrifice
he made for country, home and family. We still celebrate Uncle Les’ birthday.

You can see the picture here with my grandparents

We were told the stories of his growing years with our grandfather. As children they lived on a
farm in Sicklerville, New Jersey, and then moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. With the death of
their father when our grandfather ‘PopPop’ was 15 and Les age 6 and their siblings even younger,
the family stayed together through all the struggles that came with life in the 1920s’.

Uncle Les has a big heart and loves children. Note, I use present tense as in a sense he is still
with us. I have the many letters he wrote to my grandparents when he went in the army and have read them all. There are even individual sections written to my father, aunts and uncles. His love for
children is quite evident in his letters as he referred to them as his kids.

Through the stories we were told of Uncle Les many of the younger generations were influenced to
serve. Les’ younger brother William served in the Navy during WWII. My father John and his brother
Robert both enlisted in the Navy and served in the time of the Korean War. Our cousin Leslie Ewing
Clark, named for Uncle Les, served in the Marine Corps, his brothers served in the Army. My brother
Joe and my cousin Robert served in the Army, and two of my sons, Raymond in the Navy and Clif in
the Army.

Uncle Les is my hero for more than the sacrifice he made; I have recently started researching our
family history to document it all for the present and future generations.

We come from a long line that has served in the United States Military back to the Revolutionary
War with Captain Joseph Mendenhall the “Fighting Quaker”. Samuel Bernham McClennen Hanson my Third Great Grandfather whose brother Warrick was KIA, and also his father and brothers fought in the Civil War. An uncle, Alex Clark served in WWI in the Army.This history was unknown to us until I started my research using Uncle Les’ letters as a starting point.

I used those many letters I previously mention to search out all the information I could find about
Uncle Les. I have shared these with the family and found that his name is on the World War II
Memorial in Washington, DC.

My cousin Dawn and I when we were children loved to touch a pretty purple heart shaped pin at our
grandparents’ and got into trouble several times. We knew it was Uncle Les’ but were too young to
understand the significance of it.

My grandfather gave each of his children items that belonged to Uncle Les. I have the flag that
draped his coffin; it was given to my father. Dawn has the letter that came with the pretty pin
along with the pin in its box.

I mentioned my research in this writing since if it were not for the letters I would not have made
the most important of all the discoveries. That neither my uncle nor our family knew he had another
son. We are now reconnecting with that son to share our knowledge of his father and all our family.

So you see even after the sacrifice he made for Our Country, he is still here helping his
family.

These links lead to more Information:

Leslie Ewing Clark

Wiki Tree /Clark-15870