Reprint from the Progress Times - February 23, 2007
©Progress Times 2007 - All Rights Reserved

Vietnam Vet Finds There Is Life After PTSD

By Melinda Brann Brunson

It has often been said that it’s not how many times we’re knocked down, but how many times we get back up. Victory then becomes a daily process. Such is the case with one Vietnam vet, Allen B. Clark—a double-amputee of both legs below the knee.

Clark has written a book detailing his journey before and after the June 17, 1967 mortar attack that changed his life. While in the army hospital in 1968, he suffered a breakdown related to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). He was encouraged by his two daughters, Elizabeth Clark and Christi Clark Bieberich, to go public with his story. They felt his experience could help other veterans fighting their own PTSD battles.

Clark has deep Mission roots, and he will be in town on Saturday, February 24, at Speer Memorial Library to autograph copies of his new book, Wounded Soldier, Healing Warrior. This is one of five stops he is making in the Valley. The Mission book signing is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 12 noon.

A self-proclaimed "Army brat," Clark traveled with his family throughout the military career of his father, Allen B. Clark Sr. Life began in the Valley for Clark, and in a recent phone conversation, he noted that he was born in McAllen, but enthusiastically calls Mission home.

When asked about his Mission ties, he stated that he spent only one year of school in Mission, at Roosevelt Elementary when his father was overseas. Clark gushed with fondness the numerous names of many old-time families here. His mother, the former Amalia de la Fuente grew up in Mission and graduated from Mission High School. Their family vacations were spent here, surrounded by her family and their Mission friends—such as childhood neighbors Jerry, Deldie, and Mary Saenz, and the families of Judith Femat, Hugo and Efrain Dominguez, and Carlos de la Garza.

Clark entered West Point at the early age of 17. He was the youngest man in his class of 760 cadets. Of those, 504 graduated. It would have been 503 graduates if Clark’s company commander at West Point, Valley native Nikki Rowe, had not talked him out of leaving. Later, Col. Rowe also went to Vietnam, losing his life in the conflict.

The mortar attack, and his sacrifice for his fellow man, earned Clark the Silver Star for Gallantry in Action, the Purple Heart, and the Combat Infantryman’s Badge. The event was only a setback in Clark’s journey as he went on to an illustrious private and public career.

As he adapted to life with his prosthetic limbs, he earned an MBA in finance and investments, and his first position was as an investment manager for Ross Perot. His private career has included oil and gas exploration, real estate marketing, and mortgage lending. During that time, he has been vice president of a bank, president of three oil service companies, and co-founder of a real estate investment company.

He later distinguished himself as a champion for veterans, at the state and national levels.

He was appointed in 1979 as Special Assistant for Administration to then Texas Governor William P. Clements. President Ronald Reagan selected Clark to become deputy administrator for the Veterans Administration, but he chose to remain close to his Texas ties. In 1982 he ran for State Treasurer, a race won by former Governor Ann Richards.

President George H.W. Bush nominated Clark as Assistant Secretary for Veterans Liaison and Program Coordination at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. In 1991 he was later confirmed as director of the National Cemetery System, where he served until the end of the senior Bush’s administration.

He was recognized by the Disabled American Veterans organization as the Texas State candidate for the national Outstanding Disabled Veteran of the Year 2000. In 1993, the Military Chaplains Association awarded him their annual National Citizenship Award.

Clark retired in 2005 as the public affairs officer for the VA North Texas Health Care System in Dallas.

Since then, he has gone on to create a lay ministry supporting outreach to veterans to assist in their emotional and spiritual recovery from wartime experiences. Clark now shares, on a personal level, his experiences and the hope there is for recovery. This was the message his daughters felt should be heard by all.

Clark’s book can be purchased on Amazon.com, at the Barnes and Noble website and stores, or through his own website, www.woundedsolder healingwarrior.com. For information on his lay ministry and its resources, visit www.combat faith.com.