Courtesy The Greatest Generations Foundation
Edward Clarke joined the U.S. Army when he was just 17 years old. Now at 78, he will travel to Pearl Harbor to honor his fellow fallen soldiers.
Published Saturday, Aug. 27, 2011 | 11:56 a.m.
Updated Saturday, Aug. 27, 2011 | 1:27 p.m.
A Las Vegas veteran will get a chance to say farewell to solders who died in World War II.
Edward Clarke is traveling this weekend to Pearl Harbor along with 20 World War II veterans to commemorate the 66th anniversary of Japanese officials signing surrender papers on Sept. 2.
Clarke, now 78, was 17 when he joined the Army -- just six months shy of the age required to actively serve. The private first class joined the 40th Division, 223rd Infantry Regiment, following the end of World War II. He trained with firearms and operating explosives in Pasadena, Calif. He later was stationed at Camp Desert Rock, 63 miles north of Las Vegas, where he participated in atmospheric nuclear testing on top-secret atomic bombs.
“I saw a couple of those babies explode," said Clarke. "It was scary of course.
The mushroom cloud of the "Easy" atomic bomb test rises above the Nevada Test Site on Nov. 5, 1951. Energy levels the equivalent of over 31 thousand tons of TNT were discharged by the bomb.
“We weren’t supposed to talk to anybody when we would go into Las Vegas. It was top secret.”
Clarke didn’t have to fight, but he had lost many friends by the time the war ended.
“Everyone was killed; it was a slaughter,” said Clarke. “I was one lucky guy.”
The Greatest Generations Foundation has granted Clarke, who never got a chance to say goodbye to some of his friends, an opportunity to honor the soldiers.
The foundation is paying for Clarke to visit Pearl Harbor and the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, where he will pay tribute to the fallen soldiers. He will also participate in an international commemoration ceremony on the USS Missouri, the site of Japan’s surrender.
The trip will take the veterans to former battle sites to provide an opportunity for healing, something Clarke says he needs.
“I’m looking for closure on the situation,” said Clarke. “I felt guilty then that I didn’t go with them and I still do now. It’s just the way it is.”
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