BKR3c Malcolm Clark

Malcolm Clark at age 24 was the oldest of three men on the U.S.S. Arizona from Pollock, Louisiana, population 317. All three died in the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Wilburn Carle Roberts, a fellow baker and petty officer third class, was 21, and John William Whitaker Jr., a seaman first class, was 19.

Mr. Clark was born in Pollock in central Louisiana on July 27, 1917, the middle of five children. His father, John Clark, died when he was seven. The son finished high school in Pollock and in the 1940 Census was listed as a carpenter living with his mother, Ollie Phillips Clark, and a brother.

After enlisting in the Navy in August 1940, Mr. Clark was assigned to the Arizona in October, nine days after Mr. Roberts and just over a month after Mr. Whitaker. He was promoted from seaman second  class to baker third class in September 1941.

There is a cenotaph in Mr. Clark’s memory at Pollock Cemetery. His father and an infant brother are buried there.

Sources: Louisiana death index, The Times of Shreveport, The Town Talk of Alexandria, Navy muster rolls; Census. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.