Greg Clark (journalist)
Encyclopedia
Gregory Clark, OC
, OBE
, MC
(25 September 1892 – 3 February 1977) was a Canadian war veteran, journalist, and humorist.
In 1967, he was made one of the initial Officers of the Order of Canada
"for the humour which he has brought to his profession as a newspaper writer and radio commentator".
Major Gregory Clark is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery
.
in 1918 a major with the Canadian Mounted Rifles
with the Military Cross
for conspicuous gallantry at Vimy Ridge. After the Armistice, Clark returned to his job as a newspaper reporter for the Toronto Star
.
spread out over four full long years of debilitating declared war, Canada in 1918 had whole villages and neighbourhoods stripped of most of their young men. Armless, legless, blind, and insane veterans returned to scarce if any public services. Profound social, demographic and political consequences took decades to work their way through a Canadian nation newly aware of its sacrifice and strength. With his short story “None Else of Name,” Greg Clark expresses regret, loss, pride of accomplishment, and respect for fallen comrades with an anti-triumphalist, self-deprecating subtext.
Clark’s comrades, Tommy Holmes, Victoria Cross
at seventeen at Passchendaele. Corporal James Post, Distinguished Conduct Medal
(second only to the VC) at 16, a sergeant at 17, and returned to England a private before 18 for misdemeanours behind the Lines - and a dozen more - merited respect and mention by name. So too did the hundreds of others Clark could have written if he had had time. Canadian experience of the war is a story in large remarkable part for its impossibility of fair description. Pithy example must suffice.
Three Officers and seventy-eight men of the Canadian Mounted Rifles
answered the roll call on June 4, 1916 out of the 22 Officers and 680 men who had stood at Sanctuary Wood on June the 2nd, 1916. The Canadian Mounted Rifles reformed. The Regiment fought bravely and well to the bitter end on 11 November 1918. They knew what they had done. Others could sing their praises.
from France
in 1940, on Dunkirk and Dieppe
from England, and on the Italian and North-West Europe campaigns from the Front. Awarded the OBE
for his service as a war correspondent, Clark left the Star for the Toronto Telegram
at the War’s end. Clark's having been denied leave by the Star after the death of his first son (Murray Clark). This may have inspired his move in 1945.
. After the war, he soon became a leading correspondent and reporter. At the Toronto Star, Clark befriended and mentored a young Ernest Hemingway
, who said that Clark was the best writer on the paper. In later life Hemingway called Clark one of the finest modern short story writers in the English language. During World War II, he worked as a war correspondent for the Toronto Star. For his service, he received the OBE
. At the end of the war, Clark went to work for the Toronto Telegram. Some of Clark's best-known work was from weekly columns that Jimmie Frise would illustrate. For the most part they were humorous pieces about hunting and fishing or family life.
Clark’s haunting memoir "The Prayer" is perhaps the definitive description of a young officer having to bury his dead after his first battle. Beginning “Along about sunset, I began to think of the dead ... “ it follows with a tight, telling description of the field interment of seven dead young Canadian soldiers. The exhaustion and shock of battle having purged the Lord’s Prayer from his memory, Clark leads his surviving men in prayer over the grave with “Now I lay me down to sleep ...”. The hardened sergeant approved. Clark had done his best to proper effect. War is about compassionate respect for one’s dead comrades “God Bless these seven men”, not punctilious memory of Orders of Service.
Mass syndicated in the 1950s, Clark’s superb parable "One Block of Howland Avenue" puts face, name and consequence to the demographic catastrophe of World War I
to Canada
. Clark’s elderly father asked his two decorated veteran sons never to walk up the street past the neighbours to their house at 66 Howland Avenue again. Go the long way around so the neighbours won’t see you boys. All the young men of their block were dead, except Greg and his brother Joseph. Clark senior tried to balance his pride and joy of both sons back home with his grief and concern for his neighbours and friends - who might be looking out their windows.
, and decorated as both a fighting soldier and as a war correspondent
, Clark’s work is out of print. Rather randomly published in anthology compilations between the late 1950s and the early 1970s in Canada by Collins, Ryerson Press and McClelland and Stewart, Clark’s workmay have had so little serious academic attention in part because it was mostly written by a working journalist for publication in newspapers and popular magazines--hiding in plain view, as it were.
Clark wrote about four or five dozen disarmingly charming, granite-hard war stories. Many have a profound point well told. Some are just a fine read. All are a good read.
Clark’s three stories The Prayer, One Block of Howland Avenue and None Else of Name, resonate today as a the insights and memories of a toughened gallant veteran who bore the scars, yet emerged with enhanced compassion, dignity and a still-effective sense of duty. Free of bombast and triumphalist cant, Clark's work is long overdue for a modern compilation.
"Let everybody leave the car at home. Let everybody use buses, street cars, taxis, suburban trains — and the traffic problem is solved in a mere twenty-four hours."
Greg Clark contributed to
Greg Clark also wrote
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
, OBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, MC
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
(25 September 1892 – 3 February 1977) was a Canadian war veteran, journalist, and humorist.
In 1967, he was made one of the initial Officers of the Order of Canada
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
"for the humour which he has brought to his profession as a newspaper writer and radio commentator".
Major Gregory Clark is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery
Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto
Mount Pleasant Cemetery is a cemetery located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.In the early 19th century, the only authorized cemeteries within the city of Toronto were limited to the members of either the Roman Catholic Church or the Church of England...
.
Clark in World War I
Surviving 3 long years (1916–1918) in the trenches of World War I, Gregory Clark returned to CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in 1918 a major with the Canadian Mounted Rifles
Canadian Mounted Rifles
Canadian Mounted Rifles was part of the designation of several mounted infantry units in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.* The Canadian Mounted Rifle Corps, formed in 1885, now part of The Royal Canadian Dragoons...
with the Military Cross
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
for conspicuous gallantry at Vimy Ridge. After the Armistice, Clark returned to his job as a newspaper reporter for the Toronto Star
Toronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
.
Effect of World War I
With about 10 times the per capita casualty rate of the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
spread out over four full long years of debilitating declared war, Canada in 1918 had whole villages and neighbourhoods stripped of most of their young men. Armless, legless, blind, and insane veterans returned to scarce if any public services. Profound social, demographic and political consequences took decades to work their way through a Canadian nation newly aware of its sacrifice and strength. With his short story “None Else of Name,” Greg Clark expresses regret, loss, pride of accomplishment, and respect for fallen comrades with an anti-triumphalist, self-deprecating subtext.
Clark’s comrades, Tommy Holmes, Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
at seventeen at Passchendaele. Corporal James Post, Distinguished Conduct Medal
Distinguished Conduct Medal
The Distinguished Conduct Medal was an extremely high level award for bravery. It was a second level military decoration awarded to other ranks of the British Army and formerly also to non-commissioned personnel of other Commonwealth countries.The medal was instituted in 1854, during the Crimean...
(second only to the VC) at 16, a sergeant at 17, and returned to England a private before 18 for misdemeanours behind the Lines - and a dozen more - merited respect and mention by name. So too did the hundreds of others Clark could have written if he had had time. Canadian experience of the war is a story in large remarkable part for its impossibility of fair description. Pithy example must suffice.
Three Officers and seventy-eight men of the Canadian Mounted Rifles
Canadian Mounted Rifles
Canadian Mounted Rifles was part of the designation of several mounted infantry units in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.* The Canadian Mounted Rifle Corps, formed in 1885, now part of The Royal Canadian Dragoons...
answered the roll call on June 4, 1916 out of the 22 Officers and 680 men who had stood at Sanctuary Wood on June the 2nd, 1916. The Canadian Mounted Rifles reformed. The Regiment fought bravely and well to the bitter end on 11 November 1918. They knew what they had done. Others could sing their praises.
Clark in World War II
Too old for active service, in World War II Greg Clark returned to the battlefield as a reporter. To his peers he was Dean of Canadian War Correspondents. Clark reported on the German BlitzkriegBlitzkrieg
For other uses of the word, see: Blitzkrieg Blitzkrieg is an anglicized word describing all-motorised force concentration of tanks, infantry, artillery, combat engineers and air power, concentrating overwhelming force at high speed to break through enemy lines, and, once the lines are broken,...
from France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in 1940, on Dunkirk and Dieppe
Dieppe, Seine-Maritime
Dieppe is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in France. In 1999, the population of the whole Dieppe urban area was 81,419.A port on the English Channel, famous for its scallops, and with a regular ferry service from the Gare Maritime to Newhaven in England, Dieppe also has a popular pebbled...
from England, and on the Italian and North-West Europe campaigns from the Front. Awarded the OBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
for his service as a war correspondent, Clark left the Star for the Toronto Telegram
Toronto Telegram
The Toronto Evening Telegram was a conservative, broadsheet afternoon newspaper published in Toronto from 1876 to 1971. It had a reputation for supporting the Conservative Party at both the federal and provincial level. The paper competed with the liberal Toronto Star...
at the War’s end. Clark's having been denied leave by the Star after the death of his first son (Murray Clark). This may have inspired his move in 1945.
Career as a writer
Both before and after World War I, Clark worked for the Toronto StarToronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
. After the war, he soon became a leading correspondent and reporter. At the Toronto Star, Clark befriended and mentored a young Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
, who said that Clark was the best writer on the paper. In later life Hemingway called Clark one of the finest modern short story writers in the English language. During World War II, he worked as a war correspondent for the Toronto Star. For his service, he received the OBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
. At the end of the war, Clark went to work for the Toronto Telegram. Some of Clark's best-known work was from weekly columns that Jimmie Frise would illustrate. For the most part they were humorous pieces about hunting and fishing or family life.
Memoirs of World War I
Clark’s later war reporting and reminiscences of soldiering have a poignancy uncommon to first person reflective writing about war.Clark’s haunting memoir "The Prayer" is perhaps the definitive description of a young officer having to bury his dead after his first battle. Beginning “Along about sunset, I began to think of the dead ... “ it follows with a tight, telling description of the field interment of seven dead young Canadian soldiers. The exhaustion and shock of battle having purged the Lord’s Prayer from his memory, Clark leads his surviving men in prayer over the grave with “Now I lay me down to sleep ...”. The hardened sergeant approved. Clark had done his best to proper effect. War is about compassionate respect for one’s dead comrades “God Bless these seven men”, not punctilious memory of Orders of Service.
Mass syndicated in the 1950s, Clark’s superb parable "One Block of Howland Avenue" puts face, name and consequence to the demographic catastrophe of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Clark’s elderly father asked his two decorated veteran sons never to walk up the street past the neighbours to their house at 66 Howland Avenue again. Go the long way around so the neighbours won’t see you boys. All the young men of their block were dead, except Greg and his brother Joseph. Clark senior tried to balance his pride and joy of both sons back home with his grief and concern for his neighbours and friends - who might be looking out their windows.
Fate of his work
Though he was probably Canada’s most honoured journalist, an initiate Officer of the Order of CanadaOrder of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
, and decorated as both a fighting soldier and as a war correspondent
War correspondent
A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories firsthand from a war zone. In the 19th century they were also called Special Correspondents.-Methods:...
, Clark’s work is out of print. Rather randomly published in anthology compilations between the late 1950s and the early 1970s in Canada by Collins, Ryerson Press and McClelland and Stewart, Clark’s workmay have had so little serious academic attention in part because it was mostly written by a working journalist for publication in newspapers and popular magazines--hiding in plain view, as it were.
Clark wrote about four or five dozen disarmingly charming, granite-hard war stories. Many have a profound point well told. Some are just a fine read. All are a good read.
Clark’s three stories The Prayer, One Block of Howland Avenue and None Else of Name, resonate today as a the insights and memories of a toughened gallant veteran who bore the scars, yet emerged with enhanced compassion, dignity and a still-effective sense of duty. Free of bombast and triumphalist cant, Clark's work is long overdue for a modern compilation.
Theory of Traffic
The Gregory Clark Theory of Traffic states:"Let everybody leave the car at home. Let everybody use buses, street cars, taxis, suburban trains — and the traffic problem is solved in a mere twenty-four hours."
Quotes
- "A sportsman is one who not only will not show his own father where the best fishing holes are but will deliberately direct him to the wrong ones." —from a speech to the Empire Club of CanadaEmpire Club of CanadaThe Empire Club of Canada is a Canadian speakers' forum. Established in 1903, the Empire Club has provided a forum for over 3,500 speakers.Through a variety of presentation formats, the Empire Club invites local, national and international leaders and other change-agents to address the topical...
in 1950
Books
These books are collections of essays or newspaper columns.- Greg's Choice, ISBN 0770060250, Ryerson Press (1961)
- The Best of Gregory Clark, ISBN 0770060242, Ryerson Press (1962)
- Hi, There!, ISBN 0770060269, Ryerson Press (1963)
- War Stories, Ryerson Press (1964), winner of the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour in 1965
- May Your First Love be Your Last, ISBN 0002166925, McClelland and Stewart (1969)
- A Bar'l of Apples: a Gregory Clark Omnibus, ISBN 0070929521, McGraw-Hill Ryerson (1971)
- Outdoors with Gregory Clark, ISBN 0771021089, McClelland and Stewart (1971)
- The Bird of Promise, ISBN 0888900104, McClelland and Stewart (1973)
- Grandma Preferred Steak, ISBN 0888900244, (1974)
- Fishing with Gregory Clark, ISBN 0888900333, Prentice-Hall of Canada (1975)
- Things that Go SQUEAK in the Night, ISBN 0888900538, Prentice-Hall (1976)
- The Best of Greg Clark and Jimmie Frise, ISBN 0002166836, Collins (1977)
- Silver Linings, ISBN 0002166992, Collins (1978)
- Greg Clark and Jimmie Frise Outdoors, ISBN 0002166070, Collins (1979)
- Ten Cents off per Dozen: a Gregory Clark Omnibus, ISBN 088890116X, Optimum (1979)
- A Supersonic Day (from the Packsack of Gregory Clark), ISBN 0771021127, McClelland and Stewart (1980)
- Greg Clark and Jimmie Frise Go Fishing
Greg Clark contributed to
- The Face of Canada, Clarke Irwin & Company (1959)
Greg Clark also wrote
- With Rod and Reel in Canada, Canadian Government Travel Bureau (1947)
External links
- Greg Clark at The Canadian EncyclopediaThe Canadian EncyclopediaThe Canadian Encyclopedia is a source of information on Canada. It is available online, at no cost. The Canadian Encyclopedia is available in both English and French and includes some 14,000 articles in each language on a wide variety of subjects including history, popular culture, events, people,...
- Mount Pleasant biography
- a speech by Gregory Clark, Canadian humorist, sportsman, and veteran at the Empire Club of CanadaEmpire Club of CanadaThe Empire Club of Canada is a Canadian speakers' forum. Established in 1903, the Empire Club has provided a forum for over 3,500 speakers.Through a variety of presentation formats, the Empire Club invites local, national and international leaders and other change-agents to address the topical...
in 1950 - link to page from the cartoon Birdseye Centre with art by Jimmie Frise and commentary by Gregory Clark
- Canadian newspapers and the Second World War
- Library and Archives Canada description of Gregory Clark fonds: "0.72 metres of textual records, 22 photographs and 2 sound recordings. This material contains personal diaries, fishing journals and correspondence documenting Clark's 60-year career...."