by Monique Guy

Clark’s first exposure to a military academy came during his sophomore year in high school. Three of the local schools had shut down because of the Arkansas integration upheaval and his parents decided to send him Castle Heights Academy in Tennesee for a year in anticipation of future closings. Wes found that he “never enjoyed standing inspections, polishing shoes, marching in parades. It just seemed like a waste of time to me.” For Clark, West Point was “a means to an end.” "I didn't like military school -- I liked the chance to make a difference. I wanted the opportunity for public service. And military seemed to be the right opportunity for that. I figured I would just have to put up with the military school even if I didn't like it that much." At West Point, the discipline, protocol and structure would be far more all encompassing, starting off with a two month hazing process by the upperclassmen.

The academic demands on the first year cadets were also intense, including mathematics six days a week, but Clark was undaunted, declaring that he would come in first in every class. He almost did, missing his goal by a single class. The class was, ironically, Russian, a language that Wes had taught himself as a child. The classmate who took the top spot from him chalked it up to the fact that the textbook used was the same he had in his previous high school year. This academic achievement didn’t necessarily endear him to all his fellow classmates, however. Theodore Hill, his roommate, recalls, “I remember he would be angry at some of the people who went out of their way to harass him because he was doing well academically, or didn’t think he was macho enough. Wes is not one of those back-slapping, everybody-is-my-buddy types. He is a private person. I think some people were just intimidated by his intellectual power. But I loved it. We talked for hours.” Although he was still enthusiastic about math and science, he found himself drawn in another direction through a social science elective course he took in his sophomore year, international affairs.

Clark also continued his high school interests, joining the debate and swim teams. He was able to travel to Europe in his sophomore year and returned to Little Rock to speak at high schools and civic clubs about his experiences at West Point. The debate team took the most of his extracurricular time, however, and during a trip to New York City for a competition he met his future wife, Gert Kingston. Gert, a Brooklyn native from an Irish Catholic family, worked as a staff assistant at a brokerage firm. She had been asked by her father to attend a Navy USO dance as a favor to his secretary, who was a volunteer. She reluctantly accepted. Wes and some of his fellow cadets had crashed the dance. Attractive, smart and outgoing, “there was a lot of competition for Gert”, a friend remembers. “I figured I’d better get there first” Clark recalled, and he introduced himself to the pretty blonde. They began to date.
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West Point Graduation: Gert, Wes and Veneta

The year of his graduation, 1966, Clark came in first in his class, and was to be given a number of honors for his achievements. On the day of the ceremony he awoke to find that he had corneal abrasions in both his eyes from his contact lenses. Victor Clark accepted his awards in his place. He graduated 2nd lieutentant with the rest of his class.

Clark earned a Rhodes Scholarship and traveled to England to attend Oxford’s Magdalen College for two years, where he took the “PPE” program; Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He enjoyed the contrast from his structured West Point learning experience, Oxford was an open, self-motivated environment and individual tutors guided his classes. He joined the Oxford debate and swim teams.

Although he was engaged to Gert by this time, the scholarship required that first year students were bachelors and they had to wait until the first summer to marry. Gert had been living with another West Point Rhodes scholar and his wife. They returned to Brooklyn for the ceremony.

In the late 1960’s criticism of the Vietnam War was reaching fever pitch and Clark found himself in the midst of the controversy during his time at Oxford. He responded defensively at the time, as he was embarked on a military career and destined for Vietnam himself. Most of his fellow West Point classmates were actively deployed, a former roomate of Clark’s had been killed in action. He considered the attacks personal, rather than against the policy. This passion against the war also found its way into the Protestant churches he had been attending. Wes began to accompany Gert to Catholic Mass and became interested in her faith. He met a priest and WWII veteran, Michael Hollings, who spoke with Clark about Catholisim and brought him to youth and student groups. His intellect and personality impressed Clark and he determined that he would convert but did not find the time.

It was while he was attending Oxford that Clark learned of his Jewish ancestry through a phone call from Kanne cousin, Molly Friedman, who lived in England. Veneta had been secretly keeping in contact with the Kanne family and Molly asked her permission to contact Wes now that he had reached adulthood. Veneta agreed. Wes and Molly met after the phone call and he learned of the background that had been hidden from him. Although he was at first shocked by this news, he quickly became interested in his Kanne family history and made no attempt to hide this side of his family thereafter.

Clark earned excellent assessments for his work at Magdalen, nearly making First Honors. He left England in 1968 to take the Basic Course as Armor Officer and Ranger training. He would find that his Rhodes scholarship, and the intellectual caché that accompanied it, would not always be a desirable accomplishment in the military. Retired General Barry McCaffery, a friend, remarked: “Wes was always looked on as too well educated, too wired, too good-looking. He’s not a simple crunch soldier. The Rhodes scholars have always been a little suspect in the army.” Clark himself has said, “In the United States Army, from the time I was a West Point captain, really, I was a marked man. There are three terrible things that can happen to you in the United States Army, if you’re an officer. You can win the Congressional Medal of Honor. You can be a Heisman Trophy winner. Or you can be a Rhodes scholar.”