PVT Joseph Ignatius Clark

courtesy of Doug Illsley

PVT Joseph Ignatius Clark was born 30 Apr 1891 in New York City, New York the 4th of 6 children born to James C. and Delia K. (Hart) Clark.  Both parents were natives of Ireland.  His father worked as a painter. In 1910, Joseph was working as a butcher.  His father apparently died before 1917.

When Joseph registered for the draft in 1917, he was working as a time clerk for a Mr. Phillips at 114 Liberty Street in Manhattan.  He lived with his mother at 370 West 46th Street.  After being inducted, he was eventually sent to Camp McClellan, Alabama and there assigned to L Company 116th Infantry.  He was with that unit when it boarded the USS Finland for France on 15 Jun 1918.  After the unit arrived in France on 28 Jun 1918, it was sent for more training before being put in the "training sector" of the trenches.  PVT Clark apparently became ill and died on 13 Oct 1918 in hospital as the rest of his unit was making a big push in the Meuse-Argonne.

PVT Clark was laid to rest in the Saint Mihiel American Cemetery.

Joseph's only brother, James Alphonsus Clark, also served in the war.  He trained at Camp Humphreys (now Fort Belvoir), Virginia and was assigned to B Company 130th Engineers.