Images from "Yank, the Army Weekly" (above) are of real life during WWII. Articles include stories of a sailor's 31-month ordeal on Guam and an investigation of Italy during the war.
By Peter Day
Senior Reporter
Longtime Lucerne Valley resident Ray Clark, who retired as U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel in 1974, has held onto a special collection for decades.
The four “Yank, The Army Weekly” magazines were given by his mother, who obtained them years ago.
“They were passed along to me from my mom,” Clark said. “She had three sons in the military during the war (WWII). One of my brothers was too old to serve.”
The first issue of “Yank” was published on June 17, 1942. It was written exclusively by soldiers. Each issue cost only five or 10 cents and included a “pin-up girl” in each issue. Eventually the magazine had a worldwide circulation of more than 2 million.
Born in 1924, Clark, 91, joined the U.S. Air Force in the early 1940s. After his service in 1946, he attended college at New Mexico State and later received a master’s degree in engineering at Colorado University. Later he moved to California, working at Northrup and later Hughes Aircraft.
One issue of “Yank” contains articles on a Russian and American project to send more than 5,000 aircraft to the Soviet Union via Alaska, fighting the Japanese in northern Burma, and inside the mind of a Nazi soldier.
Clark is hoping to sell the collection — the price is negotiable — to someone who would treasure them as much as he has. With waning eyesight, the dynamic images on the magazine pages are impossible to see.
“I can’t read them now.”
If you would like to view Col. Clark’s collection of “Yank,” write to the Leader, P.O. Box 299, Lucerne Valley, CA 92356.