Allen Clark grew up in an Army family. So to him it was natural to decide he was going to be an Army officer and attend the United States Military Academy at West Point. Of course, he was 8 years old at the time.

“Having a goal so early in life was good for me, because it helped me to focus,” Clark said Sunday while speaking at the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Oak Harbor.

Clark was in town to share his story of service, survival and healing.

On Christmas Eve while Clark was a junior

in high school, he got what he’d always wanted — a nomination to West Point. He took the test and had the choice of beginning his studies after finishing 11th grade, or waiting a year. He chose to go as soon as he could.

“I was the youngest out of 760 cadets enrolled, and I was still the youngest out of 504 cadets who graduated,” he told the small crowd.

Clark wound up serving in Vietnam as a military intelligence officer with the fifth Special Forces Group (the Green Berets) involved in undercover intelligence operations against Cambodia.

“We would train young Cambodians as agents to put inside Vietnam. They walked across to Cambodia to collect intelligence for an eventual incursion,” said Clark. “The missions were not very successful.”

The attack

About 10 and a half months into his one-year tour in Vietnam, Clark was ordered to go to Dak To special forces camp in the central highlands of South Vietnam. It was June of 1967, and the North Vietnamese had infiltrated the jungle along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

“We didn’t realize the enemy had made it as far as they had,” Clark recounted. “They began to set up mortar and rocket launchers. The attack started at 4:30 a.m. on June 17.”

Clark, who was on duty in the inner perimeter of the camp, said no one ordered him to do what he did, which was try to locate the enemy’s firing position. The Air Force sent in a Douglas AC-47 aircraft affectionately known as “Puff, the Magic Dragon,” which began laying down suppression fire on the enemy.

To this day Clark is not totally clear on what happened in the next few moments, but what he has surmised is that a mortar must have hit the ground about 18-inches away from his left leg. His left leg was lost below the knee, his right leg was fractured in five places.

Clark said Army medic Jimmy Hill, who had a shrapnel wound to his own shoulder, is responsible for saving his life. But the next several months, or years, were not easy.

“I woke up 36 hours later with no leg (below the knee) on the left and five black toes on the right,” he said. “My right leg had to be taken off (below the knee) after 10 days.”

Clark spent a total of 15 months in the hospital and endured 12 operations. He was 25 years old when he was injured. He began to question what he was going to do with his life, how he was going to make a living.

“All these things began to bother me, which is quite common with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,” he said. “I went four days without sleep. I cracked. I went to the psychiatric ward.”

Following his treatment, Clark’s doctor told him he shouldn’t get a tough job because he couldn’t handle the stress.

“So, I go to work for Ross Perot,” he laughed. “But I put more pressure on myself than I needed to, so I cracked again. Here I had this wonderful opportunity to be a financial assistant to Ross Perot. I reported directly to him. But I’m down, because I can’t handle the pressure.

“I was mad, angry. I was mad at God,” Clark continued.

The healing

In the mid 1970s Clark went to a church service that he said changed his life.

“I woke up. I started studying the Bible, I started to pray,” he said. “I slowly weaned myself off all the drugs.”

Clark went on to a very successful career. He served as special assistant to Texas governor Bill Clements from 1979 to 1981; he served as the assistant secretary for Veterans Liaison and Program Coordination and the director of the national cemetery system of the Department of Veterans Affairs under President George H.W. Bush; in 2005 he retired as the public affairs officer of the Veterans Affairs North Texas Health Care System in Dallas. He is the author of “Wounded Soldier, Healing Warrior.”

Today he travels around the country speaking to various groups. He has a special place in his heart for wounded veterans, especially those suffering from PTSD.

“My PTSD has been healed. It’s my mission to help veterans,” he said. “I have a battle plan for victory in the back of the book.

“Clearing up spiritual and emotional issues can help you heal physically,” he continued. “By losing my legs I was turned around.”

Amy Buckley came up from Bothell to hear Clark speak on Sunday. She said she read his book and became a big fan.

“I felt like he was talking to me, like he was right in the room,” she said. “It is a book that will change your life forever. This will heal you.”

Margaret Perugini, of Operation Military Family, organized Clark’s speaking engagements in Washington.

“He speaks with sincerity and honesty, sharing some very painful memories,” Perugini said. “But he shows people we have the ability and strength to heal.”

“I have to look at it as not losing my legs, but giving my legs,” Clark said. “We can always feel proud of our military service. Even when we suffer for what we did, we can be proud.”

Allen Clark was awarded the Silver Star for Gallantry in Action, a Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Air Medal and Combat Infantryman’s Badge.

His ministry for veterans suffering from combat operating stress can be found online at www.combatfaith.com.

Clark’s book, “Wounded Soldier, Healing Warrior,” is available at www.woundedsoldierhealingwarrior.com.