US Air Force Lieutenant General. A World War II combat fighter pilot who became a prisoner of war, he rose in rank to become the 6th Superintendent of the US Air Force Academy. Born at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, his father was a colonel in the US Army Medical Corps who served on General Pershing's staff in France during World War I. After completing high school, he received an appointment to the US Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1932 and graduated with a commission as a 2nd lieutenant in 1936. The following year he attended flying training at Randolph Field (now Randolph Air Force Base, a part of Joint Base San Antonio), Texas and received his pilot wings. His first assignment was at Selfridge Field (now Selfridge Air National Guard Base), Michigan. When the US entered World War II in December 1941, he was sent to England the following June as the deputy commander of the 31st Fighter Group, the first American fighter unit in the European Theater of Operations. The following month, as a lieutenant colonel, he was shot down over Abbeville, France, and was a prisoner of war at German prison camp Stalag Luft III, near present-day Zagan, Poland until he was freed in April 1945. He wrote about his experiences there in his book "33 Months as a POW in Stalag Luft III," in which his role was a manager of accumulation and hiding of supplies used in the famous 1944 breakout in which 76 prisoners escaped. That incident was documented in the 1950 book "The Great Escape," and later was celebrated in the 1963 movie of the same title, starring actors Steve McQueen and Richard Attenborough. After the end of World War II in Europe, he returned to the US and had key staff assignments with Tactical Air Command (now Air Combat Command), Continental Air Command (now inactivated), and Air Defense Command prior to a tour of duty at Headquarters US Air Force in Washington DC. From 1955 to 1956 he commanded the 48th Fighter Bomber Wing at Chaumont Air Base in France (now closed), and then served as the Chief of Staff of the US Air Forces in Europe at Lindsey Air Base, Germany, followed by an assignment to Saudi Arabia as Chief, US Military Training Mission. In 1959 he returned to Headquarters US Air Force and served as the Director of Military Personnel for 4 years and was then assigned to Okinawa as the commander of the 313th Air Division. In August 1965 he became vice commander of the Tactical Air Command (now Air Combat Command) headquartered at Langley Air Force Base (now part of Joint Base Langley-Eustis), Virginia. In August 1968 he assumed duties as commander of Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama and two years later he was appointed Superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs, Colorado, and he retired in this position in August 1974 with 38 years of continuous military service. Among his military decorations and awards include Air Force Distinguished Service Medal with 2 oak leaf clusters, the Legion of Merit with 1 oak leaf cluster, the Purple Heart, the Air Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with 2 service stars, the Air Force Commendation Medal, the American Defense Service Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal with gold star. He was also a rated command pilot and a graduate of the Armed Forces Staff College at the Naval Support Activity in Norfolk, Virginia and the National War College at Fort McNair, Washington DC. He died at the age of 96. His son, Major Albert Patton Clark, Jr, was a highly decorated US Air Force combat fighter pilot who flew 435 combat missions during the Vietnam War, and wrote the novel "The last Wolf Home," his personal view of the air war in Southeast Asia.