Clark V. Poling was born August 7, 1910 in Columbus, Ohio. He was the son of Susie Jane
Vandersall of East Liberty, Ohio and Daniel A. Poling of Portland, Oregon. In addition to
Clark, the other children were Daniel, Mary and Elizabeth. Clark attended Whitney Public
School in Auburndale, Massachusetts where his teachers remembered his maturity and
delicate side of his nature. The Auburndale days came to an end when his mother died in
1918. She is buried at Greenlawn Cemetery, Uniontown, Ohio. Clark's father was an
Evangelical Minister and in 1936 was rebaptized as a Baptist minister. Reverend Daniel
Poling was remarried on August 11, 1919 to Lillian Diebold Heingartner of Canton, Ohio.
Clark attended Oakwood, a Quaker high school in Poughkeepsie, New York, and was a
good student and an excellent football halfback. Clark was a council member and president
of the student body. In 1929 he enrolled at Hope College in Holland, Michigan and spent his
last two years at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, graduating in 1933 with
an A.B. degree. Clark entered Yale University's Divinity School in New Haven, Connecticut
and graduated with his B.D. degree in 1936. He was ordained in the Reformed Church in
America and his first assignment was the First Church of Christ, New London, Connecticut.
Shortly thereafter, he accepted the assignment of Pastor of the First Reformed Church in
Schenectady, New York.
Clark was married to Betty Jung of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the next year, Clark, Jr.
(Corky) was born. With our country now at war with Japan, Germany and Italy, he decided
to be a chaplain. Talking with his father, Dr. Daniel A. Poling, who was a chaplain in World
War I, he was told that chaplains in that conflict sustained the highest mortality rate of all
military personnel. Without hesitation, he was appointed on June 10, 1942 as a chaplain with
the 131st Quartermaster Truck Regiment and reported to Camp Shelby, Hattiesburg,
Mississippi, effective June 25, 1942.
Later he attended Chaplains School at Harvard with Chaplains Fox, Goode and Washington
after his transfer to Camp Myles Standish in Taunton, Massachusetts. Shortly after the
USAT DORCHESTER was sunk February 3, 1943, his wife, Betty, gave birth to a
daughter, Susan Elizabeth, on April 20. Chaplain Poling was posthumously awarded the
Purple Heart and Distinguished Service Cross.