Harold Clark, Clark Estes and Don't Ask Don't Tell

Carl Lyon

Harold Clark, Clark Estes and Don't Ask Don't Tell

   Gay men and women have generally had a difficult time with being accepted by other people, religions, social gatherings for a very long time.  Furthermore, when it comes to gay men and women serving in the modern day military, The United States is severely lagging behind other First World countries and not until recently, with the Obama Administration, has there been so much hope that gay men and women will be able to serve openly in the military someday soon.  Two such serviceman, whose personal diaries have been released to the public, gives a very in depth look into servicemen, who were gay and serving in the military during World War II.  These men's names are Harold Clark and Clark Estes.  Their diaries and correspondences can be found at the GLBT Archives in downtown San Francisco.  This paper will explore Mr. Clark's and Mr. Estes's discharge from service and will examine if the discussion of gays serving openly in the military has evolved or not.  It will also show how private and public lives conflict and how this is part of the same discussion of gay men and women military personnel being able to serve openly.
   Firstly, most of Mr. Clark's diaries are uncomplicated in their writing.  There are letters to and from his mother, sister and friends that account for the day to day and or week to week activities of his time spent serving in the army.  Going through these personal letters and diaries, a regular guy is revealed serving in the military, being trained to guard his country in a time of need and for the most part, appears to be like any other serviceman at the time.
   There is another section though of personal letters and army papers.  That collection of papers is the one that brings to light the true anguish and difficulty of Harold Clark's story.  Through correspondences with his mother, they show her coming to his aid as best she can.  She wrote in one of many letters to him 
       "Take this as honey for the bitterest cup.  There is not failure save in giving up; no real fall so                                           long as one still tries; for seeming setback make the strong man wise. There's no defeat in truth save from within, unless you're beaten there, you're boud to win"(Clark).  

This shows here true care for her son an his well being and is the best that she can tell him how much she loves him. The one piece of paper though not present in the collection is the infamous blue discharge. Mr. Estes's was though and his stated that he had "Undesirable Habits and Traits of Character"(Estes Papers). This discharge was used by the United States military to discharge personnel not honorably or dishonorably but simply to remove them from their units during World War II who were suspected of being a homosexual ("Blue Discharge"). They had to be purged from the units. They were not fit for active duty or combat for they had trespassed a line and had to be disciplined. The military units had to be remedied, cured from these men.

   Harold Clark's story though is not a new one or is particularly different from countless others.  This is a story that continues to this day in the American Armed Forces.  Changes have been made but men and women have and continue to be discharged from working in the service simply because of the discovery of their homosexuality.  One such modern day story that many people have heard of or read about by now is that of Army National Guard Unit Lt. Dan Choi.  He is also a graduate of West Point where he studied Arabic and Environmental Engineering ("Daniel Choi").  His case is still pending but he is on leave from the services at this moment all due to him revealing that he is a gay man ("Daniel Choi").
   The most recent debate has evolved somewhat since World War II with the simple fact that it is spoken about in the public sphere and most recently with Congressional hearings.  The people/organizations who are against and pro-gay military personnel serving in the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Reserves, Rangers, Marines have voiced their opinions on the issue.  The hearings revealed people who are anti-gay service men and women swith one in particular named Elaine Donnelly. She founded and is the President of the Center for Military Readiness (Milbank).  During the hearings, she was chastised by members of Congress, some of who had even served in the Armed Forces and couldn't begin to understand how she had equaled these service men and women to spreaders of HIV.  One congressman retorted, "by this analysis . . . we ought to recruit only lesbians for the military, because they have the lowest incidence of HIV in the country"(Milbank).  Needless to say it's great that America has come to this point of open discussion, but sad to see it still based on absurd notions and arguments such as Donnelly's.  Military personnel should feel comfortable and safe to be public about their private lives if they feel compelled to.
   This all connects back to the idea of private vs. public as well as the curing of the Armed Forces of these supposed diseased like spreaders.  In this right, the debate has only evolved to the point that it is discussed and debated in the public in a very public and open way.  Another noteworthy fact is that many other advanced countries have gay men and women serving openly in their militaries and have reportedly found no noticeable change in unit cohesion (Palm Center).  Unit cohesion is another term and argument that is widely used in the debate here in the states and one used by General Merrill McPeak in a recent op-ed article in the New York Times where he writes "...the behavior that concerns us is not individual achievement but the social dynamics of relationships and groups. The issue is whether and how the presence of openly declared homosexuals in the ranks affects the solidarity of the unit"(McPeak).  While his op-ed after first read appears to be logical it is still a veiled writing of utter contempt and disagreement with allowing gay service personnel to serve in the military because of how "...openly declared homosexuals in the ranks affects the solidarity of the unit" (McPeak).
   One artist and educator named Jeff Sheng most recently came out with a series of photographs and the one examined here is titled Don't Ask, Don't Tell.  These photographs are of gay men and women serving in the United States Armed Forces dressed up in their uniforms within the confines of very plain looking rooms some appearing to even be taken in small motel rooms.  The most revealing juxtapositional facet about all these photos is that the faces of the men and women are obscured by objects in the rooms or are only hinted at or are reflections.  These photos reveal the theme of public vs. private incredibly vividly.  They convey, in a very informal setting, gay men and women serving to protect their country and at the pleasure of the President of the United States.  Their impeccably clean and wrinkle free uniforms reveal the dedication and pride they hold with serving to protect the rights and values of America's ideals.  But they don't reveal the one aspect that anyone should be able to show, their faces.  They are seen as men and women who have to look away from the light, hold their hands up in front of their faces from it, stoop their heads down so as not to be revealed from the light.  The picture titled Rico has his head facing back inward of the room while the light from the outside beams onto his bright, clean, white uniform.  In Mr. Sheng's photographs they appear to be quarantined into very stale environments.  Each one is sectioned off to their individual rooms.  One photo shows a soldier standing over a threshold of a door open to the outside.  It's this threshold that these men and women teeter on with the private world inside these rooms and the world outside.  They are stuck in limbo proud to serve their country and fight to protect rights and lives of people, all the while they are unable to enjoy those rights and freedoms.
   In conclusion, with Mr. Clark's papers made available to the public, it is clear to see a connection with how the debate over gays in the military has evolved, but the outcomes on the whole remain the same; discharge.  It is hopeful to see that President Obama has stated publicly to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell and that Congress has had open hearings on the matter.  The debates in Congress, while sometimes troubling, do show a shift in public sentiment to repeal DADT and when people such as Elaine Donnelly reveal themselves to the natio, it only serves to show how unfair, unnecessary and most of all how un-american they really are.  The private and public spheres are in constant flux but when it comes to gay men and women wanting to serve and protect America's ideals as well as myself, there is no reason to deny them that honor.  America is a nation of many that everyday fights for freedom and to protect and to preserve it.  That is what Harold Clark believed in and did and that is why and how this fight against Don't Ask, Don't Tell is right.  It's the American way.

                                           Works Cited

"Clark Papers: World War II Project, Personal Papers-Corresp. Clark, Blanche." GLBT Archive. GLBT Archive, Clark Papers. 1944. Box and Folder 6/21.

"Blue Discharge." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 6 Feb. 2010. Web. 6 Mar. 2010.

"Daniel Choi." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Mar. 2010. Web. 11 Mar. 2010.

"Estes Papers: World War II Project 1995. GLBT Archive. GLBT Archive, Estes Papers, 1945-1946, 1982-1984. Box1

McPeak, A. Merrill. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Change." OP-ED. The New York Times. The New York Times, 4 Mar. 2010. Web. 6 Mar. 2010.

Milbank, Dana. "Sorry We Asked, Sorry You Told." The Washington Post. The Washington Post, 24 July, 2008. Web. 6 Mar. 2010.

"Palm Center Responds to McPeak NYT OP-ED." Palm Center: Blueprints for Sound Public Policy. Palm Center, 5 Mar. 2010. Web. 6 Mar. 2010.

Sheng, Jeff. Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Jeff Sheng, 2009-Ongoing. Web. 27 Feb. 2010.

   Fig. 1.  Rico.  San Diego, California, 2009.
   Fig. 2.  Nick.  Yuma, Arizona, 2009.
   Fig. 3.  Natalie.  Corpus Christi, Texas, 2009.
   Fig. 4.  David.  Pasadena, California, 2009.
   Fig. 5.  Jess.  Bend, Oregon, 2009.