The following is an edited excerpt of the life narrative that will be read during the 2026 Gold Star Hall Ceremony.
In the rolling farmland between Conrad and Whitten, George Howard Clarke grew up surrounded by family, hard work and the rhythms of rural life. Son of Ruth and John Clarke, he was born Oct. 20, 1916, the oldest of three siblings, Hugh, Mary Ellen and Margaret Ann.
Clarke devoted himself to 4-H in high school, showing animals at county fairs and judging livestock competitions. Farming was more than a pastime for him. It was the family business. His father founded and operated Clarke Hybrid Corn Co. in Grundy County, became one of Iowa's first commercial growers of hybrid seed corn in 1932 and was recognized as one of the Midwest's most widely known breeders.
After graduating from Conrad High School in 1935, Clarke attended Iowa State Agricultural College, where he worked on campus in the Agronomy Seed Laboratory, joined FarmHouse Fraternity and sang bass in the men's glee club for three years. Singing in the club was an achievement as many students auditioned, but only the strongest voices were chosen. His brother Hugh joined him at Iowa State in 1938, and they returned home to help with the business whenever they could.
Finding his way
In 1941, as ground invasions escalated World War II, Clarke joined the U.S. Army Air Forces. Trained in radio and gunnery in Las Vegas and New Mexico, Clarke had aspirations of becoming a pilot. The military recognized him for his talents in navigation, and he earned his wings as an air cadet navigator in 1943. He then became an instructor, teaching both in the classroom and the aircraft.
Writing personal letters kept Clarke connected to the people he loved. They revealed a young man determined to meet hardship with humor: "I'm the world's clumsiest man on a pair of skis. It teaches a new vocabulary much faster and more efficiently than golfing ever could," he wrote in a letter to his aunt.
That summer, he returned home for a joyful family reunion, but none of them knew it would be the last. Regarding his 27th birthday, Oct. 20, in Greenland, Clarke wrote, "In spite of the fact that I had a good birthday, I'm sure I'll have a lot more of 'em that will be more pleasant," underlining "sure" and "lot."
2nd Lt. Clarke joined the 1st Arctic Search and Rescue Squadron as an aerial navigator, flying on convoy assignments between the U.S. and Europe. On Nov. 28, 1943, he boarded an AT-7 "Navigator," also known as a "flying classroom" for what should have been a routine flight.
The aircraft - a Beechcraft Model 18 adapted for navigation training and light transport - was supposed to make radio contact every 30 minutes. Clarke's plane made none. Time passed, and the aircraft failed to arrive. When enough time had passed that its fuel must have been exhausted, the aircraft was declared missing. Clarke's parents received the news they had feared. The aircraft struck an iceberg somewhere near Sukkertoppen, Greenland, an area now called Maniitsoq, a Greenlandic name meaning "uneven place."
Search crews were out almost immediately combing the land in brutal winter temperatures. They found the wreckage on Dec. 19, 1943. It was destroyed. All seven people aboard - three crew members and four passengers - had died on impact. Travel was restricted to the area, so they buried him on site. He was 27.
Leaving a legacy
Less than a year after the loss of Clarke, the family endured another sorrow. Following a lingering illness, his father, John Clarke, died at the family farm at 52.
His brother, Hugh Clarke, also a farmer, became president of the family business from 1948-1962 before taking his service to the Iowa State Capitol, serving in the Iowa Senate as the 34th Senatorial District representative from 1967-1971.
Today, Clarke is memorialized on his parents' monument in Benson Cemetery in Grundy County, but his story lives on - in the fields where he first learned the value of work, in the songs he sang at Iowa State, in the skies he helped others navigate and in the letters that carried his courage, affection and humor home.
See George in the Gold Star Hall Directory
