EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part of a weekly series on our region’s history coordinated by the Trumbull County Historical Society.

As the first Jeep to travel through the mountains of Yemen made its way up the windy roads, Trumbull County native Harlan Clark bounced along inside, waiting to meet with Imam Yahya bin Mohamed bin Hamidadin, the ruler of Yemen.

As the consul of the U.S. at Aden, Clark traveled across Yemen and met with the Imam to continue developing diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Yemen, just as he did for many countries throughout his career.

Born in Brookfield on Jan. 5, 1913, to James and Lillian (Bendell) Clark, Harlan Bendell Clark attended Brookfield High School. There, he participated in student government,

played on the basketball team, and became an Eagle Scout. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in liberal arts from Michigan State College where he was the debate team captain and worked his way through college during the Great Depression by doing a variety of jobs, including being the East Lansing distributor for the New York Times.

He went on to get his master’s degree from Fletcher’s School of Law and Diplomacy in Medford, Massachusetts. After graduation, he went to Zurich, Switzerland, where he was working as a vice consul when World War II broke out.

He then moved to England and watched them prepare for the Battle of Britain.

When the attack on Pearl Harbor happened, he was in Bangkok, Thailand, serving as third secretary and vice consul.

When Japanese forces took over Bangkok, he and the other officials of the American Legation were interned, so he lived in a compound for seven months until the U.S. arranged for his exchange.

Upon his release, he served as Third Secretary at Pretoria, South Africa, and Vice Consul at Capetown, where he handled war supplies and material headed for Viscount Montgomery’s forces.

After that, he moved to the Middle East, where he served as the American Consul to

Arabia in Aden, Yemen. It was during this time that he and Commander Alfred Monroe (“Monty”) Palmer, the doctor in charge of the U.S. Armed Guard Dispensary at Aden, made their trip across Yemen.

On March 20, 1945, they loaded up a Jeep and truck and trailer with camping equipment, canned food, heavy clothes for the winter, a portable radio receiver, metal sand tracks in case their vehicles got stuck, and other equipment. Along the way, they met with Yemen princes, visited desert citadels, and drove by mountain terraces that were first cultivated centuries ago.

During their informal meeting with the Imam, they visited a museum about Yemen’s past and were the first Americans to see the new school system that the Imam had implemented for the 50,000 students in Yemen. Upon returning to Aden, Clark continued to serve as the American Consul to Arabia until he transitioned to being the Second Secretary to U.S. Legation in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Then on Jan. 18, 1947, he married Mary Patricia Maginn of England in Aden. Maginn was a nurse for the Royal Air Force who was in charge of the RAF’s operating theater in Yemen, and they eventually had two children together, Susan and Paul.

During his 30 years in Foreign Service, Clark served in Egypt, Japan, Syria, England,

Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand and Yemen. In Washington, D.C., he served in the State Department’s Office of Near East Affairs, as the officer in charge of

Syria-Lebanon-Iraq affairs, and as the deputy director of personnel in the State Department. For his work, he received the diplomatic rank of Class 1 Minister, the highest rank in Foreign Service.