His dedication and commitment to the defense of the United States of America and role in keeping peace throughout the world highlights his standing as a 21st-century American hero.

With a distinguished Army career that began in 1966, General Clark trained and commanded combat forces at every level, from a mechanized infantry company in Vietnam through many of the forces in operations such as Desert Storm. It is, however, his more recent role as Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO forces in Kosovo that we honor him with the Lady Liberty award.

At the end of the 20th century, Europe was confronted with a genocidal tyrant in its backyard. The land grab launched by Slobodan Milosevic during the Balkan Civil War demonstrated his capacity for devastation and human-rights abuses on a terrible scale. In Kosovo, it became obvious that Milosevic’s intentions were nothing short of annihilation or forced expulsion of the Albanian Kosovars.

Under General Clark’s resolute command, NATO air forces compelled Milosevic to withdraw all Serbian military forces from Kosovo, and Yugoslavia to submit to a U.N. Security Council Resolution calling for an international security presence in Kosovo, which remains to this day.