Leonard Clark is one of the "lost stars” of twentieth-century exploration. Never a proponent of big expeditions and elaborate paraphernalia - he carried his own belongings and charged ahead be it on foot, on horseback, dug-out canoe or questionable aircraft. This trait of self-reliance initially enabled him to perform extraordinary feats of military intelligence and reconnaissance in difficult and dangerous areas during the Second World War. Clark, who had attended the University of California, joined the army and first flew in China behind Japanese lines. With his intimate knowledge of local affairs, Clark was asked by the American OSS, forerunner of the CIA, to organize guerrilla activity and espionage in China and Mongolia. After attaining the rank of colonel, Clark turned his prodigious energies towards exploration by leading expeditions in Borneo, Mexico, the Celebes, Sumatra, China, Tibet, India, Japan, Central America, South America, and Burma. The dashing adventurer died while on a diamond-mining expedition in Venezuela
