[sic] he spoke of home of mother, weather [sic] he wanted to live or was reconciled to die, did he realize his sufferings, was he administered to and prayed for "With laying on of hands;" or was there no Elders or brethren [sic]there to anoint with oil? OH! Sister Hilt I cannot see why the Lord did not spare his life, or send an Angel to heal him, he was so good, so noble, or do you think his task was done here and he was needed on the "other side."

As the family began to come to terms with John's death his father struggled with not being permitted to bring the body home for burial.

A Richard T. Hagg, who was an instructor in German at the Latter-day Saints College in Salt Lake City, communicated with him. His brother, Adolf Haag, had also passed away two-and-a-half years earlier on a mission in Haifa. The authorities would not allow his body to be shipped home either, so he had also been buried in Haifa. Richard T. Haag spearheaded the effort to have a monument erected to his brother and John A. Clark. The graves were too far apart to have a double headstone. The teachers and students of the Latter-day Saints college contributed to a fund to remember John A. Clark, since he was a graduate from that college. It was a remarkable effort made the more difficult by time and communication problems. They also erected a memorial in Farmington and held services there. His sister, Alice Susan Bell, struggled with his death. She and John were very close and taught school together in Minersville. For weeks she mourned his death. Then one morning she heard his voice repeat the last words he said to her,"Alice you said you were not sorry I was going on my mission, now why are you so sad?" The naturalness in his voice brought much comfort, a consolation, which never left her.

John's sacrifice played an important part later when the Church approached officials in Israel about building a BYU Center in Jerusalem. There was strong opposition and the church had to prove they had been in the country before 1948 when the United Nations officially accepted a state of Israel. Both graves were proof and helped to open the door for the Church to proceed with their plans for the BYU Center. It was a perfect example of the scripture, " ... that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass..."