Trump to award Medal of Honor to deceased WWII veteran (1 Viewer)

[BLReed]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/03/29/trump-to-award-medal-honor-to-deceased-wwii-veteran.html



President Trump will posthumously award the Medal of Honor to a World War II veteran for gallantry shown as an Army intelligence officer during the final months of the war, the White House said Thursday.

Trump will honor then-1st Lt. Garlin Conner posthumously for his actions on Jan. 24, 1945. According to the White House, Conner left a position of relative safety to get in a better position "to direct artillery fire onto the assaulting enemy infantry and armor."

Conner remained in an exposed position for three hours, despite the enemy coming within five yards of his position and friendly artillery shells exploding around him.


According to Military.com, Conner's heroism took place during a battle near Houssen, in northeastern France. The website reported that Conner had received the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions in that battle.

According to a citation for the Distinguished Service Cross, Conner "was individually credited with stopping more than 150 Germans, destroying all [six German] tanks and completely disintegrating the powerful enemy assault force and preventing heavy loss of life in his own outfit."

Conner, a Kentucky native, enlisted in the Army in March 1941 and saw combat in North Africa, Sicily and Western Europe during World War II. In all, Conner received four Silver Stars, one Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts in addition to the Distinguished Service Cross. He died in 1998, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Conner's wife and family will join Trump at the White House for the medal ceremony. A date has not been set.

Wikipedia

 

[mikemiller1955]

good post BL...
this is a great story...
here is an excerpt from an article...


“I discovered the most decorated soldier I’d ever heard of,” Chilton said. “I was blown away. I’ve never seen a man with four Silver Stars.”

Chilton, a Green Beret who served in the Korean War, knew a brave soldier when he saw one. (Courtesy: Richard Chilton)Expand / Contract
Chilton, a Green Beret who served in the Korean War, knew a brave soldier when he saw one. (Courtesy: Richard Chilton)
Through the pictures, medals and testimony of Conner’s superior officers, including legendary Maj. Gen. Lloyd Ramsey, the story of Conner’s heroic actions more than 50 years earlier in France came back to life. Earlier that day, Conner, who had been badly wounded in the hip, sneaked away from a field hospital and made his way back to his unit’s camp. His commanding officer was seeking a volunteer for a suicide mission: Run 400 yards directly toward the enemy while unreeling telephone wire all the way to trenches on the front line. From that point, the volunteer would be able to call in targeting coordinates for mortar fire.

Conner's story was revealed when Chilton, shown here as a boy with his uncle, Army Pfc. Gordon Wesley Roberts, sought to find out what happened to his relative. (Courtesy: Richard Chilton)Expand / Contract
Conner's story was revealed when Chilton, shown here as a boy with his uncle, Army Pfc. Gordon Wesley Roberts, sought to find out what happened to his relative. (Courtesy: Richard Chilton)
Conner grabbed the spool of wire and took off amid intense enemy fire. He made it to the ditch, where he stayed in contact with his unit for three hours in near-zero-degree weather as a ferocious onslaught of German tanks and infantry bore down on him.

“My God, he held off 600 Germans and six tanks coming right at him,” Chilton marveled. “When they got too close, his commander told him to vacate and instead, he says, ‘Blanket my position.’”

The request meant Conner was calling for artillery strikes as he was being overrun, risking his life in order to draw friendly fire that would take out the enemy, too.

 

[Louis Badolato]

How much raw courage can one man display? I wonder why it took all this time to award him the Medal of Honor?

 

[Mirof]

The same day 24 Jan 1945, during the same battle, at 2-3 km from there ,
Audie Murphy is hit to his 2 legs by a mortar and decorated again ..