05-R 300

2005 -- S 1146

Enacted 06/01/05

S E N A T E R E S O L U T I O N

MEMORIALIZING CONGRESS TO AWARD THE MEDAL OF HONOR POSTHUMOUSLY TO FIRST LIEUTENANT GARLIN MURL CONNER

Introduced By: Senators Algiere, and Felag

Date Introduced: June 01, 2005

     WHEREAS, Lieutenant Garlin Murl Conner is a decorated war hero, who served on the

front lines for over eight hundred days in eight major campaigns; and

     WHEREAS, Lieutenant Conner was wounded seven times but returned to combat and

continued to fight on the front lines after each wound; and

     WHEREAS, During World War II, over forty soldiers in the 3rd Infantry Division

received Medals of Honor, more than any other division; and

     WHEREAS, Lieutenant Garlin Murl Conner was not awarded the Medal of Honor due to

an oversight and failure to process the paperwork; and

     WHEREAS, Lieutenant Conner served in the 3rd Infantry Division and was awarded

Silver Stars for acts of valor, awarded many honors including the Distinguished Service Cross,

the Silver Star with three oak leaf clusters, the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart with six oak leaf

clusters, and other medals; and

     WHEREAS, On June 20, 1945, Lieutenant Conner was awarded the Croix de Guerre, the

French Medal of Honor, that was also awarded to Sergeant Alvin C. York, America's most

decorated World War I soldier, who was a friend of Lieutenant Conner and lived a few miles

from Lieutenant Conner's home on the Kentucky-Tennessee border; and

     WHEREAS, Major General Lloyd B. Ramsay, who was Lieutenant Conner's battalion

commander during combat in World War II, is still living and has signed the necessary

documents for awarding the Medal of Honor to Lieutenant Conner; and

     WHEREAS, In 1945, Major General Ramsay wrote that Lieutenant Conner was "one of

the outstanding soldiers of this war, if not the outstanding…I've never seen a man with as much

courage and ability as he has"; and

     WHEREAS, Seven former generals, including General Ramsay, General William Seitz,

General Edward Flanagan, General James Johnson, General William Rosson, General Gerald H.

Bethke, and General Edward Thomas, support the efforts to award Lieutenant Conner the Medal

of Honor; and

     WHEREAS, Stephen Ambrose, America's foremost World War II historian, founder of

the D-Day Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana, and author of many books wrote on November

11, 2000, "I am in complete support of the effort to make Lieutenant Garlin M. Conner a Medal

of Honor recipient. What Lieutenant Conner did in stopping the German assault near Houssen,

France in January 1945 was far above the call of duty…"; and

     WHEREAS, On April 3, 2001, 3rd Infantry Division leaders named the new Eagle Base in

Bosnia-Herzegovina after Lieutenant Conner because of his gallantry in World War II and

because, "It's a company-grade operating base named after a soldier with a company-grade rank";

and

     WHEREAS, Richard Chilton, a former Green Beret from Genoa City, Wisconsin, has

been on a mission since 1996 to have the Medal of Honor awarded to Lieutenant Conner, and his

research has documented that Lieutenant Conner is one of the great combat heroes of World War

II; and

     WHEREAS, Chilton has made presentations to dozens of schools about Lieutenant

Conner's war record and has copies of over twenty-five hundred letters written by students from

Kenosha Military Academy, Burlington Catholic Central High School, Wilmot Union High

School, East Troy High School, Williams Bay High School, Lake Geneva Badger High School,

Union Grove High School, Elkhorn High School, Randall Middle School, Bristol Elementary

School, Trevor Grade School, Reek Elementary School, and Brighton Elementary School to

George W. Bush requesting the Medal of Honor be awarded to Lieutenant Conner; and

     WHEREAS, After receiving Chilton's information, a host of former war veterans have

written Congress requesting passage of House Resolution 605 to award the Medal of Honor to

one of America's greatest citizen soldiers, Lieutenant Garlin Murl Conner; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That the Senate of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

hereby urges the House Armed Services Committee as well as the entire United States Congress

to adopt House Resolution 605, awarding a Medal of Honor posthumously to First Lieutenant

Garlin Murl Conner; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and he hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to the Rhode Island Congressional Delegation and

the family of Lieutenant Garlin Murl Conner.

=======

LC03354

=======