Every medal but one. Film follows the saga of KY soldier’s battles in war and peace.
The small wooden box hid his secrets.
Albany farmer Garlin Murl Conner never talked about what lay within, his memories of the blood and mud and gunfire and death of World War II. And no one would have ever known that a small-time farmer in southern Kentucky — who in his spare time helped other veterans get benefits owed them — was one of the most decorated veterans in U.S. history.
“He saw so many people getting killed, he felt like what he’d done was small, rather than losing your own life,” said his wife, Pauline in a new documentary, “From Honor to Medal: The Story of Garlin M. Conner.” It will air, appropriately on Memorial Day on KET at 8 p.m.
Conner’s story is about incredible heroism in wartime, but the documentary encompasses what happened after the war, when a visitor got to look inside that box and gawked at Conner’s four Silver Stars, one Bronze Stars, three Purple Hearts and the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions during 28 straight months of combat during World War II in North Africa, Italy and France.
Pauline Conner, along with a band of historians and fellow veterans, fought through military bureaucracy for years to get Conner awarded the one medal he should have gotten, the Medal of Honor, the highest honor given in the military.
The Medal of Honor is awarded for specific, not overall heroism, although Conner displayed both in his long tenure. On Jan. 24, 1945, Conner was recovering from a hip injury near Houssen, France. He rejoined his unit as it was about to be overrun by an advance of six German tanks and 600 infantrymen. He sprinted toward the battalion with a telephone and a spool of wire to use it, directing U.S. artillery onto the Germans, even telling them his own position.
“He called for artillery fire upon himself, determined to destroy and smash the Germans even if it cost him his life,” wrote 1st Sgt. Harold J. Miller in his eyewitness statement that was part of the Medal of Honor application.
The Americans killed 50 enemy soldiers and wounded 100.
His commander, Major General Lloyd Ramsey, (coincidentally a Somerset native) began paperwork for a Medal of Honor, but then he himself was wounded. Conner came back to Clinton County, put his medals in a wooden box and started the next phase of his life.
Then in the late 1990s, when Conner’s health was starting to decline, he got a visit from Richard Chilton, who was researching the military career of his uncle, who had served with Conner. That’s when the wooden box appeared, and Chilton realized that there was an important omission.
And so began a 20-year saga led by Chilton, Pauline, and historian Chip Haddix —with missing documents, impenetrable military bureacracy, the court and politicians until the day in 2018 when President Donald Trump called Pauline to tell her that her husband would be awarded. Conner had died in 1998 before, so Pauline traveled to the White House in his stead.
Al Cross, director of UK’s Institute for Rural Journalism knew Conner growing up in Albany, is executive producer of the documentary. He said the quest for Conner’s medal was marked with both misfortune, such as Conner’s wartime documents being burned in a warehouse fire, and luck.
“Richard Chilton comes looking for stories about his uncle, and he sees all the medals and thought, ‘this man clearly deserved more honor and recognition, so he starts this campaign,” Cross said. “But there was another stroke of luck, somehow he thought to call the Courier Journal and Byron Crawford wrote a column,” which brought Conner to the attention of people like Haddix, Heather French Henry and politicians who would end up being crucial to the effort.
The film appears on the national holiday when we honor our military veterans, but it’s especially interesting to watch as we live through what’s probably the biggest global crisis since World War II, arguing whether wearing a mask constitutes tyranny. Most of us can’t conceive what Conner and his fellow soldiers did or lived through.
“There was a unity of purpose that undergirded the military effort, where soldiers were inspired by love of country and their fellow Americans,” Cross said. “Who is willing to make such a sacrifice today? A lot of front-line workers in hospitals and first responders— they’re the heroes of this crisis.”
Conner’s story is also important because “we’re approaching the limits of living memory,” Cross said. “That’s an old phrase, it really is important. The last WWII veterans will leave us before too long and there will be no living memory of the war.”
Jeff Hoagland grew up in Lexington and returned to direct the documentary. He said he was intrigued by the two groups of people separated by 50 years. “The animating factor for a lot of people was not letting these stories go away,” he said. “This is our way of making sure it didn’t happen to a Kentuckian who deserved the recognition.”
This story was originally published May 22, 2020 at 9:59 AM.
