I’ve led you in battle...
as smoke filled my threads
Lowered to half...while honoring the dead
Popping in the wind...high above your head
Fifty stars strong...with stripes of red
From shore to shore...and every state hall
I’ve hung silent but ready...
till I got the call
Representing pride and freedom...
to those great and small
A symbol of valor...and justice for all
Never hitting the ground...flying strong in a fight
Carried by Washington...with the enemy in sight
Hoisted in victory...to my soldiers' delight
Glory and Liberty...till morning was night
Fabric now old...that once was new
My colors have faded...and my patriots few
Adorned and saluted...by the brave and true
In God we still trust...the old Red White and Blue
73 years after the fact, one Clinton County, Kentucky soldier receives the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration awarded for gallantry and bravery at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty. Ten days later, the remains of another Clinton County, Kentucky soldier are identified 68 years after being declared Missing in Action. One soldier was willing to lay down his life for his country, the other one did.
Is it ironic or by grand design that the events involving 1st Lt. Garlin Murl Conner and PFC Joe Stanton Elmore happened around the 4th of July celebration? Either way, one thing is true, we are a blessed people who have a lot to be thankful for. Has it ever been more apparent than now?
Former CCHS Football Coach George Hatcher used to say, "It's a great day to be a Bulldog." Today, it is a great day to be a Clinton Countian. One drive through town and you see those beautiful patriotic banners hanging atop the light poles. Many more banners will eventually take their place. There are a lot of veterans in our county and each one deserves our respect and gratitude. God bless all of them!
Lt. Conner, PFC Elmore and all of our other great veterans were willing to lay down their lives, to pay the ultimate sacrifice so that we might enjoy freedom in America. Now, perhaps more than ever, we realize that we really are living in the land of the free because of the brave.
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13)
By the time former Green Beret Richard Chilton of Wisconsin wrote a letter to Murl Conner in search of information on his late uncle, Pfc. Gordon Roberts, who was killed after landing at Anzio, Conner, because of illness, could no longer speak or write.
When Chilton visited him on a fall day in 1996, he learned that Conner had not only served with his uncle but had carried him in his last moments to a medical aid station. Conner, reliving a moment from 50 years prior, began to weep. As Chilton skimmed through pages of old paperwork, records and medals contained inside a cardboard box that Conner kept stored in a weathered rmilitary green duffel bag, his eyes widened. He saw the decorations and the eight major campaigns Murl had participated in. He saw where he had been wounded in each of the countries he toured.
"My God," a stunned Chilton said to Pauline. "This man should have been awarded the Medal of Honor." Feeling sudden inspiration, he asked Murl and his wife if he could pursue an application for the medal on Murl's behalf. Pauline turned to her husband who looked straight at her with tears in his eyes and nodded his head yes.
For more than 53 years after WWII, Murl had rarely spoken about the war -- not to his wife, Pauline, or even to a fellow Soldier. He never boasted about his acts of bravery. When locals would ask about his time time overseas, he would hush them quickly. "I done what I had to do," he would say, "and that's all there is to it." After returning home from the war, Murl decided he had seen enough of the world and the horrors of armed combat. He had found peace plowing the fields on his tobacco farm. But, during Chilton's visit to his home that day, Murl Conner was finally ready to apply for the honor that he had for so long been reluctant to seek.
And so it is that, after spending more than 800 days on the front lines in World War II, suffering seven combat wounds while earning four Silver Stars, three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star, the French military decoration Croix de Guerre, and the Distinguished Service Cross, and after a 22 year quest by Chilton and numerous others, and 73 years after the fact...on Tuesday, June 26, 2018, Lt. Garlin Murl Conner, who died on Nov. 5, 1998, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor from the President of the United States of America. The Medal of Honor has at last come home.
(Taken from "The Silent Farmer: Decorated Soldier of World War II finally awarded Medal of Honor" by Joe Lacdan, Army News Service, June 14, 2018)
