HJ0010 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HJ0010 LRB094 03929 CSA 33944 r

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, First Lieutenant Garlin Murl Conner was a native of Clinton County, Kentucky, who served with distinction and valor in the United States Army during World War II; and

WHEREAS, Kentucky Congressman Ed Whitfield introduced H.R. 327 in the 108th Congress to authorize the President to award a Medal of Honor posthumously to Lieutenant Garlin Murl Conner; and

WHEREAS, Lieutenant Garlin Murl Conner is Kentucky's most decorated war hero, who served on the front lines for over eight hundred days in eight major campaigns; he 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 3rd Division soldiers received Medals of Honor, more than any other Division; however, 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 with Audie L. Murphy, America's most decorated hero of all wars; as compared to Audie L. Murphy, Lieutenant Conner was awarded more Silver Stars for acts of valor, fought in more campaigns, served on the front lines longer, and was wounded more times; he was 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. Ramsey (Ret.), 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; in 1945, Major General Ramsey 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, 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. I've met and talked at length with many Medal of Honor recipients and am sure they would all agree that Lieutenant Conner more than deserves the honor of joining them"; 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 forward 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; his research has documented that Lieutenant Conner is one of the great combat heroes of World War II, equal in every way to Audie L. Murphy; Chilton has made presentations to dozens of schools about Lieutenant Conner's war record and has copies of over 2,500 letters written by students to President George W. Bush requesting the Medal of Honor be awarded; after reviewing Chilton's information, a host of former war veterans have written Congress requesting passage of H.R. 327 to award the Medal of Honor to one of America's greatest citizen soldiers, Lieutenant Garlin Murl Conner; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that we urge the United States Congress to enact legislation authorizing the President to award a Medal of Honor posthumously to First Lieutenant Garlin Murl Conner; and be it further

RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be delivered to: the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee; the Clerk of the House of Representatives of the United States; the Clerk of the Senate of the United States; each member of the Illinois Congressional Delegation; and the widow of First Lieutenant Garlin Murl Conner, Mrs. Pauline W. Conner, Route 1, Box 208, Albany, Kentucky 42602.