President Trump on Tuesday presented a posthumous Medal of Honor to the widow of 1st Lt. Garlin Murl Conner — whose heroic actions in World War II saved the lives of hundreds of his fellow soldiers.
“It’s my privilege to be with you today as we award your late husband our nation’s highest military honor,” the president said at the White House, as he presented the medal to Pauline Conner, 89, who had campaigned for more than two decades to upgrade the Distinguished Service Cross he received to a Medal of Honor.
In January 1945, Conner and soldiers from the 7th Infantry, 3rd Battalion were in France staring down a fierce attack by 600 German troops and a half-dozen tanks.
Rather than retreat, Conner sprinted toward enemy fire with a telephone so he could direct artillery fire to beat back the attack, and hid in an irrigation ditch for three hours until the battle was won.
“He volunteered to go to the front line and observe the enemy and to help direct fire. In order to communicate with the command post, he took a telephone and hundreds of yards of telephone wire, that was a long time ago before we had what we have today, called a cellphone,” the president said.
“He ran 400 yards dodging shrapnel, bullets, shells everywhere, artillery, trying to hit him, they saw him, couldn’t get him, he was going every different way, looked like an NFL star, all the while laying telephone wire wherever he went,” he continued.
“When he reached the edge of the forest he raced 30 yards in front of the American line. Murl laid down in this hole, this shallow ditch where they could still see him. In front of the lone American soldier were six German tanks and hundreds of German soldiers.”
Earlier, his widow told Fox News about her efforts to have her late husband honored.
“After all these years it really is and truly is an honor,” the widow said Monday at the Pentagon.
“I had really and truly given up on it. I just didn’t think it would ever happen. But he has a [combat] record that speaks for itself. I don’t have to tell it.”