Conner, Garlin Murl, born on 02-06-1919, in Aaron, Kentucky, U.S,
the third child of eleven brothers and sisters of Lee Arthur (Aught) Conner en Tana Moore Conner. He and four of his brothers served during World War II. He stood at 5 ft 6 in (168 cm).

Conner, generally known by his middle name, was a selectee for the military and entered the U.S. Army on 01-03-1941 in Louisville, Kentucky. He completed his basic training at Fort Lewis, Washington where he became a member of K Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment
, 3rd Infantry Division
under command of Brigade General Charles Philip Hall
. After training with his division at Fort Lewis, he was sent with the 3rd Infantry Division to Camp Ord, California and Fort Pickett, Virginia for further combat training. On 23-10-1942, Conner and his division departed the United States from Norfolk, Virginia, to fight in the European-African-Middle Eastern theater of operations arriving on 8 November for the invasion of French North Africa. He participated in four amphibious assault landings and eight campaigns including the Anzio Campaign in Italy during which he earned his second Silver Star (Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster). He was promoted to technical sergeant on 13-01-1944. He was discharged on 27-06-1944, and commissioned a second lieutenant on 28-06-1944. On 29-12-1944, he was promoted to 1st lieutenant. Conner was awarded four Silver Stars
for gallantry in action: in October 1943, 30-01-1944, 11-09-1944, and 03-02-1945. He was also awarded the Bronze Star Medal
, and three Purple Hearts 

for being wounded in action on 06-03-1944, in August, and in September 1944. He was presented the Distinguished Service Cross from Lieutenant General Patch, Alexander McCarell “Sandy”,
the Commander of the Seventh Army,
for extraordinary heroism during a German counterattack with six tanks and 600 infantrymen on 24-01-1945, near Houssen, France. Recently returned to his unit from the hospital, intelligence staff officer Lieutenant Conner volunteered to go forward to direct artillery fire against the German counterattack. The enemy got so close that Conner had to call artillery fire directly on his own position, leading to the death of more than 50 Germans and stopping the assault. In March 1945, Conner was sent back to the U.S. and was honorably discharged on 22-06-1945. He was honored in an event in Albany, Kentucky in May 1945, at which Alvin Cullum York
of nearby Pall Mall, Tennessee, the most noted Medal of Honor winner of World War I, was a speaker.












Conner married Lyda Pauline Wells on 09-07-1945.
After the war, the Conners lived on Indian Creek several miles north of Albany, near the Cumberland River, in a home with no electricity or running water, on a farm worked with mules and horses.
In 1950 the U.S. government bought their property for the impoundment of Lake Cumberland and they moved to the Rolan community in southeastern Clinton County, Kentucky. They had one son, Paul, one grandson, and three granddaughters. Conner continued farming and was president of the Clinton County Farm Bureau for 17 years. He was active in various veterans organizations including the Paralyzed Veterans of America and the Disabled American Veterans, and traveled to many nearby counties to assist veterans and their dependents with claims for benefits due them as a result of military service.


Lloyd Brinkley Ramsey,
Conner’s battalion commander who would rise to Major General, wrote that Conner was the best combat soldier he had ever observed in action.”No words can express the outstanding leadership qualities that Lieutenant Conner had,” the late Ramsey wrote after the war. Conner was “always willing to do more than his part.”


Death and burial ground of Conner, Garlin Murl.




Murl was handicapped from his war wounds, heart disease and Parkinson’s Disease. and died 05-11-1998, aged 79,
in Albany, Kentucky and was buried at the Memorial Hills in Albany. In 2012, the U.S. Army honored him by designating a portion of a new maintenance facility at Fort Benning, Georgia as Conner Hall.



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