"For extraordinary heroism in action. On 24 January 1945, at 0800 hours,
near Houssen, France, Lieutenant Conner ran four hundred yards through
the impact area of an intense concentration of enemy artillery fire to
direct friendly artillery on a force of six Mark VI tanks and tank
destroyers, followed by six hundred fanatical German infantrymen, which
was assaulting in full fury the spearhead position held by his
Battalion. Unreeling a spool of telephone wire, Lieutenant Conner
disregarded shells which exploded twenty-five yards from him, tearing
branches from the trees in his path and plunged in a shallow ditch
thirty yards beyond the position of his foremost company. Although the
ditch provided inadequate protection from the heavy automatic fire of
the advancing enemy infantry, he calmly directed round after round of
artillery on the foe from his prone position, hurling them back to the
shelter of a dike. For three hours he remained at his OP despite wave after wave of German infantry, which surged forward
to within five yards of his position. As the last, all-out German
assault swept forward, he ordered his artillery to concentrate on his
own position, resolved to die if necessary to halt the enemy. Friendly
shells exploded within five yards of him, blanketing his position,
wounding his one assistant. Yet Lieutenant Conner continued to direct
artillery fire on the assault elements swarming around him until the
German attack was shattered and broken. By his exemplary heroism, he
killed approximately fifty and wounded an estimated one hundred Germans,
disintegrated the powerful enemy assault and prevented heavy casualties
in his Battalion."
From 1st Lt. Conner's Medal of Honor citation, awarded on March 28, 2018.
May you be at peace,
Brian
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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