Michael Conley; phony Hamburger Hill hero

The good folks at Professional Soldiers send us their work on Michael Conley. Next month, Mr Conley will be the guest speaker at a “Welcome Home” event for Vietnam veterans in Bedford, Indiana;

“Conley is probably the most decorated Vietnam veteran in Lawrence County, earning two bronze and two silver stars and a purple heart,” Sorrells says. “He also was in the U.S. Army Special Forces and a Mountain Ranger and was inducted into the Mountain Ranger Hall of Fame.”

I was curious about the Mountain Ranger Hall of Fame and couldn’t find it, but I found this story of humble old Michael Conley;

After more than 40 years of military service, Canton resident and retired 1st Sgt. Michael Conley said he’s honored to be nominated for the U.S. Mountain Ranger Hall of Fame.

Conley, 66, of Canton, joined the U.S. Army when he was 17 years old, in 1966, and retired 42 years later with 41 medals and awards.

“I am so humbled,” Conley said. “I was a solider and just tried to do a good job.”

In Vietnam in 1967, Conley was said to have pulled a solider from an exploding helicopter, earning him his first Soldier’s Medal, according to the nomination letter.

In 1968, he won a Bronze Medal for saving another life during what was called the “Battle on Bloody Ridge.”

Later, Conley would travel to the mountains of Afghanistan and Iraq and spent time in one of the most dangerous areas of the Sunni triangle, known as the “Triangle of Death.”

Conley retired five years ago, and is now being considered for the 2015 Ranger Hall of Fame induction, he said, which is set to happen around July 2015.

The newspapers love him apparently, here’s an article from the Cherokee Ledger-News;

Recounting his first tour from 1967-1968, he read a postcard he sent to family back home, telling them he’d make it home for the holidays from Fort Campbell, Ken. to Bedford, Ind. where he grew up, but in reality, he was headed for Vietnam.

When he got there, he received his first taste of tragedy, losing soldiers who fought alongside him.

In the first year, he was involved in the Battle of Hamburger Hill, and later, the Tet Offensive.

“We were headed to the Valley of Death,” he said. “We got the crap beat out of us, day after day, until after 13 days,
we took the hill.”

During the Tet Offensive, his company was overrun four times in one night. As the night began, they had 100 men still alive. That number would dwindle to 20 by sunrise.

“I was 18 years old, picking up a handset, making decisions,” he said, pausing to reflect. “Then, they made me a sergeant, and I had to start all over again.”

He received a field grade promotion in May 1968, and also was awarded a soldier’s medal for saving a man’s life.

By that time, he’d already been given a purple heart and a bronze star.

The soldier’s medal was earned when he saved a man from an observation post in the middle of the night and crawled him back to safety after the enemy forces retreated. That battle, Conley said, became the cornerstone of his military career.

“From there on, something happened to me,” he said. “I began to believe I was going to live to be 101 years old. I’d done lived through 10 months of this, you haven’t killed me, and I’m not going to get killed.”

The Battle of Hamburger Hill happened in May 1969, Conley was at Fort Bragg – he left Vietnam in July, 1968 – of course, that also means that he missed the Battle of Bloody Ridge in March & April 1969. You’ll notice on his 2-1 that someone lined through the “Wheeled Vehicle mechanic” and wrote in “Rifleman”. Before and after his time in Vietnam, he was a mechanic, which indicates some sort of malfeasance (remember that we used to hand-carry our records to the next duty station in the good old days).

According to the dates that are in his records, the NPRC says that he wasn’t on active duty. His Purple Heart and Soldiers Medal were earned in the month that he left the active force. The citation for the Soldiers Medal doesn’t mention a specific event, but it reads like an end of tour award;

His list of awards also records that he has a Ranger Tab and a Special Forces Tab, but according to JD at Professional Soldiers, there are no training records or proof that he attended the schools. Mister Conley, when asked for citations for the Bronze Star Medals and Silver Star Medals can’t seem to find either suddenly.

Conley holds three purple hearts, two silver stars and two bronze stars, one with valor, but his most prized possession is a CIB, a combat infantry badge with two stars. More medals and commendations cover a dresser and fill its top drawer.

Funny, I didn’t see a mention of his time in the Korean War or World War II – the only way he could have two stars on a CIB is if he had served in one of the two conflicts. It looks to me like he tried to alter his records before he left the service, but he is too stupid to do it right.

Category: Phony soldiers