Valor Friday

Philip J Conran

I wrote about Philip Conran a while back. He’s a personal hero of mine, and the efforts to get his Air Force Cross upgraded to a Medal of Honor continues. News broke a month or so ago that legislation was (again) introduced in Congress to that effect.

Closer to home, Conran’s home county of Santa Barbara, California earlier this year passed a resolution to honor Colonel Conran. From Noozhawk;

Board of Supervisors Honors Retired Air Force Colonel With Resolution

The campaign to award a Medal of Honor to a retired Air Force colonel took another step after the County of Santa Barbara adopted a resolution recognizing Col. Philip Conran and his actions during the Vietnam War.

On Tuesday, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted to adopt a resolution honoring Conran, who helped save the lives of eight Americans and 46 Lao soldiers during a six-hour gunfight with North Vietnamese Army troops.

“I thank you very much for this resolution, and hopefully it will help,” Conran told the board.

In his comments, Conran thanked Supervisors Roy Lee and Bob Nelson, who brought the resolution to the board. He then thanked Supervisor Laura Capps and asked her to pass on his thanks to her mother, Lois Capps– who he credited as starting the campaign to upgrade his Air Force Cross to a Medal of Honor 13 years ago.

The campaign to upgrade Conran’s medal has received attention from other local politicians, including Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-California. Carbajal introduced a bill, HR 2330, that would authorize the president to upgrade Conran’s cross to the Medal of Honor.

Conran was not originally eligible for the Medal of Honor due to the Nixon Administration’s statements that there were no American troops in Laos.

Lee thanked Conran for retelling his story.

“I just want to say thank you. Thank you for your service to our country, for our people, (and for) working for our community,” Lee said.

He then encouraged the public to write to their congressman and advocate on behalf of Conran.

On Oct. 6, 1969, Conran conducted an operation to rescue downed personnel in Laos, the resolution said.

“Despite being wounded and under relentless assault from the NVA, Colonel Conran’s leadership, tactical experience, and selfless bravery allowed his unit to withstand the intense firefight for over six hours, providing critical support that enabled the successful recovery of his comrades.”

Conran lives in Santa Barbara and has spoken at local Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Veterans Day events.

Click through the link at the top of the page for my full write-up on Conran. It’s an incredible story. For a quick synopsis, here’s his Air Force Cross citation;

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Title 10, Section 8742, United States Code, takes pleasure in presenting the Air Force Cross to Major Philip J. Conran, United States Air Force, for extraordinary heroism in military operations against an opposing armed force as Aircraft Commander of a CH-3E helicopter of the 21st Special Operations Squadron, 56th Special Operations Wing, Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand, in action at a classified location in Southeast Asia on 6 October 1969. On that date, while attempting to rescue the crew of a downed helicopter, Major Conran’s aircraft was hit by intense hostile ground fire and he was forced to make a crash landing in the vicinity of the other aircraft. Once on the ground, he successfully evacuated his aircraft and assumed a major role in defending the crash site against an overwhelming hostile force until rescue was possible six hours later. Through his extraordinary heroism, superb airmanship, and aggressiveness in the face of hostile fire, Major Conran reflected the highest credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.

There’s a website that fully explores the case for his award upgrade. Find it here; https://philipconran.com/

Category: Air Force, Air Force Cross, Historical, Valor, Veterans in the news, Vietnam, We Remember