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Show Public Relations Officer Reveals Alwyn D. Conger As Unsung Hero of War One of the unsung heros of World War II, First Lieutenant Alwyn D. Conger, husband of Mrs. Marjone Mae Young Conger, of Cedar Ciiy, returned to the United States Tuesday, Tues-day, aboard the Queen Mary, after compiling a record of heroism in the European theatre of war that reads like fiction thriller. Nothing had been heard in Cedar City of Conger's accomplishment until a Public Relatiuns Officer forwarded the history of Conger's activities to the Record. That history his-tory shows that the young hero has the following decorations: Five campaign stars on his ETO ribbon, the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star Award with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Silver Star Award with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Distinguished Service Cross, and two Battlefield Promotions, Promo-tions, one from Corporal to Second Lieutenant, and one to First Lieu tenant. Serving as a Forward Observer with the Field Artillery, one of the most hazardous assginments in battle, bat-tle, from the invasion of Normandy to the end of European war, Conger Con-ger continued to stay "up front" for days and even weeks without relief. The Public Relations Officer In his report to us, stated that "The men who wroked under Lt. Conger say that he always took the greatest great-est risks himself, never requiring that another man proceed him into a house or up a hill where the enemy might belurklng. When things got hot, he always directed his men to cover and carried on his duties alone. When proceeding through country where there was danger of an ambush, he invariably invari-ably walked alone, a hundred yards or so in. front of his-Jeep containing contain-ing his crew, preferring to take the risks, rather than endangering the lives of his men." His Commanding Officer had the following to say about him: "He has been constantly in the front lines and has been subjected to withering enemy artillery fire, mortar fire and small arms fire, but at all time he has effectively placed the fire of his battalion on . y Alwyn D. Conger the enemy positions and has made it possible for our infantry to advance ad-vance and seize Its assigned ob-! jectlves. At all times he has maintained main-tained his stability under extreme pressure and under fire and has on several occasions when an officer of-ficer was needed taken chargj of an Infantry Platoon or Company and fought with them as an Infantryman. In-fantryman. On numerous occasions he has captured and killed many enemy soldiers single handedly. To my mind he is an outstanding officer of-ficer with a stout heart, the cour- agi'of a Hon and as brave as they come." Conger served with the famed 30th. Division, fighting through the hedge rows of Normandy, across the Vlre Canal, into St. Lo, stopped stop-ped the Germanys at Mortain, marched on ..through Evereaux across the Seine river, through northern France, and on Into Belgium. By this time his many exploits and daring accomplishments had become be-come known throughout his Division Divi-sion and he had been given a promotion pro-motion from Corporal direct to Second Lieutenant In the Field Artillery, a "battlefield promotion" (Continued on page one second section) Public Relations Officer Reveals Alwyn D. i Conger As Unsung Hero of World War II I (Continued from page one) which is given tor "leadership and bravery on the field of battle.- At j thL time he also received a Bronze Star Award fur having on August 25. 1944 voluntarily and alone, pen- 1 entarted the enemy lines over a ' mile and a half to bring back wounded comrades. The 30th. Division drove on. cracked the famed Siegfried line at Ubach and Alsdorf, Germany, and then swung south to close the much heard of "Achen dap". Then the r vision was called from lis position posi-tion on the Roer River to meet the German counter drive into Belgium. All this time Cunger remained at the front, and was awarded the Silver Star for his action against SS Panzer Divisions at Malmedy-Stavelot, Malmedy-Stavelot, Belgium, the citation reading read-ing as follows: "Lt. Conger was adjusting ad-justing artillery fire on a K'rge j column of enemy Infantry when suddenly an emeny concentration of heavy mortar fire fell on his observation ob-servation post. In spite of the ex treme danger from shells which were striking all around nlny he continued to make his adjustment of fire which was so accurate that approximately 250 of tre enemy were killed and several hundred wounded and the enemy jav up its plan of attack, withdiawin? to the rear. When this campaign was ended, his Division was immediately taken back to their original position on the Roer, in preparation for the crossing of the river. When the Jumpoff came, the 30th led the assult and carried the attack on to the banks of the Rlne. For his part in this campaign. Lt. Conner was awarded an Oak Leaf Cluster to his Silver Star. The next big Job of his Division was with the 9th. Army in crossing the Rhine in the Northern Sector, after which they participated in the drive across northern Germany to the banks of the Elbe River. During Dur-ing this drive of many weeks, Conger Con-ger remained constantly at the front, continuually blasting out strong points of resistance with artillery fire, and constantly exposing ex-posing himself and rlrklng his life in order to do so, For his action during this campaign he received the Dhtingu'shed Service Cuo., the citation reading as follows "While accompanying an Infantry Infan-try company as an Artillery Forward For-ward Observer on the afternoon of March 28, 1945, and while advancing advanc-ing at the head of lead elements .... the point received heavy enemy fire from dug-in 20 mm Ant! Aircraft Air-craft guns, twelve in number, and three 75 mm Tank Destroyer guns which pinned down this officer and the advancing infantry. Lt. Conger, without regard for his own safety and thinking only of his duty at the time, crawled from his concealed place in the road ditch and from that point, while still drawing heavy enemy fire, crawled to a house about 100 yards to the flank of the Infantry's advance, and there se-i se-i curing some concealment and observation ob-servation although still drawing enemy fire on the house, he brought such withering fire upon the enemy guns thut they were silenced and the enemy personnel who were not killed and wounded withdrew to some nearby woods, j Then our Infantry was allowed to proceed forward without folesta-tlon folesta-tlon from this guns which had so successfully and quickly silenced through the efforts of Lt. Congor, . . . . Lt. Conger then stayed at this Observation Post to cover the advance of the Infantry across the open terrain and after it had passed pass-ed he proceeded down the road in the same direction . . . Just before he reached a body of woods, he and his Forward Observation Party received re-ceived withering machine gun fire from an enemy machine gun nest. He immediately stopped h's jeep directed his party Into the road ditches .... and directed that mey nre on tne machine gun nest while he crawled out under its fire to a vantage point where with a Tommy Gun he soon silenced the machine gun nest, killing the remaining re-maining Germans who were manning man-ning the machine gun. Ofter this incident Lt. Conger and his Party proceeded down the road .... but as they came to a crors road they ugaln received heavy machine gun and smalls arms fire. The Lt. directed dir-ected his party to a place of safety and went back down the road to where some 105 mm self-propelled armored artillery guns were moving mov-ing up. He prevailed upon the Battery Bat-tery Executive to lend him one of these selfpropelled weapons in order to silence the enemy and open the road so that he could catch up with the Infantry unit which he was supporting. Lt. Conger proceeded to lead the self-propelled gun back to the point where he had been fired fir-ed upon, by walking out in front of ?ame. With utter disregard for his own life and safety I. Conger stopped the gun and standing upright up-right marked the targets with hi Tommy Gun to ' Indicate to the operators of the gun where to place their fire. As he so marked each 'arget he again drew heavy ma- hine gun fire, but disregarded this fire until he had in turn market each target for the operators and hey had silenced the enemy guns. s the self-propelled gun continued continu-ed to fire, the enemy displayed a white flag and Lt. Conger went forward capturing 31 German soldiers and found eleven others who had been killed." The Division was then called upon up-on to swing south along the banks of the Elbe to take the strongly, defended town of Magdeburg. After Af-ter bitter street fighting, the city was taken. It was here that Conger Con-ger was wounded while maintaining maintain-ing an Observation Post in the famous Magdeburg Cathedral. He las struck by 20 mm shell frag- 1 menu, but refused to leave his po-1 r'tion, remaining at his post and adjusting fire upon the gun which continued to fire at him. For his part in this he received an Oak Leaf Cluster ta his Bronze Star. This citation reads as follows: "Fading that it was impossible to complete his mission of adjusting preparation fires on the City of. Magdeburg, from our front lines, i Conger voluntarily proceeded to a I point a mile In front of the Infantry In-fantry lines and with his crew of two men, battled with a German patrol for possession of a house which would provide him with the necessary observation. After killing a number of the enemy, the patrol retired and Lt. Conger took possession pos-session of the Post. In spite of continuous con-tinuous attempts by the enemy to dislodge him from this advantageous advantage-ous position, with artillery fire, mortar fire and machine guns, Lt. Conger and his crew remained at the position for three days and two n'ght until the attack by our Infantry brought our front lines up to his position. During these ' i days he successfully adjusted artillery ar-tillery fire on strong points and fortifications in and surrounding the city of Magdeburg, causing their destruction and enabling our Infantry to more easily take the city when they attacked." |