04/18/2006

World War II medal awarded to Mineville veteran
'Suicide squad' vet gets medal for aiding troops in WWII
By LOHR McKINSTRY, Staff Writer

MINEVILLE -- The U.S. Navy Armed Guard was an outfit no one had heard of, a
World War II "suicide squad" that protected cargo ships from Axis forces.

Now, a Moriah man who fought with that elite unit is finally getting a medal he
earned 62 years ago.

Theodore "Ted" McConley, 83, of Mineville will officially receive a commendation
medal from the Russian Federation at a noon ceremony on Memorial Day at the
Mineville Veterans of Foreign Wars hall.

FACED ATTACKS

A gunner during the war, McConley has been awarded the Russian Medal of Honor
for serving as a member of the U.S. Navy Armed Guard on a ship taking vital
supplies to Russian troops stationed on the Euphrates River in 1944.

Along the way, he faced German U-boat attacks and strafing from enemy warplanes.

McConley's trip began on the ship SS Charles M. Conrad leaving a Chesapeake Bay
port. He and 25 of his fellow Naval Armed Guard members were aboard as it made
its way to resupply Russian troops stationed in Turkey.

"We were the gunners trying to get the ship through and get it home again,"
McConley said. "We guarded merchant ships. I served on a lot of ships."

ARM OF NAVY

The Naval Armed Guard was a division of the U.S. Navy that served aboard U.S.
Merchant Marine and other supply ships during World War II. Of its 150,000
members, 1,800 were killed in action.

During World War II, the Naval Armed Guard lost 720 ships. The guard was the
subject of the recent documentary "Forgotten Valor," which details how the group
protected war supplies.

It took 62 days to get from the U.S. port to the northern Euphrates River,
McConley said.

"We went through the Suez Canal. We went through the Straits of Gibraltar, where
we had to run German (U-boat) wolf packs. We'd lay smoke screens so they
couldn't see us."

Once they got to the Euphrates rendezvous, he said, "we met them there on the
river, where they had docks, and we unloaded them. The Russians would come with
their trucks and take the stuff away."

He said there was no city nearby, so the trucks must have come a long distance.

LITTLE RECOGNITION

While they were berthed at the Euphrates, a German warplane attacked and was
shot down.

"He didn't return to his base," McConley said. "But we never got any
recognition. Nobody documented the air raid that day."

That's generally how it went with the Naval Armed Guard, he said.

War correspondents and photographers traveled with other branches of the service
during World War II but not the Naval Armed Guard, he said.

McConley went all over the world with the guard.

"I was in the Pacific on tankers. We delivered (aviation) gas to aircraft
carriers in the Mariana Islands and the Carolina Islands."

CLOSE CALL

McConley's unit was in Naples, Italy, the day the city's post office was bombed
by the Germans.

"We'd just got our mail at the post office. Then it blew up."

That was in August 1943, after Italy had surrendered to Allied forces, and U.S.
Army troops who were there that day were awarded the Bronze Star.

"We didn't get the Bronze Star," McConley said. "We were in the Navy."

But he and other Naval Armed Guard members may yet get acknowledgment specific
to their service.

A bill was introduced in Congress last year by Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wa.) to award
veterans like McConley the newly created U.S. Navy Armed Guard Service Medal.

"The United States has not adequately recognized the heroism and sacrifices of
the members of the United States Navy Armed Guard during World War I and World
War II," Larsen said in a news release.

"The mariners served honorably to protect civilians and freight on vessels and
were equally dedicated, intrepid and heroic and are equally deserving of
recognition with a special medal."

The bill has been referred to committee for further action.

MEDALS

McConley did receive four World War II campaign medals from the Navy in 1990. He
said after he spoke up at a VFW meeting about his service, someone contacted the
Navy and found he was due the awards.

McConley's friend, Bethany Kosmider of Crown Point, helped him get the Russian
medal.

"He'd received a letter from the Russian Embassy years ago, asking if he was the
same man who'd served in World War II. He answered them then never heard
anything."

After Kosmider contacted the Russians, the medal showed up one day by certified
mail.

"He told me, �At least I am still alive to receive this,'" she said. "I think
the sacrifice of the Naval Armed Guard in World War II has been overlooked. This
is long overdue."

McConley and the other members of the Naval Armed Guard protected more than
6,000 ships during World War II.

"The Navy called us a suicide squad," he said. "We were forgotten."

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