More detail on this person: Samuel G. Conley
Jr. went to be with the Lord on 29 June 2016. He
had been
a resident of Sierra Vista for the past 33years.
Sam was born at Walter
Reed Army Hospital in Washington, DC to Sam and
Ellen Conley.
He graduated from the Augusta Military Academy at
Fort Defiance, Virginia,
in 1947, then attended William and Mary College,
the United States
Military Academy at West Point, and the University
of Kansas.
Sam was a Soldier from a long line of Soldiers,
and entered the US Army in
1955 as a Second Lieutenant of Infantry.
After assignments to Fort Carson, Colorado and
Heidelberg, Germany, he was
selected to command the 611th Aircraft
Maintenance Company at Cap Saint
Jacques in the Republic of Vietnam from 1962 to
1963.
Upon return he became the Battalion Aircraft
Maintenance Officer for the
101st Aviation Battalion, 101st Airborne Division
at Fort Campbell,
Kentucky. In 1966 he returned to the Republic of
Vietnam, serving as the
Aircraft Maintenance Officer for 147th Assault
Support Helicopter Company
at Cap Saint Jacques, and the Aviation Plans
Officer for Headquarters,
United States Army Vietnam, at Long Binh.
From 1968 to 1969 he served as the Aviation Plans
Officer for the
Department of Rotary Wing Aviation School, Fort
Rucker, Alabama, and was
then reassigned to the 1st Infantry Division at
Fort Riley, Kansas,
serving as the Division Aviation Officer for a
year before assuming
command of the 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry
(Mechanized), known as the
Black Lions, from 1970 to 1973. Great success in
command was followed by a
three-year assignment to the Pentagon as a Force
Development Staff
Officer, where he eventually became the Army
Staff's key Action Officer
for producing the Program Objective Memorandum -
the resource allocation
document critical to all US Army funding.
Now known to all as the Army's premier Resource
Guru, Sam was promoted to
Colonel in 1976 and assigned as the Assistant
Chief of Staff for Force
Development, Army Communications Command,
Fort Huachuca, Arizona; in 1979
the Army selected him as the Chief of the
Manpower and Force Analysis
Resource Management Directorate of the United
States Army in Europe, where
for three years he directed the changeover of the
Army Divisions in Europe
to the new Division 86 configuration, a colossal
task involving
innumerable manpower and force structure changes
affecting every Army unit
in Europe.
Sam returned to Fort Huachuca in 1983 hoping to
resume his previous job as
the Army Communications Command Assistant
Chief of Staff for Force
Development, but when the Army Chief of Staff
directed the Communications
Command to radically transform itself into the all
new Army Information
Systems Command, Sam was immediately
assigned to lead this effort: yet
another colossal task that took three years to
complete. Following this
assignment, and after more than thirty years
service, he retired from the
Army in 1985.
Sam's military education included Infantry Basic
and Advanced Courses,
Command and General Staff College, the Industrial
War College Strategic
Course, Fixed Wing Aviation Course (Flight 56-12),
Rotary Wing Course
(Flight 58-2), Instrument Class for Fixed and
Rotary Wing, Twin Engine
Fixed and Rotary Wing Courses. His awards
include the Legion of Merit with
two Oak Leaf Clusters, Bronze Star Medal with two
Oak Leaf Clusters, ten
Air Medals, Master Army Aviator Badge,
Department of the Army Staff
Identification Badge, Republic of Vietnam
Gallantry Cross with Palm, and
the Vietnam Service Medal with Silver Campaign
Star for participation in
the Vietnam Advisory Campaign, Vietnam
Counteroffensive Phases II, III and
IV, and the Tet Counteroffensive.
Sam was a life member of the Army Aviation
Association of America (AAAA)
and is a past president of both the Fort Riley and
Fort Huachuca chapters.
Sam is survived by his loving wife Theresa of
Sierra Vista; daughters
Bambi and Rebecca, sons Sam Conley III, William
and Clifford, sisters Joan
Conover and JacqueWatts, brother James, nine
grandchildren and one great
grandson. Preceding him in death were his Mother
Ellen Elizabeth (Lanham)
Conley, his father, General Samuel G. Conley, Sr.,
his sister Alice Conley
Merrill, and his uncle, General Charles Lanham.
A reciting of the Rosary will be held on
Wednesday, July 13, 2016 at 11:30
A.M. at St Andrew the Apostle Catholic Church with
a memorial Mass at
noon, followed by a committal ceremony with full
Military Honors and a
reception.
Final burial will be with his father, mother, and
uncle, General Charles
Lanham, in the Arlington National
Cemetery,Washington, DC.
Instead of sending flowers, the family requests
that you donate to either
the Army Emergency Relief Fund
(www.aerhq.org/Donate), or to the Nancy J.
Brua Animal Care Center at 6799 East Highway 90,
Sierra Vista.
HIGH FLIGHT
Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling
mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and
swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew.
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
This information was last updated 07/26/2016
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Date posted on this site: 10/23/2024
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