Donald "The Great Santini" Conroy
Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps

Donald Conroy was born on 4 April 1921 in Chicago, IL. He left Saint Ambrose College in Davenport, IA, to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II.

Conroy was later commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and designated as a Naval Aviator. He was a pilot with VMF-214 when the Korean War began in June 1950. The Squadron became the first Marine squadron to see action during the War providing close air support and aerial interdiction during the Battle of Pusan Perimeter, Battle of Inchon, and the Battle of Chosin Reservoir while flying from the USS Sicily (CVE-118).

During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Conroy was part of an A-4 Skyhawk squadron at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort. They were alerted and quickly deployed to Roosevelt Roads Naval Station where they remained for the duration of the crisis. He also served two tours in Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

Conroy and his wife Peggy had seven children: Donald Patrick "Pat", Carol, Mike, Kathy, Jim, Tim, and Tom. Novelist Pat Conroy used his father as the inspiration for the fictitious character Marine Lt. Col. "Bull" Meechum in his book, The Great Santini. In the movie version of The Great Santini, actor Robert Duvall played the character based on Donald Conroy.

Pat Conroy wrote another autobiographical book called My Losing Season, and as in The Great Santini, talks about how his father was very violent and abusive both towards him and his siblings. (The abuse took psychological form for all the children, and was additionally physical towards the male siblings.) Pat's sister Kathy was institutionalized with mental illness, his brother, Tom, developed schizophrenia (and later committed suicide at age 33), and Pat also attempted suicide in 1975. Pat has said that violent memories of his father haunt his every waking moment; a theme the author fictionalizes in his novel The Prince of Tides.

However, in later years, following his retirement from the Marines, Donald Conroy mended relationships with his children. In The Pat Conroy Cookbook, Pat Conroy provides numerous stories of his close relationship with his father during adulthood. He writes that in penning The Great Santini, his father aided him by supplying technical details about military fighter planes, and that this helped to improve their relationship.

When the book was published, Donald Conroy saw the character of Bull Meecham as a truthful tribute. Thereafter, he accompanied Pat to book signings and signed his son's books with the signature, "Donald Conroy - The Great Santini." According to Pat, "When other writers asked me why I allowed this incursion, I explained that my father and I had to search for ways to say we loved each other without saying the words."

After his retirement from the Marine Corps, Conroy moved to Atlanta, GA.

Medals and Awards

Distinguished Flying Cross (3 Awards)
Air Medal (5 Awards)
Navy Presidential Unit Citation w/ 1 Service Star
Army Presidential Unit Citation
Navy Unit Commendation w/ 4 Service Stars
American Campaign Medal
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/ 1 Service Star
World War II Victory Medal
Navy Occupation Service Medal
National Defense Service Medal w/ 1 Service Star
Korean Service Medal w/ 4 Service Stars
United Nations Korea Medal
Philippine Liberation Medal w/ 1 Service Star
Presidential Unit Citation (Philippines)
Presidential Unit Citation (Korea)

Badges

Naval Aviator Badge

Death and Burial

Donald Conroy died on 9 May 1998 from colon cancer. He is buried at Beaufort National Cemetery in Beaufort, SC.