Eighty-nine-year-old Pauline Conner finally won her own 22-year battle on Tuesday afternoon when President Donald Trump awarded the Medal of Honor to her late spouse, 1st Lt. Garlin Murl Conner, for his heroism and intrepid actions on a battlefield in Houssen, France, in 1945.

Pauline Conner, a resident of Clinton County, Kentucky (and shown above with the president), accepted the posthumous award on her husband’s behalf. She began her quest to have his Distinguished Service Cross upgraded to our nation’s highest military decoration 22 years ago, Fox News reported.

Now that quest is complete.

The story of the U.S. Army’s 7th Infantry, 3rd Battalion, officer’s incredible courage reads like an award-winning military novel — except it’s all real.

Though Conner was seriously injured, he was determined to rejoin his fellow servicemen in battle, so he snuck away from the hospital, as the Department of Defense (DOD) detailed. When he did, “as German formations converged on the 3rd Battalion’s position, Conner voluntarily ran to the front lines to serve as a spotter, uncoiling telephone line to communicate with the infantry as he ran to direct friendly artillery on the advancing enemy forces.”

The write-up also noted that “for three hours, he remained in a prone position, enduring the repeated onslaught of German infantry, which, at one point, advanced to within five yards of his position. When the Germans mounted an all-out attack to overrun the American lines and his location, Conner ordered his artillery to concentrate on his own position, ‘resolved to die if necessary to halt the enemy.'”

Conner’s WWII service earned military decorations second in number only to those of 1st Lt. Audie Murphy. For his 28 months on the front lines, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, four Silver Stars, a Bronze Star, three Purple Hearts, and the French Croix de Guerre, the DOD reported.

“He takes his rightful place in the eternal chronicle of American valor.”

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs honored Conner on Tuesday as well. It named him #VeteranOfTheDay for Tuesday, June 26.

“Although he died 20 years ago, today he takes his rightful place in the eternal chronicle of American valor,” said President Trump upon bestowing the distinguished award at a White House ceremony.

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Michele Blood is a Flemington, New Jersey-based freelance writer and a regular contributor to LifeZette.

(photo credit, homepage and article: YouTube)