Clinton County’s most celebrated veteran, and the most decorated U.S. Army soldier in World War II, Garlin Murl Conner, will be honored again next month when the Kentucky Department of Transportation unveils signage dedicating a section of the Albany Bypass in his honor.

Conner, who passed away in 1998, was posthumously presented with the nation’s highest military decoration in 2018, after a two-decade long battle to have his service record upgraded to include the U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor.

The presentation was made to his widow, Pauline Conner, during a ceremony at the White House that saw then President Donald J. Trump award the medal.

On Wednesday, June 2, officials will gather with Conner family members and the public at the South Kentucky RECC location near the intersection of the Albany Bypass and Ky 90, to unveil the sign that will designate the By-Pass as the “Lt. Garlin Murl Conner Memorial Highway”.

The general public is invited to attend the event.

The ceremony, which will get underway at 10:00 a.m., will include remarks by several officials and Conner family members.

Among the speakers will be Pauline Conner, as well as Clinton County Judge/Executive Ricky Craig.

Craig has worked the past few years toward getting the section of highway designated in honor of Conner, mainly working with Kentucky Senator Max Wise and Kentucky House of Representatives member Josh Branscum, as well as former Kentucky House of Representatives member Jeff Hoover.

In announcing plans for the ceremony last week, Craig noted that Wise, Branscum and Hoover were all also set to give remarks during the June 2 event.

The sign that will be unveiled at the ceremony will be set in place near the intersection of the Albany By-Pass and KY 90, which is just north of the South Kentucky RECC office, where the ceremony will be hosted.

Craig told the Clinton County News this week that a second identical sign will also be installed by the Kentucky Transportation Department near the Kentucky and Tennessee boundary in Static, making that entire stretch of highway named in honor of Conner.

Conner, who rose to the rank of lieutenant in the U.S. Army while serving in World War II, returned to Albany and Clinton County after the war, spent his life working on his farm in the Concord Community, and was extremely active both in the Farm Bureau organization, as well as in the Veterans of Foreign Wars organization.

His birthday would have been celebrated on the same day as the planned highway dedication ceremony is to be held, June 2. Conner would have been 102 years old on that date.