Son’s Tour of Duty Spurs Music Video
By Sgt. Paul Kane
New York City Public Affairs
NEW YORK CITY, N.Y., June 21, 2006 — It’s not every day the son of an American country music star finds himself in combat, but it happens.
Lance Cpl. Johnny Conlee, a grunt with the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment aboard the USS Kearsarge, is the son of country music great John Conlee.
He recently returned from a tour in Iraq, conducting combat operations against insurgents around Fallujah and providing security for the December 2005 Iraqi elections. His tour in Iraq was not without event.
In December 2005, while on a mission in Al Anbar province, his unit was hit by an improvised explosive device that wounded him and several other Marines. He was awarded the Purple Heart for shrapnel wounds received in combat.
He said it was not easy to tell his family, but he called home immediately.
“Dad, there’s no right way to say this, but I’ve been wounded. I’m okay,” he said in the call.
But Conlee, the Marine, was undeterred and went back out on patrol the very night he was wounded. “I’m definitely going to stay a grunt. I love it,” he said.
The elder Conlee has 19 songs that hit the Top 10 and five in the Top Five for country music. Among his most popular were “Rose Colored Glasses,” “Common Man,” “Domestic Life,” “I’m Only in it for Love,” and “Lady Lay Down.” The Conlee family operates a farm in Tennessee.
More recently, John Conlee collaborated with two songwriters and
recorded a music video called, “They Also Serve,” an ode to military
families.
“We did this video for all the members of the military and their
families. It was our humble hope that they’d find it uplifting,” said
Conlee while visiting his son in New York City during the Fleet Week
celebrations saluting the naval services.
The music video "They Also Serve" is a tribute to military families and
spotlights how “those who serve” in the armed forces and “those who
wait” at home deal with their experiences. The music video was
nominated by Country Music Weekly’s Readers’ Choice Award for the
Favorite Patriotic Song.
“We know firsthand what it means to have a loved one serving,” Conlee
the military father said about his family’s experiences with having a
son deployed. The senior Conlee served in the Army National Guard of
Kentucky from 1967-1973.
“We were happy and relieved to have Johnny back from Iraq last month.
It’s a sacrifice to serve and to be among those who wait. But it’s
important to the country and we are very proud,” said the elder Conlee.