Conroy was originally from
Chicago and left
Saint Ambrose College in
Davenport, Iowa, to enlist in the Marines during
World War II. He would later be commissioned an officer and become 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
Battle of Chosin Reservoir while flying from the . During the
Cuban Missile Crisis, Conroy was part of an
A-4 Skyhawk squadron at
Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort. They were alerted and would quickly deploy to
Roosevelt Roads Naval Station where they would remain for the duration of the crisis. He would also serve two tours in
Vietnam during the
Vietnam War. He 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" Meecham in
The Great Santini (spelled "Meechum" in the 1979 movie version starring
Robert Duvall). 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 Carol was institutionalized with
mental illness, his brother, Tom, developed
schizophrenia (and later committed
suicide at age 33), and Pat himself also attempted suicide in 1975. Pat indicated violent memories of his father haunted 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 his 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 writing
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 would accompany Pat to book signings and would sign his son's books with the signature, "Donald Conroy – The Great Santini." After retirement, Conroy moved to
Atlanta, Georgia. He died from colon cancer on May 9, 1998, and is interred at
Beaufort National Cemetery,
South Carolina. As Bull Meecham/Meechum is killed in the crash of his fighter in both the novel and movie versions of
The Great Santini, and his funeral scene was filmed at the same cemetery for the movie, Conroy joked while planning his own funeral that it would be the second time he would be buried there. ==Awards and decorations==