Thursday, February 20, 2014

General Louis Conti

Louis Conti


1919 - 2014 | Obituary | Condolences


icon 


General Louis Conti passed away peacefully at home on February 14, 2014. He was preceded in death by his wife of 69 years, the former Miss Dorothy Kellogg of Utica, New York who passed away on January 30, 2014.

General Conti was born on November 28, 1919 in Philadelphia, PA. He graduated from Cornell University in June 1941. While attending Cornell, he played guard on the outstanding Cornell football teams in the 1938-1940 seasons. He also participated in the famous "5th down" game in 1940 between Cornell and Dartmouth where Cornell lost by forfeit. He was selected to play in the 1941 East-West Game.

His military career commenced in August 1941, when he enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve as a Seaman, Second Class. From this period until the end of World War II, he joined Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 243 (VMSB 243), Goleta, CA, in January 1943 and went with that squadron to Ewa, Oahu, Hawaii, in February.

During combat operation he was attached to the following: Marine Fighter Squadron 211 and Headquarters Squadron, 4th Marine Aircraft Wing, Base Defense Wing (VMSB 236), serving on Palmyra from March to July, 1943, Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 236, as a pilot and material officer of these squadrons at Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, Guadalcanal, Munda, Bougainville, and Green Island in the Solomon Islands. He participated as a dive bomber pilot in four campaigns during this period.

In May of 1944 he returned to the United States and joined Marine Photographic Squadron 354 until March 1945 when he returned to the Central Pacific with this Unit and was assigned to Marine Aircraft Group 24 on Guam in the Marianas. He was then assigned to the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing on Okinawa as commanding officer of the photo detachment in support of air operations on Okinawa and photo missions over Japan.

In March 1949, General Conti resigned from the Regular Marine Corps to accept a position on the Football Staff at Cornell University, and at the same time he accepted a Reserve Commission in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. He then joined Marine Fighter Squadron 441 (VMF 441), Marine Air Reserve Training Command, Niagara Falls, NY, as its executive officer.

From August 1952 until April 1953, he served as operations and executive officer of Marine Photographic Squadron 1 (VMJ-1), Marine Aircraft Group 33, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, Korea, completing 102 combat missions. In

1956 he resigned from Cornell University to accept a position with General American Transportation Company (GATX) in Chicago. He was elected a Vice President of the corporation in 1967, director in 1969, President of GATX Terminals Corporation in 1975, and Sr. Vice President of GATX Corporation in 1976. GATX spun off Marine Transport Lines (MTL) in 1983. He took on the role of Chairman and CEO of this new company until his retirement in April, 1985. While serving on the GATX and MTL Board of Directors, he served as a Director for Emerson Electric Company, Roadmaster Corporation, Roadmaster Industries, Inc., and ESCO Electronics Corporation.

He was inducted into the Cornell University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1983. He was inducted as Cornell University's honoree into the Ivy Football Association in 2007. While furthering his civilian career, General Conti continued to be active with the USMCR. In 1958, he participated in the formation of the first Marine Air Reserve Group at Glenview, IL and served as its commanding officer through 1960. He subsequently served as Commanding Officer, Headquarters, Marine Air Reserve Training (Reserve) from 1962 until 1964.

After his elevation to Major General in 1973, he was reassigned as Assistant Director, Marine Corps Reserve. He then became a special assistant to the Deputy Chief of Staff for I&L at Headquarters Marine Corps. He was President of the Marine Corps Reserve Policy Board from 1974-75. He was also appointed to the Reserve Forces Policy Board in March of 1974.

In 1977, he was appointed by the Secretary of Defense as the civilian Chairman of the Reserve Policy Board and served until 1985 in this capacity. In addition to the Distinguished Flying Cross and five Air Medals, he received the Presidential Unit Citation, the Navy Unit Commendation, the American Defense Service Medal, the American Campaign, Medal, the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal with one silver star in lieu of five bronze stars, the World War II Victory Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Service Medal with three bronze stars, the Armed Forces Reserve Medal, the Organized Marine Corps Reserve Medal, the Marine Corps Reserve Ribbon, the United Nations Service Medal, and the Korean Presidential Unit Citation.

He is survived by five children: Paul L., Bruce A., Barbara A., Suzanne M. Saint Germain, and Michael S. A son, 1st Lieutenant Robert F. Conti, USMCR, was killed in the Vietnam War in November 1969. Major General Conti has ten grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Memorial Mass, 9:30 AM, Monday, February 24, 2014 at St. Theresa's Catholic Church in Palatine.In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Robert F.Conti '68 Scholarship, Lafayette College, 307 Markle Hall, Easton, PA 18042. Funeral information and condolences

www.GlueckertFH.com or (847) 253-0168.


- See more at: 




Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Our Proposed Date Works For Most People, Now We Need the Hotel

Doug Barney Feb 5
Craig, the dates are OK, but my health is iffy.

Lynn Wardlow
Works for me. 


Robert Dart

Could the birthday cause a conflict for your meeting?

Andrew Davis Feb 5

Dates are good for me. SF Drew

George Braun Feb 5

That date looks ok from here and now. George and Cathy-send From:

William Holahan Feb 5

Close to Marine Corps Birthday....do we attend the one in NOLA?

Larry Anderson Feb 5

Good for us. S/F LOA

John Wilkes Feb 5

Works for me. I abstained because I didn’t really care where it happens, but ...

Terry Sebold

It works for me. Terry Sebold

Larry Magilligan Feb 8 (4 days ago)

Craig - I like NO but the dates are problematical - since we work Early Voting

Raclaw, Bob (17 hours ago)
those dates work for me.


Wednesday, February 05, 2014

Det-4 Military Symposium

By a slight margin Det 4 Members preferred New Orleans for our next Military Symposium.  Now we have to choose a date and then a hotel.

It will of course be hard to get a date that works for everyone.

How does November 14-16, 2014 work for everyone? If not propose an alternate date. And we can always push it to the spring of 2015. 




Vote early and often, the Chicago way.



Drones

Just months ago (July 10, 2013 ) the Navy successfully conducted
take-offs and landings from a fairly new nuclear aircraft carrier, the USS George W. Bush, with a new stealth jet called the X-47B.

What is so different about this plane is the fact that it is a 'drone'.  Yes, it is completely unmanned.  Drones come in all sizes, and the X-47B is likely one of the larger ones.
What is so ironic about all of this is, the fact that the enemy cannot detect a plane like this in the first place.  In the unlikely event they get lucky at shooting one down, there will be no human loss of life or captivity.  
As you view the flight deck crew signaling the plane, they are simply signaling the on-board cameras, who in turn are being manned by staff inside the command intelligence center ( CIC ) onboard the ship.
Also check out the short distance this plane needs for a takeoff.  Impressive
indeed.
We have come a long way from MASS-3 in the 1960's  Air Control has changed a bit also.


Click below for the video.

X-47B UCAS Aviation History Under Way - YouTube

Thanks to Colonel Byron Hill for submitting this.