Conley Wright

Conley Wright is an American newspaper columnist embedded with the 36th Division, Fifth Army. He is portrayed by Robert McQueeney. Wright is modeled after Ernie Pyle, a real-life war reporter whose weekly syndicated columns won acclaim for their description of the adventures and hardships GIs faced in North Africa and Italy.

While considered one of the lead figures of The Gallant Men, Wright is a peripheral presence in some episodes and completely absent from others. Most episodes begin and end with narration from Wright, presumably drawn from the character's columns.

Like Pyle, Wright is depicted as well-liked and respected among the soldiers he writes about. They often ask to get mentioned in his reports. Though nominally an observer, Wright is usually treated like an adjunct member of the company. For the most part, enlisted men and officers alike address him by his first name.

Wright is an experienced foreign correspondent, having been stationed in Berlin before the war and London in the war's early years. He reported from the Pacific theater and North Africa before arriving in Salerno with the 36th in September 1943 (pilot and "Some Tears Fall Dry"). In the pilot episode, he loses his typewriter to Pete D'Angelo in a blackjack game. D'Angelo lets him continue using the typewriter -- for a fee, an arrangement referred to in subsequent episodes ("The Ninety-Eight Cent Man," "Lesson for a Lover").

Wright at times inserts himself into the company's politics. He sometimes tries to act as peacemaker, such as when the company disagrees with Capt. Benedict's decisions ("And Cain Cried Out"). He is on a first-name basis with Benedict, and is one of the few characters who can get away with arguing with the captain. The two men are confidants, and out of earshot of the G.I.s they discuss their weariness and dilemmas they face ("And Cain Cried Out," "A Taste of Peace"). Wright speaks some Italian, and sometimes acts as the company's interpreter ("Fury in a Quiet Village").

As a journalist, Wright is interested in getting good stories and diligent about deadlines, but he is rarely shown doing deep reporting ("Operation Secret"). He sides with Benedict when the latter cites security concerns to seize a war photographer's film rolls ("Some Tears Fall Dry"), a preference for censorship that would be unusual for modern journalists, but not uncommon among American reporters in the European theater. He writes in the field and files from the Allied media center at Naples ("Lesson for a Lover," “Tommy”).

Wright has two brothers ("And Cain Cried Out"). One of them, Craig, was a pilot in the Army Air Forces. Craig was shot down during a reconnaissance flight in the Pacific, prompting Wright to travel halfway around the globe to confirm his death ("The Leathernecks").

Wright was in a romantic relationship during his London days, but his girlfriend was killed in the blitz in January 1941 ("Some Tears Fall Dry"). He has a complicated relationship with fellow war correspondent Kathlene Palmer. Wright considers Palmer's enthusiasm for "hard news" and investigative reporting unseemly, and he thinks women should not be in combat zones. Palmer, in turn, has little respect for Wright's softer, more deferential style of reporting. He is bothered by her criticism but defends his self-described "corny" style. Relations between the two journalists begins to thaw, but Palmer is killed in an air raid in Naples before they have a chance to build a friendship.

Robert McQueeney was 43 years old when filming The Gallant Men. Assuming Wright is roughly the same age, he would have been born around 1900. When he was a child, Wright admired attorney Clarence Darrow and dreamed of becoming a defense lawyer ("And Cain Cried Out"). He started working in the newspaper industry in 1933 or 1934 ("Signals for an End Run"). What brought Wright to journalism, and what he did before entering the field, is never stated.