Donald Conroy (April 4, 1921 – May 9, 1998) was a United States Marine Corps colonel and a member of the Black Sheep Squadron during the Korean War.
Conroy was originally from Chicago and left Saint Ambrose College in Davenport, Iowa, to enlist in the Marines during World War II.
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.
When other writers asked me why I allowed this incursion, I explained that my father and I had to search for ways to say we loved each other without saying the words.After retirement, Conroy moved to Atlanta, Georgia.