Audie Leon Murphy (20 June 1925 – 28 May 1971) was one of the most decorated American combat soldiers of World War II, receiving every military combat award for valor available from the U.S. Army, as well as French and Belgian awards for heroism. The 19-year-old Murphy received the Medal of Honor after single-handedly holding off an entire company of Germans for an hour at the Colmar Pocket in France in January 1945, then leading a successful counterattack while wounded and out of ammunition.
Murphy was born into a large sharecropper family in Hunt County, Texas. His father abandoned them, and his mother died when he was a teenager. Murphy left school in fifth grade to pick cotton and find other work to help support his family; his skill with a hunting rifle was a necessity for putting food on the table. Murphy's older sister helped him to falsify documentation about his birth date to meet the minimum-age requirement for enlisting in the military, and after being turned down by the Navy and the Marine Corps he enlisted in the Army. He first saw action in the Allied invasion of Sicily and Anzio, and in 1944 was part of the liberation of Rome and invasion of southern France. Murphy fought at Montélimar, and led his men on a successful assault at the L'Omet quarry near Cleurie in northeastern France in October of that year.
After the war Murphy enjoyed a 21-year acting career. He played himself in the 1955 autobiographical To Hell and Back based on his 1949 memoirs of the same name, but most of his films were westerns. He made guest appearances on celebrity television shows and starred in the series Whispering Smith. Murphy was a fairly accomplished songwriter, and bred quarter horses in California and Arizona, becoming a regular participant in horse racing.
Suffering what would today be termed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), he slept with a loaded handgun under his pillow and looked for solace in addictive sleeping pills. In the last few years of his life he was plagued by money problems, but refused offers to appear in alcohol and cigarette commercials because he did not want to set a bad example. Murphy died in a plane crash in Virginia in 1971 shortly before his 46th birthday, and was interred with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.
More about America's most decorated soldier can be found here:
http://www.audiemurphy.com/index.htm
Take a few minutes to read about a real hero!
I didn't know as a child all of his infamous past but a true soldier and a man of worth. I remember movies with him in them and enjoyed them on teenie black and white tv my parents owned. :-D
ReplyDeleteHe was an amazing man. Did you know his grave site at Arlington is the most popular, right after JFK's?
DeleteNo, I did not know that. He was a special man. Few and far between. I live in AZ and before that OR so not so much travel for me on the east coast. Just saying.
DeleteWent to Texas once, but never further. The East is wonderful as long as you stay away from the cities. Love it here in rural NJ.
DeleteTrue American Hero!!
ReplyDeleteYes he sure was, Mamahen! I think I saw all of his movies, too! TCM played a lot of the old war movies.
DeleteLast comment, I was born in Kansas and grew up in Oregon and retired in Arizona. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteYou sure did get around, JMD! I've always lived in Jersey & always kept moving to the western part of the state - Can't go an further - I'd be in Pennsylvania!
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