Audie Murphy

Major Audie Leon Murphy is the most decorated American combat soldier in history.
In 1924, he was born to Emmett and Josie Murphy who were farmers in Texas. Mr. Murphy abandoned his wife and 12 children (of whom Audie was the 6th) in 1936. At that point, Audie dropped out of 5th grade and worked for $1 a day in cotton fields.
His mother died in May 1941 and Audie was left with the care of his 3 youngest siblings. His older sister was unable to care for the kids and neither was Audie, so he had them placed in an orphanage.

After Pearl Harbor on December 7th of '41 Audie attempted to enlist in the military but the Navy and Marines turned him down for being underweight and too short at 110 lbs and 5' 5.5".
Finally, the Army accepted him and sent him to basic training ... during which he passed out once, so they wanted to transfer him to baker's school. Audie insisted on being a combat soldier however and was sent to advanced infantry training in Maryland.
 

In 1943, Audie was sent first to Africa and then to Sicily. There, after killing two officers escaping on horseback, he was promoted to corporal. It was also in Sicily that he contracted malaria which plagued him several times throughout WWII.

"After Sicily was secured from Axis forces, the 3rd Division invaded the Italian mainland, landing near Salerno in September 1943. While leading a night patrol, Murphy and his men ran into German soldiers but fought their way out of an ambush, taking cover in a quarry. The German command sent a squad of soldiers in, but they were stopped by intense machine-gun and rifle fire Three German soldiers were killed and several others captured. As a result of his actions at Salerno, Murphy was promoted to sergeant."

Audie is 2nd from left in the 2nd row

"Shortly [after landing in Southern France] Murphy's best friend, Lattie Tipton (referred to as "Brandon" in Murphy's book), was killed by a German soldier in a machine gun nest who was feigning surrender. Murphy went into a rage and single-handedly wiped out the German machine gun crew which had just killed his friend. He then used the German machine gun and grenades to destroy several other nearby enemy positions. For this act, Murphy received the Distinguished Service Cross (second in precedence only to the Medal of Honor).


"During seven weeks of fighting in that campaign in France, Murphy's division suffered 4,500 casualties. Just weeks later, he received two Silver Stars for further heroic actions. Murphy, by now a staff sergeant and holding the position of platoon sergeant, was eventually awarded a battlefield commission to second lieutenant, which elevated him to platoon leader. He was wounded in the hip by a sniper's ricocheting bullet 12 days after the promotion and spent ten weeks recuperating. Within days of returning to his unit, and still bandaged, he became company commander on January 25, 1945 and suffered further wounds from a mortar round which killed two others nearby."


   

America's highest award for valor - the Medal of Honor - was awarded to Audie for his actions on January 26, 1945.

"With 24 inches of snow on the ground, his unit participated in the battle at Holtzwihr, France. After fighting for some time, Murphy's unit was reduced to an effective strength of 19 out of 128. Murphy sent all of the remaining men to the rear while he shot at the Germans until he ran out of ammunition. He then climbed aboard an abandoned, burning M10 tank destroyer and used its .50 caliber machine gun to cut down the German infantry, including one full squad of German infantry who crawled in a ditch to within 100 feet of his position. 

He was able to call in artillery fire using a land-line telephone and, under heavy fire, was wounded in the leg. He nonetheless continued his nearly single-handed battle for almost an hour.He only stopped fighting when his telephone line to the artillery fire direction center was cut by enemy artillery. As his remaining men moved forward, he quickly organized them into a counter-attack which ultimately drove the enemy from Holtzwihr." 

 

For these actions, Murphy was awarded the Medal of Honor.

When asked after the war why he had seized the machine gun and taken on an entire company of German infantry, he replied simply, "They were killing my friends."

  

Murphy was awarded 33 U.S. decorations and medals, five medals from France, and one from Belgium. He received every U.S. decoration for valor available to Army ground personnel at the time. He earned the Silver Star twice in three days, two Bronze Star Medals, three Purple Hearts, the Distinguished Service Cross, the Legion of Merit, and the Medal of Honor.

The French government awarded Murphy its Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. He also received two Croix de guerre medals from France and the Croix de guerre 1940 Palm from Belgium.

Murphy was credited with destroying six tanks in addition to killing over 240 German soldiers and wounding and capturing many others.

He participated in campaigns in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France and Germany. 

He spent 29 months overseas and just under two years in combat with the 3rd Infantry Division, all before he turned 21!!

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Audie returned home and retrieved his younger siblings from the orphanage in which he had placed them before the war, and found places for them to stay. He also bought a house for his older sister and her family. 

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In September 1945, after seeing Murphy's pictures on the cover Life magazine as "most decorated soldier", a friend and actor (James Cagney) invited Audie to Hollywood. 

His acting career is did not blossom right away and he was often very discouraged about this. 

He scored a leading role in his 3rd movie, "Bad Boy". 

It is said that his best role was himself... literally. He played himself in "To Hell and Back" which was the movie version of his autobiography of the same name.

 

"Murphy was initially reluctant to star in To Hell and Back, fearing it would appear he was cashing in on his war experience. In To Hell and Back, unlike most Hollywood films, where the same soldiers serve throughout the movie, Murphy's comrades are killed or wounded as they were in real life. 

At the film's end, Murphy is the only member of his original unit remaining. At the ceremony where Murphy is awarded the Medal of Honor, the ghostly images of his dead friends are depicted. This insistence on reality has been attributed to Murphy and his desire to honor his fallen friends."

Audie Murphy's oldest son, Terry, portrayed Audie's younger brother Joseph Preston "Joe" Murphy (at age four).

In the 25 years he spent in Hollywood, Murphy made 44 feature films...

   

   

..... 33 of them Westerns.

He also appeared in several television shows, including the lead in the short-lived 1961 NBC western detective series Whispering Smith, set in Denver, Colorado.
 

The following titles are links to a few "Whispering Smith" episodes:

Stake-Out     The Jodie Tyler Story     Three for One     Death at Even Money     Blind Gun
The Interpreter     The Hemp Reeger Case     Double Edge     Dark Circle     The Idol

Audie's Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

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In his personal life, Audie battled PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder - many soldiers returning from combat suffer from PTSD). He was plagued with insomnia, nightmares, and depression. He took prescribed sleeping pills to help. However, in the mid '60s, he realized he was addicted to the drug. So locked himself up in a motel room and went through withdrawal by himself for a week, breaking the addiction. 

In that day, it was taboo to speak about soldiers' mental conditions. Murphy, however, became an open spokesmen about PTSD, hoping to help the returning Korean and Vietnam veterans. 

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Murphy married in 1949 but divorced in 1951. 

He then married Pamela Archer, by whom he had two children: Terrance Michael "Terry" and James Shannon "Skipper" Murphy. They were named for two of his most respected friends, Terry Hunt and James "Skipper" Cherry. 

     

  

Murphy became a successful actor, rancher, and businessman. He was also a composer and his songs were performed by many well-known singers of the day including Dean Martin, Eddy Arnold, and Charley Pride. 


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Around 11:08am on May 28, 1971, at just 47 years old, Murphy was killed when the private plane in which he was a passenger crashed into Brush Mountain, near Catawba, Virginia, 20 miles west of Roanoke, Virginia in conditions of rain, clouds/fog and zero visibility. The pilot and four other passengers were also killed.
In 1974, a large granite marker was erected near the crash site.

On June 7, 1971, Murphy was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.
It is the second most-visited grave site, after that of President John F. Kennedy.
The headstones of Medal of Honor recipients buried at Arlington National Cemetery are normally decorated in gold leaf. Murphy previously requested that his stone remain plain and inconspicuous, like that of an ordinary soldier. 



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