Posted on 05/27/2007 9:40:37 PM PDT by Jan Hus
Audie Murphy was killed on May 28th, 1971, along with six others, when the private plane he was a passenger in crashed in fog and rain into a mountain near Roanoke, Virginia. He was only forty six years old at the time of his death. Fittingly, he died on Memorial Day weekend.
He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, near the Amphitheatre, with full military honors. His gravesite is the second most visited one in Arlington, behind only the resting place of John F. Kennedy. Congressional Medal of Honor winners traditionally have their tombstones decorated with gold leaf, but Murphy had requested that his should remain plain. The headstone reads as follows-
Audie L. Murphy, Texas. Major Infantry, World War II, June 20,1924 to May 28, 1971, Medal of Honor, DSC - SS & OLC; LM - BSM & OLC; PH & two OLC. (DSC-Distinguished Service Cross; SS-Silver Star; LM-Legion of Merit; BSM-Bronze Star Medal; OLC-Oak Leaf Cluster; PH-Purple Heart).
(Excerpt) Read more at congressionalgoldmedal.com ...
RIP, Lieutenant Murphy.
Amazing man. Everyone should read his autobiography, “To Hell and Back”.
I read this, and articles about Murphy every Memorial day, and I never fail to be amazed at his courage and valor.
On January 26th, 1945, Audie Murphy cemented his place in history with one of the bravest displays ever seen during a time of war. Somewhere near Holtzwihr, France, his Company B, with him in command, was attacked by six tanks backed up by plenty of infantry. He ordered his men to withdraw to the forest, while he remained behind to give artillery directions over the phone on where to fire at the approaching wave of enemies. In back of him to his right, a US tank destroyer suffered a direct hit. As its crew scrambled to safety, Murphy continued to direct artillery fire that killed many of the enemy. With the German tanks now bearing down on him, he climbed onto the burning destroyer, which could have blown up at any time. Using the vehicle’s .50 caliber guns he began to mow down dozens of the adversary, despite being under fire from three sides. The tanks fell back; they were losing their infantry support due to Murphy’s steadfastness. For a solid hour, the Germans tried to kill Audie Murphy with everything they had, but he held his ground atop the destroyer. When an entire squad of Germans tried to sneak up on him on his flank, he mowed them down. Soldiers got within ten yards of him, but were killed by his non-stop shooting. Ignoring a leg wound, he finally ran out of ammunition. He retreated back to his company and refused first aid. Instead, he organized a counterattack that routed the Germans and held the woods for the Allies. Audie Murphy was credited with killing a total of 240 of the enemy, either directly with his own fire or indirectly with his artillery orders.
I had the honor of visiting his grave in Arlington. For such a national hero, the site is surprisingly unprepossessing - I imagine a lot like Audie Murphy must have been.
A story about his movie career suggests his warrior spirit. In his cowboy movies, he had a lot of fights. I have read that a stuntman was quoted as saying that he didn’t like to fight Murphy because in a fight he would forget himself and go at the stuntmanfor real. “If you let him, he could cut you to pieces with his fists.”
He was something else. He also received a high French decoration for valor; I think it was the Croix de Guerre.
Murphy had a great line about the quality of the westerns they gave him: “Only the horses change.”.
Correct...The Croix de Guerre w/Palm is the lower (his) left award on his pocket. He was also awarded the Croix de Guerre w/Silver Star.
What a great man and great soldier!
As an actor, I liked him in Red Badge of Courage and Audie Murphy Story.
Sorry no one wins MOH.- they are referred to as recipients
They did not win anything - MOH is an award for bravery not a contest.
check it out. I have work with several of them and the MOH Society
The story goes that Hugh O’Brien of Wyatt Earp fame was bragging about his fastdraw prowess with a gun. Murphy, who obviously didn’t like O’Brien, challenged him to a real fight using any or all weapons O’Brien wanted to choose. O’Brien declined.
The movie was good too.
"One of my favourite anecdotes was how Hugh O'Brien used to brag about his handgun skills and that he was "the fastest draw in Hollywood" and challenged anyone to outdraw him.......he backed down when challenged by WW 2 war hero/actor Audie Murphy when Audie accepted the challenge on the proviso that they use *real bullets* .... "
My mother, now in her sixties, met him when she was a girl in the 50’s. It was in passing while boarding a flight. She said he smiled at her and she was on top of the world after that. If it weren’t for her telling her kids that story, we probably would not heard of Audie Murphy. Our educational diet in school didn’t have room for real American Heroes, unfortunately.
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