May he rest in peace and his loved ones find strength in his sacrifice for our freedom.
Posted on 02/02/2007 9:29:13 AM PST by knighthawk
The American eagle that adorns the pin worn by the elite Navy SEALs is a bit different from the ones you usually see on military regalia. Unlike its brethren birds with their proud heads held high, the SEALs' eagle's head is lowered. Bowed. In tribute. In memoriam. In homage to the unit's honored dead. Such as Lt. Michael Murphy of Patchogue, L.I., slain at 29 in Afghanistan and now a candidate for the nation's highest military citation, the Medal of Honor.
Murphy had worn that pin. He also wore an FDNY T-shirt, in memory of the Bravest who fell on 9/11, a day that altered the course of his young life. A graduate of Penn State, he was being courted by several law schools, but he opted to enlist in the war on terror. And it was while fighting that war, on a covert mission in the desolation of the Hindu Kush in 2005, that Murphy met his fate and proved his courage.
Outnumbered at least 10 to 1 by enemy militia, Murphy's four-man commando team fought valiantly. Murphy rescued at least one wounded comrade, and then, in order to get a clear signal to radio for support, the lieutenant crawled into the open, exposing himself to even more vicious fire. Mortally wounded, he held off the Taliban in an effort to save his team - until he was shot dead.
Tragically, only one member of the team escaped. And 16 SEALs and Special Ops who had been dispatched to the firefight died when their copter was shot down.
One could write of the heroism of all. But today we single out Lt. Michael Murphy. One of New York's own, whose actions on the field of battle were both extraordinary and commonplace - in the way that commonplace is defined by those who stand above and beyond what the majority of us could even hope to aspire to.
Ping
In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum;
Benedicta tu in mulieribus,
et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus.
Sancta Maria, Mater Dei,
ora pro nobis peccatoribus,
nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.
May he rest in peace and his loved ones find strength in his sacrifice for our freedom.
I would nuke a billion muslimes straight to hell to save the life on one American.
That's just me.
That makes two of us, amigo.
Three.
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