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Pam Murphy, widow of actor Audie Murphy, was veterans' friend and advocate
L.A. Daily News ^ | 04/15/10 | Dennis McCarthy

Posted on 04/15/2010 8:50:21 AM PDT by Borges

After Audie died, they all became her boys. Every last one of them.

Any soldier or Marine who walked into the Sepulveda VA hospital and care center in the last 35 years got the VIP treatment from Pam Murphy.

The widow of Audie Murphy – the most decorated soldier in World War II – would walk the hallways with her clipboard in hand making sure her boys got to see a specialist or doctor — STAT. If they didn't, watch out.

Her boys weren't Medal of Honor recipients or movie stars like Audie, but that didn't matter to Pam. They had served their country. That was good enough for her.

She never called a veteran by his first name. It was always "Mister." Respect came with the job.

"Nobody could cut through VA red tape faster than Mrs. Murphy," said veteran Stephen Sherman, speaking for thousands of veterans she befriended over the years.

"Many times I watched her march a veteran who had been waiting more than an hour right into the doctor's office. She was even reprimanded a few times, but it didn't matter to Mrs. Murphy.

"Only her boys mattered. She was our angel."

Last week, Sepulveda VA's angel for the last 35 years died peacefully in her sleep at age 90.

"She was in bed watching the Laker game, took one last breath, and that was it," said Diane Ruiz, who also worked at the VA and cared for Pam in the last years of her life in her Canoga Park apartment. It was the same apartment Pam moved into soon after Audie died in a plane crash on Memorial Day weekend in 1971.

Audie Murphy died broke, squandering million of dollars on gambling, bad investments, and yes, other women.

"Even with the adultery and desertion at the end, he always remained my hero," Pam told me.

She went from a comfortable ranch-style home in Van Nuys where she raised two sons to a small apartment - taking a clerk's job at the nearby VA to support herself and start paying off her faded movie star husband's debts.

At first, no one knew who she was. Soon, though, word spread through the VA that the nice woman with the clipboard was Audie Murphy's widow.

It was like saying Patton had just walked in the front door. Men with tears in their eyes walked up to her and gave her a hug. "Thank you," they said, over and over.

The first couple of years, I think the hugs were more for Audie's memory as a war hero. The last 30 years, they were for Pam.

She hated the spotlight. One year I asked her to be the focus of a Veteran's Day column for all the work she had done. Pam just shook her head no.

"Honor them, not me," she said, pointing to a group of veterans down the hallway. "They're the ones who deserve it."

The vets disagreed. Mrs. Murphy deserved the accolades, they said.

Incredibly, in 2002, Pam's job was going to be eliminated in budget cuts. She was considered "excess staff."

"I don't think helping cut down on veterans' complaints and showing them the respect they deserve, should be considered excess staff," she told me.

Neither did the veterans. They went ballistic, holding a rally for her outside the VA gates.

Pretty soon, word came down from the top of the VA. Pam Murphy was no longer considered "excess staff." She remained working full time at the VA until 2007 when she was 87.

"The last time she was here was a couple of years ago for the conference we had for homeless veterans," said Becky James, coordinator of the VA's Veterans History Project.

Pam wanted to see if there was anything she could do to help some more of her boys.


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: audiemurphy; pammurphy; sepulveda
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1 posted on 04/15/2010 8:50:22 AM PDT by Borges
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To: Borges

God Bless her may she RIP.


2 posted on 04/15/2010 8:54:56 AM PDT by PISANO
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To: Borges

Thanks for posting.


3 posted on 04/15/2010 8:54:56 AM PDT by Dr. Ursus
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To: Borges
When you been to Hell and back , the Father in Heaven sends some Angels .
4 posted on 04/15/2010 8:56:05 AM PDT by kbennkc (For those who have fought for it , freedom has a flavor the protected will never know F Trp 8th Cav)
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To: Borges

I bet she never accused any of them of air raiding villages or bombing innocent civilians.


5 posted on 04/15/2010 9:02:42 AM PDT by raisin
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To: Borges

May this strong and wonderful lady RIP.


6 posted on 04/15/2010 9:04:24 AM PDT by Gator113 (I do not want Obama just IMPEACHED... I want him IMPRISONED. Are we there yet? 2010-2012)
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To: Borges

Great story - sympathies to all who will miss this fine lady.


7 posted on 04/15/2010 9:08:30 AM PDT by Tax-chick (There's a perfectly good island somewhere.)
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To: Borges

Growing up I loved Audie Murphy and really thought he was a relative of mine. I would watch his movies and hoped one day I would meet him. My name was Murphy too so as a kid I thought for sure he and I were family.lol


8 posted on 04/15/2010 9:12:15 AM PDT by red irish (Gods Children in the womb are to be loved too!)
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To: Borges

I remember wandering through Arlington one quiet Memorial Day morning. Ahead of me, along the path, was a marker surrounded and piled high by flowers and other momentos. It was, of course, the grave of Audie Murphy.


9 posted on 04/15/2010 9:14:25 AM PDT by Melchior
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To: Borges

May this heroine RIP. She was really something else. god love her.


10 posted on 04/15/2010 9:19:27 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: afraidfortherepublic

RIP...God Bless.


11 posted on 04/15/2010 9:28:59 AM PDT by Mouton
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To: Borges

I’ll send flowers to her funeral.


12 posted on 04/15/2010 9:31:41 AM PDT by Lexington Green (By any means necessary....)
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To: Borges

RIP.


13 posted on 04/15/2010 9:39:57 AM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (~"This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Amber Lamps !"~~)
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To: Borges

She will be missed. The Navy may not name a ship after her, but to honorable and decent people she is more of a hero than the guy whose last name started with a M was.

She will be mised. He won’t.


14 posted on 04/15/2010 9:42:28 AM PDT by sport
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To: Borges

I had no idea. Thank you for posting this.


15 posted on 04/15/2010 9:46:39 AM PDT by packrat35 (Planned Parenthood - Keeping healthcare costs down, one fetus at a time)
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To: Borges
here is Pam and her husband Audie back in the day
16 posted on 04/15/2010 10:16:20 AM PDT by DM1
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To: Borges; All

Does anybody have a copy to share of Life Magazine’s cover of Audie in his uniform with all his medals? It came out right after the war.

Thank you.


17 posted on 04/15/2010 10:55:22 AM PDT by Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)
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To: Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)

18 posted on 04/15/2010 11:12:08 AM PDT by Borges
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To: Borges

Met her once. Great lady.

RIP.


19 posted on 04/15/2010 11:15:37 AM PDT by mad_as_he$$
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To: Borges; Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)
RIP, Mrs. Murphy.

Audie Murphy's Awards

20 posted on 04/15/2010 12:15:32 PM PDT by jazusamo (But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
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