[maximus@Nashville]

Murphy was wounded (his third) while on that Tank Destroyer. He had ordered all his men to cover in the woods and stood alone firing the .50 BMG until all the ammo had been expended. He then went back to the woods line and used a field telephone to call in artilley fire.

Murphy starred in his own life story "To Hell and Back" based on his auto-biography of the same name. It covers the majority of his exploits (including this episode) quite truthfully. Murphy himself demanded it. The only change I am aware of is in the movie, a friend was shot causing Murphy to go mad with anger. In reality his friend was killed by artillery fire while at Anzio. No part of his body was ever found.

As a Medal of Honor winner, Murphy was entitled to be saluted first by higher ranks. He never insisted on it with the exception of General Mark Clark, the Italian Theater commander. When asked why, Murphy replied "A lot of good men died on that beachhead while Clark sat on his ass."

A stature to Murphy is long overdue, not only as an individual, but as an example of the infantrymen who foaught the war. Murphy had been turned down as too "frail" by the Marines, the Navy and the Paratroops. He also had worked his way up thru the ranks before being given his battlefield comission. His wounds were such that he could no longer stay in the Army and lost his appointment to West Point.

In the post war years he went to Los Angeles and was working at a gym when he was noticed by a director while showering. He was still slight and had gone un-noticed while dressed. It was only after seeing him nude, and the evidence of his wounds (he had lost one buttocks)that the director asked who he was. Murphy was then approached about the movie business, shortly after starring in his first film, "The Red Badge of Courage" a film for which many thought he should have received the Academy Award.

While his hometown is a good place for a statue of him, I would like to see it in DC as the WW2 memorial.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Red Badge was probably his best movie.

[TigersEye]

While his hometown is a good place for a statue of him, I would like to see it in DC as the WW2 memorial.

Thanks, m@N, I appreciate you posting more of the story and for giving my sotted memory a jolt with the name of his auto-biographical movie. Started to watch it last year but other things took me away from it. Audie Murphy also starred in Shane, a classic western that ranks right up there with High Noon.

.30C, my love, maybe we can rent 'To Hell and Back' and watch it at your dads' sometime. Watching 'The Red Badge of Courage would be cool too.

[TigersEye]

Oh, and as for your suggestion that his statue ought to be in D.C. as the WWII Memorial I think that's a splendid idea. His story, his courage, do embody the spirit of American soldiers in WWII very well. The understatement of a single statue of a single soldier itself speaks very well for the kind of individual commitment and sacrifice that Americans made then, in uniform and at home