The Most Decorated WWII Soldier: Audie Leon Murphy

We have so many heroes who served this country proudly and with honor that I can write about a different one every day. Today in honor of Dedication Day or Memorial Day, however you wish to call it, I chose to write about another of our courageous American heroes Audie Leon Murphy, born on June 20, 1925 in Hunt County, Texas.

This is a story of another young man who didn’t have an easy life yet managed to overcome the obstacles put in his way. He came from a large family being one of twelve children raised in a rundown sharecropper’s house. His parents, Emit and Josie Bell were poor sharecroppers and their life was a struggle but it taught Audie Murphy responsibility as he picked up the slack. He left school in the 5^th grade to pick cotton and find any other work that may be available for someone his age so he could help his parents support the family. He was always very skilled with a hunting rifle which came in handy hunting to add food to the table for his family.  

Times got harder for Audie when his father abandoned the family in 1940. Only a year later his mother passed away. Audie was all of sixteen years old working at a radio repair shop and a combination general store, garage and gas station.

With the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the United States entered WWII. After being turned down by the Marines and the Navy, Audie enlisted in the Army but he was under age so his oldest sister, Corinne, helped him. She helped him falsify documentation so he would meet the minimum age requirement to enlist in the military.  He was 17 when he entered the military but that didn’t hold him back.

After basic training, February 1943, he was shipped out to North Africa, assigned to Company B, 1^st Battalion, 15^th Infantry Regiment, 3^rd Infantry Division. His commanding officer was Major General Lucian Truscott. Here his division received rigorous training in preparation for Allied invasion of Sicily. Impressing his superiors he was first promoted to Private First Class on May 7^th and then to Corporal on July 15^th.

On July 10^th the 3^rd Infantry landed in Sicily, while on scouting patrol Audie Murphy killed two fleeing Italian officers. His health took a setback about this time and was laid up for about a week. By time he was back on his feet Company B was in Palermo where Audie rejoined them.

September 1943, Murphy participated in the landing on the mainland of Salerno landing at Battipaglia. While out scouting he and two other soldiers were ambushed. They had taken on German machine gun fire which killed one solider. Murphy and the other soldier killed five Germans using hand grenades and machine guns. In October the Allies led an assault on the Volturno Line, Audie and his company were attacked by seven German soldiers. They killed three and took four prisoners, by December Audie Murphy was promoted to Sergeant.

Not long after, in January of 1944, he was promoted to Staff sergeant but then he was hospitalized in Naples with Malaria and was unable to participate in the landing at Anzio beachhead. He didn’t get to join up with his Battalion until January 29^th when he joined in the First Battle of Cisterna. After this battle he was made platoon sergeant in Company B. He then returned with the 3^rd Division to Anzio remaining there for months. During this time they were taking shelter from the rain in an abandoned farm house. On March 2, Murphy and his platoon killed the crew of a German tank. Crawling out alone, Audie got close enough to destroy the tank with rifle grenades. This action earned him the Bronze Start, he was also awarded a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster for his Bronze Star.

In August 1944 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions during the first wave of the Allied invasion of southern France. His platoon was under attack by German soldiers. During this time he fired at the Germans killing two and wounding one but then his best friend was shot and killed by two Germans who appeared to be surrendering. After that Murphy advanced on the house the Germans were taking refuge in, on his own, killing six and wounded two plus took eleven prisoner.  He also received the Presidential Unit Citation along with other soldiers who took part in the action.

It was in September of 1944 Audie Murphy received a heel wound from a mortar shell blast which earned him his first Purple Heart. On October 2 he earned his first Silver Star when he killed four and wounded three at a German machine gun position. Just three days later Murphy found himself crawling towards the Germans while directing his men where to go and what to do on the radio for one hour, while the Germans shot at him.

By the time this all came to an end 15 Germans had been killed and 35 wounded. Audie Murphy was truly an American hero and was awarded a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster for his Silver Star and a battlefield commission to second lieutenant, making him platoon leader. Only a few days later he and his platoon were attacked by a German sniper group. Murphy captured two before being shot in the hip by a sniper who he then shot between the eyes. Gangrene had set in his wound causing him partial loss of his hip muscle. It also kept him out of combat until January but earned him his first Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster for his Purple Heart for this injury.

By the time he left the military in 1945, Audie Murphy was the most decorated United States Army combat soldier in WWII. He received every American combat award for valor available. He was just a kid who wanted to serve his country and he did so with pride and honor but he was teased, because of his baby face, very often.

Unfortunately when Audie came home service he suffered with PTSD but it wasn’t called that back then. It was known as “combat fatigue” which gave him a quick temper. Many nights he woke up screaming and slept with a loaded gun nearby. What he went through while in country battling for our freedoms tortured him when he got home and caused him to have a bumpy ride through life for some time. In Audie Murphy fashion he pushed hard for the government to spend more time and money on taking care of the Vietnam War Veterans returning home since he knew exactly what they were going through. He knew some of the problems many of them would face.

When Audie was discharged from the military his story caught the eye of none other than the great James Cagney who invited him to Hollywood. Cagney took a personal interest in Audie and under Cagney Productions he paid for acting and dancing lessons but he didn’t think Audie had what it would take to be a movie star. Audie struggled to make it as an actor, he had a few bit parts here and there but finally got a lead role in Bad Boy in 1949 and The Red Badge of Courage in 1951. Universal-International Pictures signed him for a string of low budget Westerns. In 1955 he stared in his autobiography To Hell and Back. You can check out the rest of his film career and enjoy some good old classics if you like online.

It was on May 18, 1971 Audie Murphy boarded a private plan to go to a business meeting. Near Roanoke, Va. they ran into a thick fog and crashed into the side of a mountain, killing all six on board. He was buried with honors at Arlington National Cemetery. May this hero Rest in Peace as we remember him this Memorial Day and thank him for his service and dedication to his men and his country.

May God Bless America and watch over our troops.