January 26, 1945, 80 years ago: Audie Murphy takes actions that lead to him being awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. The story didn't start there. It certainly did not end there.
Audie Leon Murphy was born on June 20, 1925 in Kingston, Texas. He was born into a large family of sharecroppers. After his father abandoned them, his mother died when he was a teenager. Murphy left school in 5th grade to pick cotton and find other work to help support his family. His skill with a hunting rifle helped feed his family.
He was 16 years old at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. His older sister helped him to falsify documentation about his birthdate in order to meet the minimum age for enlisting in the military. At first, the Army, the Navy and the Marine Corps all turned him down for being underweight. Eventually, the Army accepted him.
He served in the invasion of Sicily, then the Battle of Anzio, the liberation of Rome, and the invasion of southern France at Provence. He was transferred to northeastern France, and led his men on a successful assault at L'Omet quarry in October 1944.
On January 26, 1945, he single-handedly held off a company of German soldiers for an hour at the Colmar Pocket in Alsace, France, before leading a successful counterattack while wounded and out of ammunition. For this action, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. He was just 19 years old.
Despite suffering from multiple illnesses and wounds throughout his service, Murphy became one of the most praised and decorated soldiers of World War II. He is credited with killing 241 enemy soldiers. He has been described as the most-decorated soldier in American history.
In 1949, he published a memoir, To Hell and Back. In 1955, he played himself in the film version of the story. He received more acting roles, most of them in Westerns, including the NBC TV series Whispering Smith. He also became an accomplished songwriter and breeder of quarter horses at ranches in California and Arizona.
Murphy married actress Wanda Hendrix in 1949. Their divorce became final in 1951. Four days later, he married former airline stewardess Pamela Opal Lee Archer, with whom he had 2 sons, Terry and James.
Because he had what would today be described as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), then known as "battle fatigue," he slept with a loaded handgun under his pillow. He looked for solace in addictive sleeping pills. He was noted for a quick, fierce temper, and was involved in various violent altercations during his adult life. In May 1970, he was charged with battery and assault in Burbank, California, but was cleared of the charges.
In his last few years, with the Vietnam War and opposition to it having taken the place of World War II as the defining war in Americans' minds, he was seen as a figure from another era. Between this and his personal issues, his acting roles became fewer and further between. He was plagued by money problems, but refused offers to appear in alcohol and cigarette commercials, because he did not want to set a bad example.
Audie Murphy died on May 28, 1971, in the crash of a private plane outside Roanoke, Virginia, shortly before his 46th birthday. There was rain and fog, and the pilot and 4 other passengers were killed. He was interred with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.
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