The banner reads:
The most decorated U.S. soldier of World War II. At War’s end he was just 21
and the stats read that he had killed 240 German soldiers, was wounded himself
3 times and was decorated with 33 medals including the Nation’s highest The
Congressional Medal of Honor. When it was time for a Hollywood career it would
be James Cagney that beckoned him to the silver screen.
Murphy was born Hunt
County, Texas June 20, 1925 in a ramshackle house to a sharecropper who sired
12 children but unfortunately his father had no plan as how to nourish the ever
burgeoning brood. Audie the 7th of the 12 to the rescue as he hunted
small game including rabbits which he supplemented to feed his siblings and
mother. Audie claimed it was this hunting for family sustenance that helped him
attain his deadly accuracy with the rifle during the war years. By age 15
his father had flown the coop permanently and his beloved mother died a year
later. When news of Pearl Harbor rang out Audie tried to enlist in the Army,
Navy and Marine Corps but all 3 turned him down for being underage and
underweight. His sister falsifying his birth document by a whole year Audie was
accepted by the Army in June of 1942.
After extensive
training it was February 1943 and he was on his way to North Africa for active
duty and active it became. When his division moved to Sicily Audie contracted
malaria but he distinguished himself in battle nonetheless. When his unit
moved again to Southern France and his best friend was killed by German
skullduggery Murphy became enraged and annihilated the enemy that had just
killed pal Lattie Tipton. He commandeered a German machine gun attacking enemy
positions gaining his first citation the Distinguished Service Cross. Murphy
would also receive medals from France and Belgium but the story of the Medal of
Honor is recounted here. The German 19th Division held a position in
the Colmar Pocket a region in the central Alsace region in France. After the
enemy had lit the American M10 tank destroyer on fire Murphy told his men to
retreat to the woods in safety but Audie mounted it alone and began firing the
.50 caliber machine gun while the tank was ablaze and for an hour stood atop
the tank killing 50 Germans. Wounded in the leg he remained with his men and
for his gallantry he received the prestigious Medal of Honor.
When Murphy returned
home a hero LIFE magazine put the baby faced soldier on the cover of their July
16th issue and it was this notoriety that gave James Cagney the
inspiration to invite Audie to Hollywood to begin his acting career which at
first had him struggling for years in B pictures. What elevated him to
star status was he decided to write his autobiography entitled To Hell and
Back, which he penned in 1949. Described as a shy man and ever self-effacing
while writing his account of his war exploits Audie was careful to not to
engage in any hyperbole so he wouldn’t be accused of hyperventilating over his
war hero status. Nonetheless it became a National bestseller. That same
year he was named Time magazine’s Man of the Year. Spurred on by the
novels success he desperately wanted to portray himself in the movie and the
Studio agreed. The film became Universal’s highest grossing film in 1955 and
stayed that way until 1975 when the blockbuster Jaws would unseat it from it’s
ranking. Murphy’s real life best friend Charles Drake starred alongside
him adding more comfort to his role. Audie’s filmography listed 44 features mostly westerns and in
addition maybe unbeknownst to some became a successful country music songwriter
and featured artists like Dean Martin, Jerry Wallace and Harry Nilsson would
record his music.
David Niven in his
biography stated that Audie would sleep with a loaded gun next to him and on
occasion when startled he would fire off a round. In fact Audie got caught up
in a bar fight one night and nearly beat a man to death and was fortunate to
escape attempted murder charges. His volatile temper would bedevil his
otherwise shy nature.
Audie’s married life
was a sad one and what would later be diagnosed at posttraumatic stress
disorder would doom his first marriage to actress Wanda Hendrix. Audie after
seeing Wanda’s picture on the cover of Coronet magazine arranged to meet her.
They fell in love and married in January of 1949 but his depression, nightmares
and insomnia and once holding her at gunpoint ended their marriage by April the
next year. He would later become addicted to sleeping pills and by the
time of his passing Audie had squandered his fortune on gambling and bad
investments. While he was struggling financially he was offered a plentitude of
commercial parts to star for cigarettes and alcohol but refused feeling that it
would set a bad example for the children who looked up to Audie Murphy the man.
On May 8, 1971 when
he boarded a private jet in Atlanta his pilot encountered heavy fog but they
chose to fly through it and the Aero Commander 680 crashed into the side of a
brush mountain some 20 miles west of Roanoke, Virginia. No one survived the
crash.
Audie Murphy was
buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery and outside of
the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and John F. Kennedy Murphy’s is the most
visited gravesite.
