AUDIE MURPHY

Audie Murphy

Audie Murphy

OUTLINE

EARLY YEARS

WAR RECORD

BATTLES

AWARDS AND HONORS

MOVIE CAREER

FIRST STARRING ROLE

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

FILMOGRAPHY

MUSIC CAREER

DEATH

Audie Murphy

Audie Murphy's early years were full of good times as well as hard. Audie Murphy was born in Hunt County, Texas. Hunt County is in the northeastern part of the Lone Star State, some fifty miles below the Red River that separates Texas and Oklahoma (Simpson 15). Audie Murphy, named after a neighbor, was born June 20, 1924 at seven o'clock p.m. He was the third son of seven children. Audie Murphy grew up in a poverty stricken, unsettled family. The Murphy's moved several times during Audie Murphy's boyhood, trying to find the right situation to sustain themselves. First, the Murphy family lived on the Boyle's Farm near Kingston, where he was born, until 1926. After living at the Boyle's for two years they moved to the John Warren Farm, east of Celeste in the Hog Eye Community.

The title of “The Most Decorated Soldier” was bestowed on Audie by Life Magazine, before the surrender of Japan. He is one of two men in the history of American warfare who has received every decoration for valor in combat that our nation awards. These together with awards from grateful allied nations, for deeds above and beyond the call of duty in actual combat, earned him the honor of such a title. He was awarded our country's highest military decoration, the Congressional Medal of Honor and 23 other decorations. He was then and is today recognized as a GI's soldier. Murphy is generally credited with killing, wounding or capturing 240 Germans. Nobody, least of all Audie, has the slightest idea of the actual figure. The arbitrary number was compiled by a friend who got his data from citations, newspaper accounts, letters and information from men in Murphy's outfit. Audie tried first to enlist with the Marines, then with the Paratroops. Both branches of service turned him down cold. He was underweight. The infantry finally accepted him. He went to Farmersville to say goodbye to his sister, and she recalls that his parting words were, “I'll try to do my share of the fighting.” His deeds on the battlefield are now legendary.

Audie joined the Army on his 18th birthday, June 20, 1942 and trained at camp Wolters, Texas and Fort Meade, Maryland. He arrived in Africa during February, 1943. Landing at Casablanca he was marched with a group of replacements to Fort Lyautey, French Morocco. He was moved to Tunisia and was put into Company B, First Battalion, 15th Regiment, Third Infantry Division as a replacement. He remained with the same company during his entire combat days, entering as a private and emerging as the commanding officer, with every promotion earned in the field. On October 14, 1944, he jumped from Staff Sergeant to Second Lieutenant, after having refused a field commission previously. By the time the war was over in Europe, Audie had participated in seven1 major battle campaigns: Tunisia, Sicily, Naples-Foggia, Rome-Arno, Southern France, the Rhineland ...