A Tiny Little History Lesson.

I had written about half of a blog post about one of the United States' great men, a gentleman named Audie Murphy, when it was obliterated by a slip of my finger onto the windows key at the same time as pressing something else that caused Opera to close this window, delete the text, and open something else that I was totally uninterested in and in fact swore at.

Just so you know.

So this might seem a bit clipped.

Every so often, in conversation with American military personnel, current or retired, Mr. Murphy's name gets mentioned, and I realize that as most people aren't military, and some of you are dirty furriners and therefore cannot be expected to know the names of the great men of other nations, I felt like sharing.

Audie Murphy was born June 20th, 1925, to a pair of poor sharecroppers in Kingston, Texas. After his father abandoned the family in 1936, he fed his mother and 11 siblings by virtue of his great skill with a rifle.

That notwithstanding, he was physically a very small man; at 5'5", when he attempted to enlist in the Marines following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, he was turned down because the Marines didn't think he would be able to do the job.

Having no time for such silliness, Mr. Murphy falsified his papers to appear 18, and signed up for the Army. He participated in the liberation of Italy, and earned several decorations as well as promotion to sergeant.

But it was in 1944 that he began to make his presence known. During the invasion of France, Mr. Murphy destroyed a German machine gun nest singlehandedly, and then turned the weapon on several nearby German positions, earning himself the Distinguished Service Medal, the U.S.' second-highest award for valor.

Within weeks, he had earned battlefield promotion to Second Lieutenant, as well as two Silver Star medals (The U.S.' third highest award for valor.) In actions around Holtzwihr, he fought single-handedly for over an hour using the .50 caliber machine gun from an abandoned and burning tank destroyer to hold off German forces until sufficient American troops had moved up to allow Mr. Murphy to organize a counterattack which drove the Germans away from Holtzwihr.

That engagement earned Mr. Murphy the Medal Of Honor - often misnamed the "Congressional" Medal of Honor - the United States' highest military award.

In all, Mr. Murphy accumulated 33 U.S. medals, five from France, and one from Belgium. At the time of his return from Europe, having reached his full growth, he was 5'7" tall, and weighed 145 pounds.

His MoH Citation reads as follows:

Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company B 15th Infantry, 3rd Infantry Division.
Place and date: Near Holtzwihr France, 26 January 1945.
Entered service at: Dallas, Texas. Birth: Hunt County, near Kingston, Texas, G.O. No. 65, 9 August 1944.
Citation: Second Lt. Murphy commanded Company B, which was attacked by six tanks and waves of infantry. 2d Lt. Murphy ordered his men to withdraw to a prepared position in a woods, while he remained forward at his command post and continued to give fire directions to the artillery by telephone. Behind him, to his right, one of our tank destroyers received a direct hit and began to burn. Its crew withdrew to the woods. 2d Lt. Murphy continued to direct artillery fire, which killed large numbers of the advancing enemy infantry. With the enemy tanks abreast of his position, 2d Lt. Murphy climbed on the burning tank destroyer, which was in danger of blowing up at any moment, and employed its .50 caliber machine gun against the enemy. He was alone and exposed to German fire from three sides, but his deadly fire killed dozens of Germans and caused their infantry attack to waver. The enemy tanks, losing infantry support, began to fall back. For an hour the Germans tried every available weapon to eliminate 2d Lt. Murphy, but he continued to hold his position and wiped out a squad that was trying to creep up unnoticed on his right flank. Germans reached as close as 10 yards, only to be mowed down by his fire. He received a leg wound, but ignored it and continued his single-handed fight until his ammunition was exhausted. He then made his way back to his company, refused medical attention, and organized the company in a counterattack, which forced the Germans to withdraw. His directing of artillery fire wiped out many of the enemy; he killed or wounded about 50. 2d Lt. Murphy's indomitable courage and his refusal to give an inch of ground saved his company from possible encirclement and destruction, and enabled it to hold the woods which had been the enemy's objective.

Mr. Murphy went on, after the war, to champion veteran's rights, and break the taboo on discussion of combat-related mental disorders, as well as acting in 44 movies - he preferred Westerns - and a moderately successful career as a country-western songwriter. His autobiography, To Hell And Back, should be required reading for U.S. servicemen and women. He died on May 28th, 1971, when the plane he was in crashed.

Audie Murphy was the most highly decorated soldier in U.S. history. He earned the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver Stars, the Legion of Merit, two Bronze Stars, and three Purple Hearts, as well as the French Legion of Honor (Chevalier) and two French Croix du Guerre medals. He is credited with destroying six German tanks, killing over 240 German soldiers, and wounding or capturing many others.

His story, as with so many others, deserves to be told; remembered; and taken as inspiration.

"It's not the size of the b'ar in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the b'ar."

Audie Murphy is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. His grave is the second-most visited, after former President John F. Kennedy. His is one of the only Medal of Honor recipients' gravestones in the cemetery that is not decorated with gold leaf; Mr. Murphy described his service until his dying day as "having done no more than" his duty, and refused any ostentation for his gravestone whatsoever; his gravestone simply lists his awards, in abbreviations. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 1601 Vine St.

Audie Murphy was a lifetime member of the National Riflemen's Association.

He was one of our nation's greatest heroes, and deserves to be remembered.