<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nIn 1942, after being denied entry into the naval forces and airborne brigade owing to his short stature (165 cm) and insufficient weight, the young man enlisted in the US infantry. This was accomplished by forging the birth certificate since Murphy was not yet of legal age at the time (as a result, some sources incorrectly indicate his birth year as 1924).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After receiving basic military skills at Camp Wolters in Texas, Murphy continued his training in Fort Meade, Maryland. Following that, the young soldier served as a member of the 15th Infantry Regiment in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France and Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During World War II, he killed hundreds of Germans in battle. On January 26, 1945, in France, six German tanks and infantry attacked a company under the leadership of Second Lieutenant Murphy (the primary military rank of an officer in the US Armed Forces). Murphy gave the order for his men to retreat to their prepared positions in the forest. He, on the other hand, stayed at the command post, where he continued to give orders to the gunners by phone. An American tank destroyer to his right took a direct hit and caught fire as a result. Murphy’s crew retreated into the woods, and he jumped onto a burning tank to rotate the machine gun toward the enemy troops. Since the tank was in danger of exploding, Murphy risked his life to withdraw enemy troops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was fighting alone, while the Germans opened fire from three directions at once. However, the enemy tanks, having lost infantry support from the fatal strike of the American lieutenant, began to retreat. For another hour, the Germans employed every weapon at their disposal to kill Second Lieutenant Murphy. The Texan, on the other hand, kept his position bravely and even destroyed a squad that tried to sneak up on his right flank unnoticed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Germans got as close as 9 meters but were killed by Murphy’s fire. Murphy, wounded in the leg, fought alone until he ran out of ammunition. He then retreated to his forces, which he immediately mobilized into a counterattack, even refusing medical aid. Murphy’s unwavering bravery and unwillingness to give up even a piece of land rescued him and the troops from possible destruction while also allowing them to retain control of the forests that the Germans were going for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For this, at the age of 19, Murphy received the Medal of Honor, the highest US military award given by the federal government to members of the US Armed Forces for outstanding personal bravery during combat operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On February 16, 1945, Lieutenant Murphy was promoted to first lieutenant and received the Legion of Merit for his excellent leadership of the company in combat conditions. A first lieutenant is a junior officer rank in the Army, Marine Corps, Air Force and Space Forces of the United States. This is a higher rank than second lieutenant but lower than captain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In total, for outstanding courage and leadership skills in battle, Murphy received 33 military awards, commendations and distinctions, including all of the medals for bravery awarded in the United States, as well as three French and one Belgian medal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Interestingly, Murphy was one of the first soldiers to openly discuss what is now known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He became depressed as a result of this disorder. Because of the nightmares, the man slept with a gun under his pillow and self-medicated with sleeping pills, to which he became addicted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/span>Hollywood star<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nAfter the war, because of his widespread notoriety, Hollywood took notice of Murphy. Following his discharge from the army in September 1945, Audie went to the movie capital of America. It was at the invitation of James Cagney, one of the most sought-after actors in classic Hollywood. Murphy stayed in California until the end of his life, working in the film industry first as an actor, and then as a producer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In particular, the Texan appeared in 44 films, in 39 of which he played the title character. The most well-known film in which he appears is “To Hell and Back,” which is based on Murphy’s memoirs and relates the story of how the soldier survived World War II. Murphy’s other films are mostly Westerns. This is a subgenre of action films that fans of good and dynamic films enjoy. Westerns are nearly always set in the Wild West, as these regions – which now comprise the western United States – developed between the Civil War and 1890. In 1955, at a film festival, Murphy was recognized as the most popular Western movie actor in America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/span>The final days and death<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nIn 1950, Murphy joined the 36th Infantry Division of the Texas Army National Guard, where he served until 1966. On May 28, 1971, the hero died in a plane crash in Virginia, when he was flying as a passenger on board an Aero Commander 680 plane. His body was discovered two days after the tragic crash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On June 7, the soldier was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery, a military cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, where war veterans, presidents, Supreme Court presidents and astronauts are buried. Murphy’s final resting place is located near the amphitheater. It is one of the most frequently visited graves there.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAfter Audie Murphy’s death, the main American news channels ABC, CBS and NBC covered his incredible life in just 1 minute and 30 seconds. Over time, media interest in the man faded until annual local facts about the lives of the heroes began to be translated. However, among them, there was a lot of inaccurate and false information. Sadly, those family members, close friends, colleagues and fellow actors who knew him best and could uncover the truth died. Only the efforts of those who are not indifferent managed to preserve the memory of the soldier who fought and sacrificed his life for the freedom of civilians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The icon of American military films Audie Murphy gained international recognition long before he appeared on the big screen, it happened on the battlefields of Europe. To enter the army, the 17-year-old lied about his age and went on to become the greatest warrior of World War II, the soldier with the most awards in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":300,"featured_media":2863,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[498],"tags":[1327,1326,1322,1332,1329,1331,1333,1323,1321,1325,1328,1330,1324,1334],"motype":[491],"moformat":[93],"moimportance":[101,104],"class_list":{"0":"post-3196","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-voenna-istoria","8":"tag-difficult-childhood","9":"tag-his-biography-looks-more-like-fiction-rather-than-fact","10":"tag-it-happened-on-the-battlefields-of-europe","11":"tag-maryland","12":"tag-military-service","13":"tag-murphy-continued-his-training-in-fort-meade","14":"tag-murphy-risked-his-life-to-withdraw-enemy-troops","15":"tag-the-17-year-old-lied-about-his-age-and-went-on-to-become-the-greatest-warrior-of-world-war-ii","16":"tag-the-icon-of-american-military-films-audie-murphy-gained-international-recognition-long-before-he-appeared-on-the-big-screen","17":"tag-the-soldier-with-the-most-awards-in-the-history-of-the-united-states","18":"tag-the-teenager-was-left-an-orphan-when-his-mother-died-of-endocarditis-and-pneumonia-in-1941","19":"tag-this-was-accomplished-by-forging-the-birth-certificate-since-murphy-was-not-yet-of-legal-age-at-the-time","20":"tag-to-enter-the-army","21":"tag-while-the-germans-opened-fire-from-three-directions-at-once","22":"motype-eternal","23":"moformat-longrid-korotka","24":"moimportance-golovna-novyna","25":"moimportance-retranslyacziya-v-agregatory"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/houston-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/houston-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/houston-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houston-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/300"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houston-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3196"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/houston-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3197,"href":"https:\/\/houston-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3196\/revisions\/3197"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houston-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/houston-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houston-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houston-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3196"},{"taxonomy":"motype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houston-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/motype?post=3196"},{"taxonomy":"moformat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houston-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moformat?post=3196"},{"taxonomy":"moimportance","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houston-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moimportance?post=3196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}