Audie Murphy

Most decorated combat soldier in American history, earning every commendation the Army could bestow by the time he was 20, including the Medal of Honor. He was also awarded Frances and Belgiums highest decorations.

When the government replaced the tombstones at Arlington National Cemetery, it had the tombstones of Medal of Honor recipients embossed in gold leaf, but Murphys family requested that the "Medal of Honor" on his tombstone remain plain, as he would have wanted. His is the second most-visited grave at Arlington, next to John F. Kennedy s.

Audie Murphy Research Foundation established by Murphy family, for collection, preservation and distribution of historical information about AM. Location: 18008 Saratoga Way, Suite 516, Santa Clarita, CA 91351 Fax 805-251-8432.

June 20, 1996 was proclaimed Audie Murphy Day by the Greenville Area Postal Customer Advisory Council in Greenville, Texas. U.S. Highway 69 North, from North Greenville city limits to Fannin County line was renamed The Audie Murphy Memorial Highway. Audie Murphy was inducted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame this year in Oklahoma.

Fan club contact: The Audie Murphy National Fan Club, 8313 Snug Hill Lane, Potomac, Maryland 20854-4057. Annual fee $14.00.

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars (#55) in film history in 1995.

He was born in Kingston, TX, and grew up in Celeste. He went to school in Celeste until 8th grade, when he dropped out to help support his family.

Just before his death, Murphy was offered the part of the villain in the original Dirty Harry .

His ex-wife attended his memorial service.

Son, Terry, born April 14, 1952. Son James ("Skipper") born March 24, 1954.

First wife Wanda Hendrix claimed he had horrible nightmares, and held her at gunpoint once. Four days after his divorce from Hendrix was finalized, he married airline stewardess Pamela Archer.

Although commonly referred to as Sgt. Audie Murphy, he was given a battlefield commission and was promoted to 2nd Lt. prior to receiving his Medal of Honor.

Received most of his decorations before he had turned 20.

He was a life member of the National Rifle Association of America (NRA).

Supported the Democratic Party.

Charles Drake became a good friend offstage with Audie Murphy and was cast as a top supporting player in many of his westerns and war pictures.

Medal of Honor Citation: 2d Lt. Murphy commanded Company B, which was attacked by 6 tanks and waves of infantry. 2d Lt. Murphy ordered his men to withdraw to prepared positions 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, 1 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 3 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 which 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 the single-handed fight until his ammunition was exhausted. He then made his way 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. Murphys 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 enemys objective.

Has a military hospital named after him: The Audie L. Murphy Veterans Hospital in San Antonio, TX.

Murphy reputedly once frightened a drunken, misbehaving Lawrence Tierney, one of the more notorious brawlers in Hollywood, into leaving a party without raising his voice or physically harming Tierney.

Pulp western novelist J.T. Edson created a character named Dusty Fog based on Murphy. A thinly-disguised version of Murphy appears in one of Stephen Hunter s novels. The character of Fredrick Zoller in Quentin Tarantino s Inglourious Basterds is sort of a Mirror Universe Nazi analogue to Murphy. Robert Stack cited Murphy as a partial inspiration for his take on Elliot Ness in The Untouchables. David Morrell cited Murphy as a partial inspiration for John Rambo, although even in his more troubled moments, Murphy was a lot more functional than Rambo.

His friends in Hollywood were mostly character actors and film crew members (cameramen, makeup artists, horse wranglers, stunt people both male and female), and he was often protective of them, and tried to help them succeed in their careers. There is also a story of him staying with a wealthy friend in Dallas, and blowing off a party full of wealthy people to go hang out with the African-American kitchen staff and compliment them on their cooking.

Disliked the name "Audie" when he was a kid and usually went by his middle name, Leon. In the Army, he discovered that "Leon" was considered synonymous with rednecks, and spent the rest of his life going by "Audie" or "Murph.".

A non-smoker who rarely drank alcohol, he turned down large offers of money to advertise cigarettes and spirits.

Audie Murphy and James Arness both served in the 3rd Infantry Division during World War II. Murphy was in the 15th Infantry Regiment and Arness was in the 7th Infantry Regiment. Both regiments took part in the landings in Sicily and Anzio while part of the 3rd Division. Arness was wounded at Anzio and shipped back to the states.

He was sought to run for political office by liberal Democrats in Hollywood but declined.

While photographing the making of The Unforgiven , Inge Morath accompanied John Huston and his friends on a duck hunt. Up the river, she noticed Murphy in the water, having fallen out of his boat. She stripped to her underwear, reached Murphy, who was in the last stages of exhaustion, and hauled him ashore by her bra strap while the hunt continued uninterrupted over them.

Murphy died broke and in debt. His widow spent the next 35 years working as a patient liaison at the VA Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center (North Hills, CA) paying off his debts. She died in 2010, age 90.

He and film producer Hal B. Wallis tried unsuccessfully to persuade Desmond T. Doss to sell them the rights to his life story. Doss refused all offers to turn his story into a film.

Buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.[June 1971].

I never liked being called the "most decorated" soldier. There were so,many guys who should have gotten medals and never did--guys who were,killed.

Nobody wanted to be in his shoes, but nobody wanted to be unlike him,either.

[on turning 40] I guess my face is still the same, and so is the,dialogue. Only the horses were changed.

No soldier ever really survives a war.

Let each man hear his own music and live by it. The drums roll one way for one man, and another way for another. You have to listen for your own.

And freedom is what America means to the world.

They were singing in French, but the melody was freedom and any American could understand that. .