Background

Audie Leon Murphy was born on June 20, 1925, in Kingston, Texas, United States. He was the son of Emmett Berry Murphy and Josie Bell Killian. He was the seventh among 12 children born to his parents. Murphy was named after two men who took care of his mother when she was abandoned by his father. His father kept coming and going until he finally abandoned the family.

Education

Audie Murphy went to elementary school while growing up around Farmersville, Greenville, and Celeste. He dropped out of school in fifth grade and left home to seek work that would help the family. In 1941, after Murphy's mother died, he took up various jobs to survive in Greenville.

Career

Audie Murphy started his military career when he was taken into the armed forces in June 1942. In late January 1943, Murphy shipped out to North Africa. Assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Division, he was sent to the island of Sicily on July 10. The 7th Infantry Regiment finally captured and secured the port in August 1943. The same year, Murphy was promoted to the post of sergeant. In August 1944, he became part of Operation Dragoon. He fought the Nazis with great valor and skill and got promoted to the rank of second lieutenant. On September 15, 1944, he was wounded for the first time, but after just a few days in the hospital for treatment, he was back on the front lines.

Murphy was wounded for a second time on October 26, 1944, when a shot from a sniper glanced off a tree and struck him. Three days passed before he could be evacuated, and by the time he made it to the hospital, the wound had become gangrenous. He spent the next two months out of action, but was back on the front lines by mid-January of 1945, during the coldest and snowiest winter Europe had seen in twenty-five years. When Murphy rejoined his regiment, it was preparing to clear the Germans out of a much-disputed territory on the border of Germany and France. He sustained his third war wound, but the injury did not require medical attention, so he kept fighting. He was placed in command of Company B after its first lieutenant was badly wounded. With that, Murphy became the sole officer in a company that had once numbered over 200 men but was now down to only 18. In 1945, Murphy became part of one of the most important counter-attacks, leading to the capture of Colmar Pocket. He was once again lauded and promoted as a first lieutenant the same year, after which he was made a liaison officer and was called back to the headquarters from the war front.

Murphy was enlisted as a captain in the 36th Infantry Division of Texas National Guard in 1950. The same year, Murphy's life took a new turn as he stepped into Hollywood to act in war movies. Although he appeared in a string of low-budget westerns and war movies over a twenty-year period, he turned in only a couple of truly noteworthy performances. In 1951, Murphy played a young Civil War soldier in The Red Badge of Courage that garnered him his best reviews. Four years later, in 1955, he played himself in the movie version of his autobiography, To Hell and Back, which proved to be a hit with critics and at the box office. In 1956, he was promoted to the rank of major in the United States Army Reserve and was discharged from the Texas National Guard a decade later. Murphy started to write songs in the 1960s. In 1961, he was introduced to songwriter Scott Turner. The two collaborated on numerous songs between 1962 and 1970.

In May 1969, Audie Murphy retired from the United States Army, leaving behind a great legacy. In 1970, when he was charged with assault after he beat up a man and fired a shot at him during an argument. He was eventually acquitted, but the negative publicity generated by the case proved tough to live down. On May 28, 1971, Murphy died along with five others in a plane crash while on a business trip.

Achievements

• 

  Audie Murphy was an American soldier, actor and songwriter, who was known as one of the most decorated American combat soldiers of World War II. Murphy received such awards as the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star Medal, the Medal of Honor, the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal, and Purple Heart. He also was decorated with the United States Army badges, such as Combat Infantryman Badge, Marksman Badge, and Expert Badge.
  
  In 1960, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to cinema. In 1973, Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital was named after him in San Antonio. In 1986, the Sergeant Audie Murphy Club was established at Fort Hood, Texas.
  
  Several countries have issued stamps in honor of Murphy. The major ones are Le 2 value by the West African nation of Sierra Leone and $6.40 value stamp by Guyana. In 2014, the rock band "Sabaton" released a song titled "To Hell and Back" in reference to Audie Murphy and his film.

Works

More photos

• book

  • To Hell and Back

    (To Hell and Back is Audie Murphy's 1949 World War II memo...)

    1949

• movie

  • Ride a Crooked Trail

    (Fugitive bank robber Joe Maybe steals the identity of a m...)

    1958
  • Walk the Proud Land

    (An agent sent from Washington in 1874 takes charge of an ...)

    1956
  • Column South

    (A young cavalry lieutenant's friendship with the local Na...)

    1953
  • No Name on the Bullet

    (When hired killer John Gant rides into Lordsburg, the tow...)

    1959
  • The Wild and the Innocent

    (In Wyoming, mountain trapper Yancy goes to the nearest to...)

    1959
  • Ride Clear of Diablo

    (When his father and brother are murdered by a corrupt law...)

    1954
  • Kansas Raiders

    (After their parents are killed by Union soldiers, Jesse J...)

    1950
  • The Quick Gun

    (On his way home after two years away, a man known for bei...)

    1964
  • The Texican

    (A former Texas sheriff, living in Mexico, goes to Arizona...)

    1966
  • Night Passage

    (A fired railroad man is re-hired and trusted to carry a t...)

    1957
  • Six Black Horses

    (A beautiful woman with an ulterior motive hires two gunsl...)

    1962
  • Hell Bent For Leather

    (Mistaken for a murderous outlaw, an innocent passerby is ...)

    1960
  • Arizona Raiders

    (When Quantrill's gang is almost destroyed two of the capt...)

    1965
  • Gunsmoke

    (A young gunslinger tries to help a rancher and his daught...)

    1953
  • 40 Guns to Apache Pass

    (A cavalry officer saves a group of homesteaders from an I...)

    1967
  • The Kid From Texas

    (When a rancher who gave him a break is killed by a rival ...)

    1950
  • Sierra

    (A tomboy frontier lawyer finds an outlaw and his son hidi...)

    1950
  • The Duel at Silver Creek

    (Marshal Tyrone and the Silver Kid form an uneasy alliance...)

    1952
  • Bad Boy

    (A couple reform a newcomer at their Texas ranch for juven...)

    1949
  • To Hell and Back

    (The true WWII story of Audie Murphy, the most decorated s...)

    1955

Politics

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

Views

Quotations: "I'll tell you what bravery really is. Bravery is just determination to do a job that you know has to be done."

"The true meaning of America, you ask? It's in a Texas rodeo, in a policeman's badge, in the sound of laughing children, in a political rally, in a newspaper. In all these things, and many more, you'll find America. In all these things, you'll find freedom. And freedom is what America means to the world. And to me."

"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."

"No soldier ever really survives a war."

"After the war, they took Army dogs and rehabilitated them for civilian life. But they turned soldiers into civilians immediately, and let them sink or swim."

"Actual combat experience is the only teacher. You never come out of a skirmish without having picked up a couple of new tricks; without having learned more about your enemy. Total involvement with the war was the only thing that kept me alive and pushing."

"Sometimes it takes more courage to get up and run than to stay. You either just do it or you don't. I got so scared the first day in combat I just decided to go along with it."

"And freedom is what America means to the world."

"Now I have shed my first blood. I feel no qualms, no pride, no remorse. There is only a weary indifference that will follow me throughout the war."

"I was scared before every battle. That old instinct of self-preservation is a pretty basic thing, but while the action was going on some part of my mind shut off and my training and discipline took over. I did what I had to do."

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

"I knew why I felt at home. The spirit of freedom was hovering over that play yard as it did all over France at that time. A country was free again."

"It's not easy to shed the idea that human life is sacred."

"I'm glad that it didn't take as long to get Shepard off the ground as it's taken this series. I'd begun to think the Congo would be ahead of us in the space race before Whispering Smith ever got on the air."

Personality

As a child, Murphy was a loner with mood swings and an explosive temper. During his military career, he proved to be the ideal soldier. However, he suffered tremendous guilt about the war and agonized over friends who never made it back. Murphy was plagued by recurring nightmares and slept with a loaded gun under his pillow for many years.

Audie Murphy loved horses and was unquestionably one of the best horse-riding actors in Hollywood during his time. He bred quarter horses at the Audie Murphy Ranch in what is now Menifee, California. His horses raced at the Del Mar Racetrack, and he invested large sums of money in the hobby. Murphy also was fond of gambling.

Physical Characteristics: Murphy suffered from the post-traumatic stress disorder.

Interests

• Horse-riding, gambling

Connections

Audie Murphy married actress Wanda Hendrix in 1949. They divorced two years later. Then, Murphy married Pamela Opal Lee Archer. The marriage produced two sons.

Father:

Emmett Berry Murphy

Emmett Berry Murphy (February 19, 1887 – September 20, 1976) was a sharecropper.

Mother:

Josie Bell Killian

(May 1891 – May 23, 1941)

Son:

James Shannon

(born March 24, 1954)

Son:

Terrance Michael Murphy

(born 14 March 1952)

Wife:

Pamela Archer

Pamela Archer (October 7, 1923 – April 8, 2010) was an airline stewardess.

ex-wife:

Wanda Hendrix

Wanda Hendrix (November 3, 1928 – February 1, 1981) was an American film and television actress.

Sister:

Elizabeth Corrine Murphy

(May 5, 1910 – March 28, 1980)

Sister:

Ariel June Murphy

(March 30, 1919 – October 18, 2002)

Sister:

Oneta Murphy

(1918 – 1919)

Sister:

Willie Beatrice Murphy

(September 4, 1933 – March 6, 2004)

Sister:

Verda Nadine Murphy

(born February 28, 1931)

Brother:

J. W. Murphy

Brother:

Vernon Murphy

(February 14, 1916 – February 17, 1920)

Brother:

Eugene Porter Murphy

(July 17, 1928 – December 24, 2002)

Brother:

Charles Emmett Murphy

(April 23, 1912 – May 10, 1991)

Brother:

Richard Houston Murphy

(February 16, 1926 – November 18, 1956)

Brother:

Joseph Preston Murphy

(February 19, 1935 – January 29, 1968)

Friend:

Guy Mitchell

Guy Mitchell (February 22, 1927 – July 1, 1999) was an American pop singer and actor.

References

• No Name on the Bullet: A Biography of Audie Murphy Profiles the baby-faced soldier who earned the Congressional Medal of Honor and became the most decorated soldier in American history as a teenager and went on to become a Hollywood star before slipping into a life of dissolution.
  1989
• American Hero: The Life and Death of Audie Murphy In this biography, Charles Whiting tells the tale of a barefoot Texan sharecropper's son, who could barely read and write but became not only the United States Army's most decorated soldier in its 250-year history, but also the star of forty Paramount produced movies.
  1990
• The Price of Valor: The Life of Audie Murphy, America's Most Decorated Hero of World War II When he was seventeen years old, Audie Murphy falsified his birth records so he could enlist in the Army and help defeat the Nazis. When he was nineteen, he single-handedly turned back the German Army at the Battle of Colmar Pocket by climbing on top of a tank with a machine gun, a moment immortalized in the classic film To Hell and Back, starring Audie himself.
  2015
• Films and Career of Audie Murphy A book by Sue Gossett.
  1996