Murphy liittyi armeijaan vuonna 1942. Hän oli yrittänyt värväytyä jo aikaisemminkin, mutta hänet oli hylätty ikänsä takia. Hänet sijoitettiin 3. jalkaväkidivisioonan, 15. jalkaväkirykmentin B-komppaniaan Pohjois-Afrikkaan. Myöhemmin hänestä tuli saman yksikön komentaja. Sodan aikana Murphy palveli Pohjois-Afrikan lisäksi Sisiliassa, Italiassa, Ranskassa ja Saksassa.
26. tammikuuta 1945 Murphyn komppania kohtasi kuusi saksalaisten panssarivaunua ja suuren määrän jalkaväen sotilaita Holtzwihrissä, Ranskassa. Murphy komensi komppanian miehet suojattuihin asemiin läheiseen metsään, pysytellen itse aukiolla suunnaten tykistötulta. Vihollisen tankkien vallattua hänen asemansa, Murphy miehitti yksinään vahingoittuneen telatykin konekiväärin, jonka avulla hän sai viivytettyä tunnin ajan vihollisen etenemistä. Murphy haavoittui taistelun aikana jalkaan, mutta hän siirtyi metsään muun komppanian luokse vasta ammusten loputtua.
Hän kieltäytyi hoidosta, kunnes oli järjestänyt vastahyökkäyksen, joka sai vihollisen vetäytymään. Tämän tapahtuman ansiosta hänelle myönnettiin Medal of Honor, joka on Yhdysvaltojen armeijan korkein kunniamerkki. Murphyn saamiin muihin kunniamerkkeihin kuuluvat muun muassa Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star tammenlehvin, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star tammenlehvin ja kolme Purple Heartia. Hänet kotiutettiin 21. syyskuuta 1945 luutnantin arvoisena.
Samoihin aikoihin kotiuttamisensa kanssa näyttelijä James Cagney, joka oli nähnyt kuvan Murphystä Life-lehden kannessa, pyysi häntä muuttamaan Hollywoodiin. Ensimmäisen pääroolinsa hän sai vuonna 1949 elokuvassa Vihan lapsi. Vuonna 1955 Murphy näytteli itseään elämäkertaelokuvassa Helvettiin ja takaisin, josta tuli Universalin kautta aikojen tuottoisin elokuva, kunnes vuonna 1975 Tappajahai ohitti sen. Muita elokuvia, joissa Murphy näytteli olivat muun muassa Kunnian kentällä (1951) ja Hiljainen amerikkalainen (1958).
Kaikkiaan Murphy esiintyi 44 elokuvassa 25 vuoden aikana ja hän sai tähden Hollywood Walk of Famelle.
Vuonna 1950 Murphy liittyi Teksasin kansalliskaartiin, toivoen pääsevänsä mukaan Korean sotaan. Vaikkei tämä toive toteutunutkaan, Murphy palveli kansalliskaartissa vuosia, ja yleni lopulta majuriksi.
Murphy kirjoitti myös runoja ja teki lauluja, joita levyttivät muun muassa Dean Martin, Eddy Arnold, Porter Wagoner ja Harry Nilsson. Tunnetuimpia hänen kappaleistaan ovat "Shutters and Boards" ja "When the Wind Blows in Chicago".
Murphy kärsi traumaperäisestä stressihäiriöstä, ja tuli 1960-luvun puolessavälissä riippuvaiseksi unilääkkeistä. Selviydyttyään riippuvuudesta hän puhui asiasta julkisesti ja vaati hallitusta parantamaan sotaveteraanien mielenterveysongelmien tutkimusta ja hoitoa.
Murphy kuoli lento-onnettomuudessa Virginiassa vuonna 1971. Hänet on haudattu Arlingtonin sotilashautausmaalle, jossa hänen hautansa on John F. Kennedyn jälkeen toiseksi vierailluin.
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Audie Leon Murphy (20 June 1925 – 28 May 1971) was one of the most decorated American combat soldiers of World War II, receiving every military combat award for valor available from the U.S. Army, as well as French and Belgian awards for heroism. The 19-year-old Murphy received the Medal of Honor after single-handedly holding off an entire company of German soldiers for an hour at the Colmar Pocket in France in January 1945, then leading a successful counterattack while wounded and out of ammunition.
Audie Murphy (Full story)
Murphy was born into a large sharecropper family in Hunt County, Texas. His father abandoned them, and his mother died when he was a teenager. Murphy left school in fifth grade to pick cotton and find other work to help support his family; his skill with a hunting rifle was a necessity for putting food on the table. Murphy's older sister helped him to falsify documentation about his birth date to meet the minimum-age requirement for enlisting in the military, and after being turned down by the Navy and the Marine Corps he enlisted in the Army. He first saw action in the Allied invasion of Sicily and Anzio, and in 1944 was part of the liberation of Rome and invasion of southern France. Murphy fought at Montélimar, and led his men on a successful assault at the L'Omet quarry near Cleurie in northeastern France in October.
After the war Murphy enjoyed a 21-year acting career. He played himself in the 1955 autobiographical To Hell and Back based on his 1949 memoirs of the same name, but most of his films were westerns. He made guest appearances on celebrity television shows and starred in the series Whispering Smith. Murphy was a fairly accomplished songwriter, and bred quarter horses in California and Arizona, becoming a regular participant in horse racing.
Audie Leon Murphy was born the seventh of twelve children to Emmett Berry Murphy and his wife Josie Bell Killian on 20 June 1925, in Kingston, Hunt County, Texas.
The Murphys were sharecroppers of Irish descent.
--- As a child, Murphy was a loner with mood swings and an explosive temper.[6] He grew up in Texas, around Farmersville, Greenville, and Celeste, where he attended elementary school. His father drifted in and out of the family's life and eventually deserted them. Murphy dropped out of school in fifth grade and got a job picking cotton for a dollar a day to help support his family; he also became skilled with a rifle, hunting small game to help feed them.
After his mother died of endocarditis and pneumonia in 1941, he worked at a radio repair shop and at a combination general store, garage and gas station in Greenville. Hunt County authorities placed his three youngest siblings in Boles Children's Home, a Christian orphanage in Quinlan. After the war, he bought a house in Farmersville for his oldest sister Corrine and her husband Poland Burns. His other siblings briefly shared the home.
The loss of his mother stayed with Murphy throughout his life. He later stated:
She died when I was sixteen. She had the most beautiful hair I've ever seen. It reached almost to the floor. She rarely talked; and always seemed to be searching for something. What it was I don't know. We didn't discuss our feelings. But when she passed away, she took something of me with her. It seems I've been searching for it ever since.
Seen him on TV before but didn't really know that much about him! What a hero!
VastaaPoistaHi, Rodger.
PoistaHe is / was a well-known actor.
Murphy rise to fame from poor families.
Signs of honor and reputation of the works is a lot, even though is young.
On the other hand, at a young age and enthusiasm be able to do a lot
He was also young and pretty boy who rose to hero.
Perhaps this was due to the fact that, in the United States had not yet been so many major real war hero, and he could do now to make the right national hero.
Maybe this explains or contributed large many honor the number of characters.
Very cool, my dad is a big fan of Audie murphy's movies, must show him this post
VastaaPoistaHello, S-K.
PoistaThank you for your comment.
Displays of course, to the father.
This was still a time when yet the American actor dominated westerns,
before you came to the Italians and other Europeans ...