Military career of Audie Murphy

The military career of Audie Murphy covered nine World War II campaigns fought by the 3rd Infantry Division: Tunisia, Sicily, Naples-Foggia, Anzio, Rome-Arno, Southern France, Ardennes-Alsace,  Rhineland and Central Europe. He lied about his age to enlist in the United States Army on June 30, 1942. Before his 20th birthday had earned every U.S. Army combat award for valor available during his period of service, including the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Colmar Pocket on January 26, 1945. He rose to the rank of First Lieutenant, and at the end of the war was transferred to the United States Army Reserve Corps. Murphy enlisted in the 3rd Infantry Division of the Texas National Guard in 1950, rising to the rank of Major, and remained active in the Guard until his transfer to Standby Reserve status in 1969.

Enlistment and initial training
Murphy had wanted to be a soldier all his youth and dreamed about combat. The death of his mother in May 1941 added even more impetus to his desire to achieve that goal. When he heard the news of Japan's December 7 attack on Pearl Harbor he tried to enlist in the Marines, the Navy and the Army, but was turned down for being underweight and underage. He added weight with a change in diet, and gave the Army an affidavit from his sister Corrine that falsified his birth date by a year. Murphy enlisted on June 30, 1942 in Dallas. During his physical examination his height was recorded as 5 ft and his weight as 112 lb.

Assigned to the infantry, during basic training at Camp Wolters, Texas, Murphy earned the Marksman Badge with Rifle Clasp and the Expert Badge with Bayonet Clasp. While participating in a close-order drill during that hot Texas summer, he passed out. His company commander thought his build was too slight for service in the infantry, and tried to have him transferred to a cook and bakers' school, but Murphy insisted on becoming a combat soldier. He completed the 13-week basic training course and in October was given leave to visit his family, after which he was sent to Fort Meade, Maryland, for advanced infantry training until January 1943.

North Africa
In January 1943, Murphy was processed through Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. He arrived at Casablanca, in French Morocco on February 20 and was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.

As part of Operation Torch the United States seized Port Lyautey in French Morocco on November 8, 1942. The 3rd Infantry Division was sent there on March 7, 1943, coming under the command of Major General Lucian Truscott, who took them through rigorous training at Arzew in Algeria, for an amphibious landing at Sicily. Private Murphy participated with his division in 30-mile (48 km) 8-hour marches, known as the "Truscott Trot". For the first hour, the men marched at a pace of 5 mph, and slowed to 4 mph for the second hour, taking the final 21 miles (34 km) at a pace of 3.5 mph. They also performed bayonet and land mine drills, obstacle course training and other exercises. Murphy was promoted to private first class on May 7. After the May 13 surrender of the Axis forces in French Tunisia, the division was put in charge of the prisoners. They returned to Algeria on May 15 for "Operation Copycat", training exercises in preparation for the assault landing in Sicily.

Sicily
Truscott's 3rd Infantry Division, as part of the Seventh United States Army under the command of Lieutenant General George S. Patton, sailed from Tunisia on July 7,1943, for the Allied invasion of Sicily, landing at Licata on July 10. Murphy was promoted to the rank of corporal on July 15. Company B later took part in fighting around Canicattì, during which Murphy killed two fleeing Italian officers.

They arrived in Palermo on July 20, and Murphy was sidelined by illness for a week. Allied capture of the transit port of Messina was crucial to taking Sicily from the Axis. En route there, Company B was assigned to a hillside location protecting a machine-gun emplacement, while the rest of the 3rd Infantry Division fought at San Fratello. The Axis began their evacuation of Messina on July 27, completed when the 3rd Infantry Division's 7th Infantry Regiment secured the port on August 17. During the fighting in Sicily, Murphy became realistic about military duty: "I have seen war as it actually is, and I do not like it. But I will go on fighting."

Mainland invasion
With Sicily secured from Axis forces, Supreme Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower made the decision to invade Italy in early September 1943. As part of the Salerno landings, the 3rd Infantry Division came ashore at Battipaglia. One of the early skirmishes recounted by author Don Graham involved Murphy, his best friend Lattie Tipton (referred to as "Brandon" in Murphy's book To Hell and Back) and an unnamed soldier in their unit as they traveled along the Volturno River. The trio were near a bridge when the third soldier was killed by German machine-gun fire. Tipton tossed hand grenades in the direction of the fire and Murphy responded with a Thompson submachine gun, killing five German soldiers.

Allied forces entered Naples on October 1. The 3rd Division took part in the Allied assault on the Volturno Line. Near Mignano Monte Lungo Hill 193, Company B repelled an attack by seven German soldiers, taking four prisoners. Platoon soldier Swope wounded the other three, who took days to die under the watch of the platoon.

Murphy was promoted to sergeant on December 13. By this time, the 3rd Infantry Division had suffered heavy casualties: 683 dead, 170 missing, and 2,412 wounded.

Anzio
The 3rd Infantry Division was notified in December 1943 of the January 1944 storming of Anzio beachhead, the beginning of the liberation of Rome. The division began training near Naples and practiced an amphibious landing at Salerno. Murphy was promoted to staff sergeant in January. He was hospitalized in Naples with malaria on January 21, and was unable to participate in the initial landing commanded by Major General John P. Lucas. Murphy returned to his unit in time to take part in the unsuccessful First Battle of Cisterna, which was fought between January 30 and February 1. It was the most fierce and sustained fighting Murphy had experienced to date.

When Lieutenant Colonel Michael Paulick took command of Company B, the battle had cost the lives of all but 30 of the men. Murphy was the only non-commissioned officer (NCO) remaining, and as such became Company B platoon sergeant. Lucas was replaced in February by Truscott. The men were forced back to Anzio and remained there for months.

Taking shelter in an abandoned farmhouse on March 2, the platoon killed the crew of a passing German tank. Murphy then crawled out alone close enough to destroy the tank with rifle grenades. For this action, he received the Bronze Star with "V" Device. Murphy continued to make scouting patrols to take German prisoners before being hospitalized for a week on March 13 with a second bout of malaria. Sixty-one infantry officers and enlisted men of Company B, 15th Infantry, including Murphy, were awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge on May 8. Murphy was also awarded a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster for his Bronze Star. American forces liberated Rome on June 4, and Murphy remained bivouacked in Rome with his platoon throughout July.

Southern and southeastern France
The U.S. Seventh Army under the command of Lieutenant General Alexander Patch was the initial amphibious landing force for the August 15, 1944, Allied invasion of southern France, known as Operation Dragoon. The 3rd Infantry Division was now under the command of Major General John W. O'Daniel. At 0800 military time, they came ashore on Yellow Beach near Ramatuelle with the first wave of the assault. They began to move inland through a vineyard. As the 3rd Platoon progressed toward an incline, one of their own light machine-gun squads got detached. German soldiers began firing at them, initially killing one and wounding another. Murphy ran out alone to locate the lost squad and led them back to the unit. He then used the retrieved machine gun to return fire at the German soldiers, killing two and wounding one. When he relinquished the machine gun back to his own men and took up a new position, he was joined by his best friend Lattie Tipton. At that moment, two Germans exited a house about 100 yd away, and feigned surrender by waving a white flag. Tipton believed it to be a real surrender gesture, and made himself visible, beckoning to the German soldiers to come towards him. He was immediately killed by machine-gun fire coming from within the house. Murphy advanced alone on the house, impervious to the German fire being directed at him. He wounded two, killed six, and took the others as prisoners. His actions that day took approximately one hour, during which he had killed eight German soldiers, wounded three and taken eleven prisoners. Murphy received the Distinguished Service Cross.

During August 27–28, at Montélimar, Murphy and the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, along with the 36th Infantry Division, engaged in an offensive battle to secure the area from the Germans. The 3rd and 36th divisions took 500 prisoners in the city on August 29. The actions of the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment during the offense earned them the Presidential Unit Citation. Murphy, for his part in the event, was included as one of the soldiers who received the citation.

Northeastern France
The 3rd Infantry Division was part of an offensive plan to break through German resistance in northeastern France, as far as Saint-Dié-des-Vosges. In the area of Genevreuille on September 15, 1944, Murphy narrowly escaped death from a mortar shell hit that killed two others and wounded three. His resulting heel wound from the blast was not serious but earned him his first Purple Heart. By this point, all but Murphy and two others of Company B's original group had either been killed or taken off the lines with wounds. General O'Daniel moved the 15th Infantry, 3rd Division to the Moselle and the Cleurie river valley in late September. Stone quarries dotted the hills and provided good defensive positions for the Germans. The 15th was met with fierce resistance north of St. Ame at the heavily fortified multi-tunneled L'Omet quarry. On October 2 at L'Omet, Murphy crawled alone to the location of a machine gun manned by a unit of German officers. Within 15 yd of the machine gun nest, he rose to his feet. "The Germans spot me instantly", he recalled. "The gunner spins the tip of his weapon toward me. But the barrel catches in a limb, and the burst whizzes to my right". Murphy lobbed two hand grenades at the men, killing four and wounding three. He was awarded the Silver Star for this action. The 15th achieved success in its continued attack when Germans began evacuating the quarry on October 5. On that date, Murphy crawled alone carrying a SCR436 radio for 50 yd towards the Germans while they continually fired directly at him. Around 200 yd from the German location, he relayed firing orders by radio to the artillery, and remained at his position alone for an hour directing his men. When Murphy's men finally took the hill, 15 German combatants were killed and 35 wounded. Murphy's actions earned him a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster for his Silver Star.

Murphy was awarded a battlefield commission to second lieutenant on October 14, which elevated him to platoon leader. Operation Dogface was the 3rd Infantry Division's support role for the VI Corps in securing Bruyères and Brouvelieures, with the goal of getting the Sixth United States Army Group through the Belfort Gap by November. While en route to Brouvelieures on October 26, the 3rd Platoon of Company B was attacked by a German sniper group. Murphy captured two before being shot in the hip by a sniper whom he in return shot between the eyes.

Murphy was taken to the 3rd General Hospital at Aix-en-Provence. The removal of gangrene from the wound caused partial loss of his hip muscle, and kept him out of combat until January. The injury earned Murphy the first Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster for his Purple Heart.

Colmar Pocket
The Colmar Pocket was 850 sqmi in the Vosges Mountains and had been held by German troops since November 1944. Murphy was still in hospital on December 15 when General O'Daniel moved the 3rd Infantry Division into the area. Murphy described it as "a huge and dangerous bridgehead thrusting west of the Rhine like an iron fist. Fed with men and materiel from across the river, it is a constant threat to our right flank; and potentially it is a perfect springboard from which the enemy could start a powerful counterattack." He rejoined his platoon on January 14, 1945, the date Lieutenant General Jacob Devers ordered the 3rd Division reinforced by the 28th Infantry Division. The 3rd Division was responsible for securing bridgeheads at the Colmar Canal. After crossing the Ill river through the Riedwihr Woods on January 24, the 3rd Division was ordered to the town of Holtzwihr, where they met with a strong German counterattack. Two officers in the division were killed by mortar shells in an attack the following day during which Murphy was wounded in both legs, earning him a Second Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster for his Purple Heart.

From its peak of 235 men, disease, injuries and casualties had reduced Company B's fighting strength to 18 men. Murphy being the only officer remaining on January 26 was made the company commander. The company awaited reinforcements as Murphy watched the approaching Germans, "I see the Germans lining up for an attack. Six tanks rumble to the outskirts of Holtzwihr, split into groups of threes, and fan out toward either side of the clearing. Then wave after wave of white dots, barely discernible against the background of snow, start across the field. They are enemy infantrymen". The Germans scored a direct hit on an M10 tank destroyer, setting it on fire and causing its crew to abandon it. Murphy ordered his men to retreat to positions in the woods, remaining alone at his post shooting his M1 carbine and relaying orders via his telephone while the Germans aimed fire directly at his position. Murphy mounted the abandoned, burning tank destroyer and began firing its .50 caliber machine gun at the advancing Germans, killing a squad crawling through a ditch towards him.

For an hour, Murphy stood on the tank destroyer returning German fire from foot soldiers and advancing tanks, during which he sustained a leg wound. He stopped only after he ran out of ammunition.

Murphy rejoined his men with complete disregard for his own wound, leading them back to successfully repel the Germans. Only afterwards would he allow treatment of his leg wound, and still insisted on remaining with his men.

Murphy killed or wounded 50 Germans while standing on the burning tank. For his actions that day he was awarded the Medal of Honor. The 3rd Infantry Division was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for its actions at the Colmar Pocket, giving Murphy a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster for the emblem.

Murphy was promoted to first lieutenant on February 16, and was awarded the Legion of Merit for his service January 22, 1944 – February 18, 1945. He was removed from the front lines to Regimental Headquarters and made a liaison officer. The United States additionally honored Murphy's war contributions with the American Campaign Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with arrowhead device and campaign stars, the World War II Victory Medal, and the Army of Occupation Medal with Germany Clasp. France recognized his service with the French Legion of Honor – Grade of Chevalier, the French Croix de guerre with Silver Star, the French Croix de guerre with Palm, the French Liberation Medal and the French Fourragère in Colors of the Croix de guerre which was authorized for all members of the 3rd Infantry Division who fought in France during World War II. Belgium awarded Murphy the Belgian Croix de guerre with 1940 Palm.

Medal of Honor
Brigadier General Ralph B. Lovett and Lieutenant Colonel Hallet D. Edson recommended Murphy for the Medal of Honor. Near Salzburg, Austria on June 2, 1945, Patch presented Murphy with the Medal of Honor and Legion of Merit for his actions at Holtzwihr. When asked after the war why he had seized the machine gun and taken on an entire company of German infantry, he replied simply, "They were killing my friends."

Post-war military service
An inquiry originating from the 3rd Infantry Division was sent as a "Classified Message" to the Allied Expeditionary Forces, Main, Versailles, France on May 24, 1945, inquiring as to the feasibility of Murphy's enrolling in the United States Military Academy for classes beginning July 2. The June 1 reply from Colonel R. R. Coursey, assistant to the Chief of Staff of the War Department, advised against enrollment for that particular term at the academy due to the short time span available to prepare for the entrance exams. Coursey noted that should Murphy apply for the 1946 classes, the United States Congress was working on legislation to raise the maximum age limit for entrance to the Academy, in order to make it possible for returning war veterans to be eligible for application. Legislation enacted by the Congress for this purpose raised the maximum limit to twenty-four years of age. Prior to that, the age limit had been twenty-two, which still would have allowed Murphy entrance based on the Army records that showed his birth date as 1924. Author Don Graham wrote about this as having been initiated by Murphy and dropped by him, possibly when he realized the extent of academic preparation needed to pass the entrance exam.

Murphy was one of several military personnel who received orders on June 8, 1945, to report to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, for temporary duty and reassignment. Upon arrival on June 13, he was one of four assigned to Fort Sam Houston Army Ground & Services Redistribution Station and sent home for 30 days of recuperation, with permission to travel anywhere within the United States during that period. While on leave, Murphy was feted with parades, banquets, and speeches.

Murphy received a belated Good Conduct Medal on August 21, and was discharged from active service with the rank of first lieutenant on August 17. He was given a 50 percent disability classification on September 21.

After the June 25, 1950, commencement of the Korean War Murphy wanted to fight in the conflict and enlisted in July in the 36th Infantry Division of the Texas National Guard with the rank of captain. During his service he granted the Guard permission to use his name and image in recruiting materials. Although he actively participated in training activities in between continuing with his film career, Murphy was never sent to Korea. He requested to transfer to inactive status on October 1, 1951, due to his film commitments with MGM Studios. Murphy was promoted to the rank of major by the Texas National Guard. He received his service separation from the Texas National Guard effective 1966, and transferred to Standby Reserve. Murphy retired from the U.S. Army Reserve in 1969.

Post-war trauma
Murphy was plagued by insomnia and bouts of depression related to his military service, and slept with a loaded pistol under his pillow. A post-service medical examination on June 17, 1947, revealed symptoms of headaches, vomiting, and nightmares about war. His medical records indicated that he took sleeping pills to help prevent nightmares. During the mid-1960s, he recognized his dependence on Placidyl, and locked himself alone in a hotel room for a week to successfully break the addiction. Post-traumatic stress levels exacerbated his innate moodiness, and surfaced in episodes that friends and professional colleagues found alarming. His first wife, Wanda Hendrix, stated that he once held her at gunpoint. She witnessed her husband being moved to tears by newsreel footage of German war orphans, guilt-ridden that his war actions might have been the cause of their having no parents. Murphy briefly found a creative stress outlet in writing poetry after his Army discharge. His poem "The Crosses Grow on Anzio" appeared in his book To Hell and Back, but was attributed to the fictitiously named Kerrigan.

In an effort to draw attention to the problems of returning Korean War and Vietnam War veterans, Murphy spoke out candidly about his own problems with post-traumatic stress disorder. It was known during Murphy's lifetime as "battle fatigue" and "shell shock", terminology that dated back to World War I. He called on the government to give increased consideration and study to the emotional impact of combat experiences, and to extend health care benefits to war veterans. As a result of legislation introduced by U.S. Congressman Olin Teague five months after Murphy's death in 1971, the Audie L. Murphy Memorial VA Hospital in San Antonio, now a part of the South Texas Veterans Health Care System, was dedicated in 1973.