Audie Murphy: America's Most Decorated WWII Soldier

On a freezing afternoon in January 1945, a 19-year-old American lieutenant climbed onto a burning tank destroyer in France, took hold of its .50-caliber machine gun, and held off six German tanks and hundreds of enemy soldiers all by himself for an hour. His company survived, and the German attack failed. For that stand, Audie Murphy received the Medal of Honor, the highest award for valor in the American military. By the end of the war, he was the most decorated American combat soldier of World War II.

Murphy’s story did not end on the battlefield. He came home to a fame he never asked for, became a Hollywood star, played himself in the film of his own life, and spent his later years speaking openly about the invisible wounds of war. This is the story of a poor Texas farm boy who became a legend, and of the price he paid for it.

A Hard Childhood in Texas

Audie Leon Murphy was born on June 20, 1925, near Kingston, Texas, into a family of poor sharecroppers. He was one of twelve children, and life on the farm was hard from the start. The family moved from place to place following the cotton harvest, and there was never much money. Audie left school early to pick cotton and work odd jobs to help keep his brothers and sisters fed.

When Audie was still a teenager, his father walked out, and his mother died in 1941. Suddenly the oldest boy at home, he became the one his younger siblings depended on, hunting small game to put food on the table. Those years taught him self-reliance, and they made him a crack shot with a rifle.

When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Audie wanted to serve, just like millions of other young Americans. But he was small and slight, barely over five feet tall, and the Marines and the Navy turned him away. He did not give up. In June 1942, he adjusted his birth date to make himself look older and enlisted in the United States Army. He was seventeen years old, and he was about to begin a journey that would make him the most famous soldier in America.

Too Young, Too Small, But Determined to Serve

At basic training, his officers quickly noticed him: despite his size, he was tough, disciplined, and an outstanding marksman. He was assigned to the 15th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division, and shipped out with the division in early 1943 for two and a half years in combat.

He fought in nine major campaigns. His division fought in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, southern France, and Germany. According to the Association of the United States Army, Murphy spent about 400 days on the front lines, was wounded three times, and was credited with killing more than 240 enemy soldiers.

He rose fast. Battlefield promotions carried him from private to corporal to sergeant, and then to second lieutenant before his twentieth birthday. His men followed him because he never asked them to do anything he would not do himself, and he was always at the front of the fight. That habit would nearly kill him more than once, and it would make him a legend.

Baptism of Fire: Sicily and Italy

Murphy’s first taste of combat came in Sicily in July 1943, when his division stormed ashore as part of the Allied invasion of the island. He learned fast, and his coolness under fire earned him his first decorations. The medals began to pile up: the Bronze Star, the Silver Star, and the Purple Heart for his first wound.

The fighting in Italy was even worse. At Salerno and Anzio, the Americans were pinned down for months in mud and rain, under constant shelling. Murphy’s division fought through the mountains toward Rome, and he was wounded again and again, but he kept coming back to the line. At Anzio, he took command of his platoon after its officers were killed, and his leadership under fire earned him a battlefield commission as a second lieutenant.

By the time Rome fell in June 1944, Murphy was still only eighteen, and his reputation had spread through the division. The hardest fighting of his war, however, was still ahead of him, in France.

Southern France and the Distinguished Service Cross

In August 1944, Murphy’s division took part in Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of southern France. The landings went well, and the Americans pushed north up the Rhone Valley. In the fighting that followed, Murphy led his men in a series of sharp actions against German rear guards, and his courage earned him the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army’s second-highest award for valor.

As winter closed in, German forces held a bridgehead around the city of Colmar, in Alsace. The Americans called it the Colmar Pocket, and clearing it became one of the hardest winter battles of the war. Murphy’s company was sent into the frozen woods and villages around Colmar, and it was there, in January 1945, that he would perform the deed that defined his life.

By then Murphy commanded Company B. On January 24, 1945, a German attack wounded 102 of its 120 enlisted men and killed all of its officers except Murphy. He led the survivors into the woods, where they could not even dig foxholes in the frozen ground. Two days later, the Germans came again.

The Stand at Holtzwihr

On January 26, 1945, near the village of Holtzwihr in northeastern France, six German tanks and an estimated 250 infantrymen attacked Murphy’s position. The Americans were outnumbered and outgunned, and Murphy knew his battered company could not hold where it stood. He ordered his men to fall back into the woods to find better positions, while he stayed at his command post to direct artillery fire by telephone.

Then an American tank destroyer behind him took a direct hit and caught fire. Its crew withdrew into the woods, and Murphy, his carbine out of ammunition, spotted the vehicle’s .50-caliber machine gun still mounted on its burning turret. Knowing the position had to be held at all costs, he climbed onto the tank destroyer, even though it might explode at any moment, and opened fire on the advancing Germans.

For an hour, Murphy stood exposed on the burning vehicle, pouring fire into the enemy infantry while German tanks closed in. His Medal of Honor citation says the enemy got to within ten yards of him. He killed or wounded about fifty German soldiers, and though wounded in the leg, he held on until his ammunition ran out. Moments after he climbed down and rejoined his men, the tank destroyer blew up, blasting the turret into the air.

Murphy then organized his men and led a counterattack that drove the Germans back. The next day, strengthened by replacements, the Americans captured Holtzwihr. Murphy’s one-man stand had saved his company and stopped the German advance cold. He was nineteen years old.

The Medal of Honor and the End of the War

Murphy’s actions at Holtzwihr earned him the Medal of Honor, and the award was confirmed in an official announcement on May 24, 1945. On June 2, 1945, Lieutenant General Alexander Patch, commander of the Seventh Army, presented Murphy with the Medal of Honor and the Legion of Merit at a ceremony on an airfield near Werfen, Austria. By then, the war in Europe was over, and Murphy was already being called the most decorated American soldier of World War II.

He received the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver Stars, the Legion of Merit, two Bronze Stars, and three Purple Hearts, plus French and Belgian honors, including the French Legion of Honor and the Croix de Guerre. In all, he earned 33 awards, citations, and decorations, every combat award for valor the United States Army could give.

Life magazine put him on its cover, but Murphy himself was uncomfortable with the fame. He was discharged from the Army on August 17, 1945, at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, and he went home to Texas a national hero at the age of twenty, with the rest of his life still ahead of him and no idea what to do with it.

Hollywood: To Hell and Back

After the war, Murphy was encouraged to try acting, and he moved to Hollywood. At first, he took small parts in westerns, learning the craft as he went. He was a natural on screen: quiet, honest, and believable, and audiences liked him. Over a 21-year career, he starred in 44 feature films, most of them westerns.

His most famous film was the one about his own life. In 1949, his autobiography, To Hell and Back, became a national bestseller. In 1955, Universal Pictures turned it into a movie, and Murphy reluctantly agreed to play himself. The film was a huge hit, and it stood for almost twenty years as Universal’s biggest box-office success, until Jaws passed it in 1975. For millions of Americans, Audie Murphy was not just a war hero anymore. He was a movie star, the face of the ordinary American soldier who had done extraordinary things.

He also served again, joining the Texas National Guard in 1950 and serving until 1966, rising to the rank of major. But behind the movie-star smile, the war had never really left him.

The Wounds You Cannot See

Murphy came home from the war with what was then called battle fatigue, or combat fatigue, and what we now call post-traumatic stress disorder. He suffered from insomnia and nightmares for the rest of his life, and he said he could only sleep with a loaded pistol under his pillow. He became dependent on a prescription sleeping pill, and he struggled with depression and money troubles in his later years.

What made Murphy remarkable was that he talked about it. At a time when almost no veteran spoke publicly about the mental wounds of war, he spoke candidly about his own struggles and called on the government to study the impact of combat and extend health care to veterans coming home from Korea and Vietnam.

The National WWII Museum notes that Murphy was one of the first prominent veterans to speak publicly about his mental health, at a time when the condition had no official name. Historians now see his advocacy as one of his most important legacies, as important in its own way as anything he did in combat. He helped make it acceptable for soldiers to admit they were hurting, and to ask for help.

A Sudden End and a Lasting Legacy

On May 28, 1971, during Memorial Day weekend, Murphy was killed when a private plane he was riding in crashed into Brush Mountain near Roanoke, Virginia, in rain and fog. He was 45 years old. He was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery on June 7, 1971, and by his own request, his headstone is a plain, standard marker, like those of the ordinary soldiers buried around him. His grave remains one of the most visited in the cemetery.

Murphy’s legacy lives on in many places. The Audie L. Murphy Memorial VA Hospital in San Antonio is named for him, and the Sergeant Audie Murphy Award honors the top noncommissioned officers in the Army. In 2013, his home state of Texas posthumously awarded him the Texas Legislative Medal of Honor, its highest military honor.

More than eighty years after Holtzwihr, Audie Murphy is still the standard for American combat heroism: a poor farm boy who became a soldier, a hero, and a voice for veterans carrying wounds no one could see. That last part may be the bravest thing he ever did.

FAQ

Why is Audie Murphy called the most decorated soldier of World War II?

Murphy earned 33 awards, citations, and decorations, including the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver Stars, and three Purple Hearts, plus French and Belgian honors, every combat award for valor the United States Army could give.

What did Audie Murphy do at Holtzwihr to earn the Medal of Honor?

On January 26, 1945, near Holtzwihr, France, Murphy single-handedly held off six German tanks and about 250 infantrymen for an hour, firing a .50-caliber machine gun from atop a burning tank destroyer while directing artillery fire. He killed or wounded about 50 enemy soldiers, was wounded in the leg, and then led a counterattack that drove the Germans back.

How old was Audie Murphy during World War II?

Murphy was born on June 20, 1925, and enlisted in the Army in 1942 at age 17 after adjusting his birth date. He was 19 years old when he performed his Medal of Honor action at Holtzwihr in January 1945, and he had risen to the rank of first lieutenant before his twentieth birthday.

What movies did Audie Murphy star in?

Murphy starred in 44 feature films over a 21-year Hollywood career, most of them westerns. His most famous film was To Hell and Back (1955), based on his bestselling 1949 autobiography, in which he played himself. It was Universal Pictures’ biggest box-office hit for almost 20 years, until Jaws passed it in 1975.

Where is Audie Murphy buried?

Murphy is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 46. He died in a plane crash near Roanoke, Virginia, on May 28, 1971, at age 45, and was buried with full military honors on June 7, 1971. By his own request, his headstone is a plain standard marker, and his grave is one of the most visited at Arlington.

Audie Murphy: The Farm Boy Who Became America’s Most Decorated Soldier of World War II