Among those we honor on Memorial Day is this man

[Louis of PA]

in today's Wall Street Journal (edited):

Audie Leon Murphy was born in 1924 or 1926 (more on that in a moment) the sixth of 12 children of a Texas sharecropper. It was all hardscrabble for him: father left, mother died, no education, working in the fields from adolescence on.

He was good with a hunting rifle: he said that when he wasn't, his family didn't eat, so yeah, he had to be good.

He tried to join the Army after Pearl Harbor, was turned away as underage, came back the next year claiming to be 18 (he was probably 16) and went on to a busy war, seeing action as an infantryman in Sicily, Salerno and Anzio. Then came southern France, where the Germans made the mistake of shooting Audie Murphy's best friend, Lattie Tipton. Murphy wiped out the machine gun crew that did it.

On Jan. 26, 1945, Lt. Murphy was engaged in a battle in which his unit took heavy fire and he was wounded. He ordered his men back. From his Medal of Honor citation: "Behind him . . . one 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 three 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."

Murphy returned to Texas a legend. He was also 5-foot-7, having grown two inches while away. He became an actor (44 films, mostly Westerns) and businessman.

He died in a plane crash in 1971 and was buried with full honors at Arlington, but he did a warrior-like thing. He asked that the gold leaf normally put on the gravestone of a Medal of Honor recipient not be used. He wanted a plain GI headstone. Some worried this might make his grave harder to find. My father found it, and he was not alone.

Audie Murphy's grave is the most visited site at Arlington with the exception of John F. Kennedy's eternal flame.

Information

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[audiesdad]

Here is my favorite photo of Audie's Grave (if one could use the word favorite to describe a grave.)

[AZPhil]

Audiesdad?
Sir are you related to Audie Murphy?

[audiesdad]

Audiesdad?
Sir are you related to Audie Murphy?

No Phil, not related at all, but as the Son of an ETO vet in WW II, Audie Murphy has been my role model since I was a kid, and especially more so after I met him at age 12 in New Orleans.
I have collected and researched Murphy for over 20 years and consider myself a SME (Subject Matter Expert) on all things Murphy.
Thanks for your support of the Petition. I appreciate it!
Dave

[atomic warfare]

I have hiked to where Audie Murphey's plane crashed. You can still find bits of metal there. The pilot was scud running from Georgia to Roanoke , Va. He took a wrong turn an killed them all as they hit the side of the mountain. Scud running is flying under the low clouds, because you are not IFR rated. I have seen a lot of pilots do this.