Audie Murphy: A True Hero

World War two was the greatest of all wars ever fought on this earth, with millions of men from every corner of the planet fighting for the cause that they felt right. Out of all of these men from this war and arguably any war Audie Murphy is the greatest. Born the seventh out of twelve children to a sharecropping family on June 20th 1924, all Audie wanted to do in life was “to be somebody” (Gale). To do this Audie had to fight against the odds his entire life on to his way to becoming one of America’s most recognized and cherished people during and after the War.
One of the reasons Audie was such an icon to the rest of America, is because at the end of the day he was just an ordinary boy. Even before the war, at the age fifteen in 1939
Audie dropped out of school to help support his family. The year after that his father left his family making him the man of the house, only to have his mother die when he was seventeen in 1941. These events would cause most men to break but this just drove Audi into trying to help the cause at war, to make himself somebody. At first he did not succeed in enlisting being only five foot five inches and a hundred and twelve pounds none of the branches of the armed forces would accept him. Eventually on the 30th of June 1942 the US Army accepted him, placing him in company B, 1st battalion, and 15th infantry regiment of the 3rd division. After extensive training in Africa he was in part of the invasion of Italy, after his first contact with the enemy he said “Ten seconds after the first shot was fired at me by an enemy soldier, combat was no longer glamorous, " Then later saying "But it was important, because all of a sudden I wanted very much to stay alive" (Gale). This represents very well of how America’s youth, though ready felt with their first taste of war.
Out of all the times that Audie went above the call in which he was asked to during his time at war, there were two instances in which he proved to everyone that he was a hero.
The first instance happened when his company made their way north the eastern border of France during “operation dragoon” (Biography). There was a hilltop dotted with German machine gun and sniper nest; he single handedly worked his way up the hill taking them out (Gale). In the midst of this his friend, Lattie Tipton joined him in the assault. The Germans at this point acted like they surrendered, with this Lattie stood up then was shot from the lying Germans (Biography). Seeing his friend getting shot, after being lied too, Audie went on a rampage taking out the remaining nest using the German guns and grenades (Gale). For this Audie was given the second highest award for valor, the Distinguished Service Cross, and for his next act of valor he is awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Audie received the highest of all medals in woods in France. It all began when his B Company was ambushed by six German tanks and infantry. He then held position to call in artillery while his troops retreated to the wood lines safety. He then headed to a tank destroyer that was already hit and mounted to 50 Caliber gun, proceeding to mow down the Germans infantry. He was exposed on three sides but with deadly accurate shots he kept off all the advancing troops. Artillery then came in with deadly effectiveness, a squad of Germans tried to sneak up on Murphy but when they were within ten yards they were taken out. He was hit in the leg but fired till the ammunition was gone, peeling back to the wood line, he devised a counter-attack with his eighteen remaining men. This attack was effective and drove the remaining Germans out. Audie at the end of it all saved his men and took fifty German soldiers in the conflict
(Honors).
After the Germans surrender to the allied forces, Audie returned home to America. He was paraded around for being a hero of war and was put on the cover of Life on July 16, 1945. After seeing this photo actor James Cagney asked murphy if he would try a career in Hollywood. He started doing small movies and wrote a book about his stories in the European campaigns: To Hell and Back. The post war America loved this book became a national bestseller and later a movie in which he starred in (Biography).
In conclusion Audie Murphy was perhaps the most import unit during the entire war. He killed two-hundred and forty enemies in the process of saving his men. He is the most decorated person in history with thirty-three medals, of them there are three Purple Hearts and French Crosses of War, a Silver Star, Distinguished Service Star, and a Congressional Medal of Honor. Through Audie Murphy’s heroic acts of selflessness and by keeping his head level in horrific situations, he became one of America’s most loved people during and after the war.

Work Cited
"Audie Murphy." Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2nd ed. Vol. 18. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 299-301. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 5 Feb. 2013. (Gale)
"Audie Leon Murphy." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Feb 05 2013, 07:34 http://www.biography.com/people/audie-murphy-9418662. (Biography) "Audie Murphy’s Medal of Honor Citation." The Price of Freedom: Americans at War. Armed Forces History, Division of History of Technology, National Museum of American History. Web. 5 Feb 2013. <http://amhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/collection/object.asp?ID=421>. (Honor)