Submitted by: Submitted by TracyMuse
Views: 223
Words: 331
Pages: 2
Category: US History
Date Submitted: 09/17/2012 09:55 PM
At age 17, standing a little over five feet tall and weighing only 112 lbs, the real Captain America was rejected for military service more than once for failing to meet the enlistment requirements. Originally laughed at for multiple attempts, Auddie Murphy proved his mockers to be sorely mistaken after he took to the battlefields of World War II. Within three short years of service the army hero was awarded with nearly every honorary service medal possible.
Murphy received the Distinguished Service Cross for storming up a hill in Southern France holding countless German machine-gun nests. When the Germans raised a white flag in surrender, Murphy’s best friend stood in attempts to relieve any suspicion that it may be a trap. The Germans immediately killed him and effectively signed their own death warrants simultaneously. Murphy entered a state of frenzy and killed those responsible, thereafter taking down nest after machine-gun nest until the hill belonged to the 3rd Infantry Division. This was only the beginning of his heroic exploits which eventually achieved him the commissioned rank of Lieutenant.
After his service Murphy authored “To Hell and Back” detailing his journey during which he was also responsible for taking down a German tank single-handedly and leaping atop a burning tank to suppress the enemy using a machine gun. He starred in a movie based on his own book. It topped the Universal box office records for twenty years. The latter part of Murphy’s life was torment-filled being affected by post traumatic stress disorder, heavy survivor’s guilt, addiction and failing monetary ventures. He died in a private plane crash at the young age of 45. Though media barely noticed the valiant heroes passing during the years of the Vietnam War, the only memorial visited more than Auddie Murphy’s is that of President John F. Kennedy.
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IMDb. IMDb.com, 2009. Web. 01 Aug. 2012.
"Audie Murphy." Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2004....