How Many Miitary Awards And Decorations Did Audie Murphy Get
The Texas Tribune
Audie Irish potato, a Texas Hero Nevertheless Missing One Medal
Audie Murphy, one of the most busy soldiers of World War II, was awarded near every ribbon and medal bachelor. His name can be found on a commemorative postage stamp, a veterans' hospital and even the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Simply Mr. Murphy's abode country has never bestowed its highest military honour, the Texas Legislative Medal of Accolade. And for the 2d time in two years, an effort to give him one has fizzled.
At present family members and supporters are wondering if Mr. Tater, who died in 1971, has been forgotten, along with other war veterans from what has been called the greatest generation.
"I'm disappointed," said Nadine Murphy Lokey, 82, Mr. Tater'south only surviving sibling. "I think they had him in the history books at in one case, but they've taken him out," she said. If students do non learn about him "and people don't talk nearly him, well, they forget."
Mr. Murphy received at least 2 dozen military decorations and awards, including the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star and several Royal Hearts.
The son of poor tenant farmers from Hunt County, in northeast Texas, Mr. Tater dropped out of school as a teenager to help his family unit brand ends meet. Subsequently the set on on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Mr. Murphy tried to enlist in the Marines but was rejected because at about 5 feet seven inches tall and 130 pounds, he was deemed underweight.
A sister helped him alter his nativity tape so he could enlist at age 17, and in June 1942 he was inducted into the Us Army, co-ordinate to published biographies.
Mr. White potato'south daring exploits seem almost like a video game caricature. He is said to have killed more than 200 Nazis.
One of his most heralded acts of bravery, cited when he received the Medal of Honor, occurred in Jan 1945 near Holtzwihr, France. Under withering attack, Mr. Murphy climbed atop a burning tank destroyer, commandeered a .fifty-caliber automobile gun and held off an entire German infantry company equally information technology desperately tried to take him out.
Asked over a field telephone how close the Nazis were to him, he is said to take replied, "But hold the telephone and I'll allow you talk to 1 of the bastards."
Mr. Murphy killed about l Nazis in that battle and ultimately forced the company to withdraw.
An eyewitness, Pfc. Anthony Abramski, afterwards said: "I expected to see the whole damn tank destroyer blow up under him any minute. For an hour he held off the enemy strength single-handed, fighting against impossible odds."
Individual Abramski called it the "greatest display of guts and courage I take ever seen."
Afterwards the war, Mr. Murphy became an actor and produced or starred in dozens of movies, including "To Hell and Back" (1955), based on his best-selling autobiography.
Mr. Murphy was 1 of the starting time veterans to speak openly most "boxing fatigue," now known equally post-traumatic stress disorder, from which he suffered until he died in the crash of a small airplane at historic period 45.
Mr. Tater had kept a foot in the military subsequently World War Two past joining the Texas Ground forces National Guard. It was this final piece of his military career that made him eligible for the Texas Legislative Medal of Honor, an honour that state lawmakers began presenting in 1997.
A bulldoze to win home-state recognition for Mr. White potato, led past his family and fans, took off in 2011. Only that year the medal was awarded, posthumously, to Roy Cisneros, a Marine corporal, for his bravery on the battlefield in Vietnam.
At the time, state law immune only 1 medal to be awarded every odd-numbered year — while the Legislature was gathered for its regular session — leading to a backlog of candidates in a country with an oversize military presence.
This year, a neb assuasive two people to receive the medal sailed through the Legislature. The legislation sets aside one accolade for actions that occurred betwixt 1956 and the present, and another for actions before 1956.
In May, the nominating committee that decides who can receive the accolade chose Mr. Irish potato for the award set up aside for older conflicts.
"He is in a grade all past himself," said Senator Leticia Van de Putte, Democrat of San Antonio, author of the bill creating the ii award opportunities and vice chairwoman of the committee that entered Mr. Murphy'south proper name into nomination concluding month. "When you lot read about Audie Murphy, you lot're like — was he human?"
Merely the opportunity to recognize Mr. White potato savage through the cracks at the chaotic end of the regular session.
Mr. Perry received the beak in his office on May 20, 7 days before the Legislature adjourned. That meant there was fourth dimension for Mr. Murphy to go the award, at least in theory. But that would accept required Mr. Perry'due south immediate signature of the bill creating two awards, plus a separate legislative resolution giving the second 1 to Mr. Murphy.
Neither action was taken.
Mr. Perry'southward aides said he was never notified about the urgency of signing the nib, ane of more i,200 he received this year. His signature came on June 14, more than two weeks subsequently the session ended.
"Application Audie Murphy the Legislative Medal of Honor is long overdue, and the governor was proud to sign this important legislation," said Allison Castle, a spokeswoman for Mr. Perry. "Had we been notified about the urgency, we would have gladly expedited it."
Mr. Murphy is certain to be a potent contender to receive the accolade in the 2015 session, simply Ms. Lokey, who recently had stents placed in her eye, is afraid she may not be around to encounter Texas award her blood brother.
"Nosotros don't know virtually tomorrow," said Ms. Lokey, who lives in Farmersville, a small town northeast of Dallas. "If I'm non here, somebody else will carry on."
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/21/us/audie-murphy-a-texas-hero-still-missing-one-medal.html
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