His courageous performance stalled the German advance and allowed him to lead his men in the counterattack which ultimately drove the enemy from Holtzwihr. Wounded in the leg during the heavy fire, Murphy remained there for nearly an hour, repelling the attack of German soldiers on three sides and single-handedly killing 50 of them.

Alone, he mounted an abandoned, burning tank destroyer and, with a single machine gun, contested the enemy's advance. Against the onslaught of six Panzer tanks and 250 infantrymen, Murphy ordered his men to fall back to better their defenses. Murphy's forward positions came under fierce attack by the Germans. On January 26, 1945, near the village of Holtzwihr in eastern France, Lt. During seven weeks of fighting in that successful campaign, Murphy's division suffered 4,500 casualties, and he became one of the most decorated men in his company. Shortly thereafter, his unit was withdrawn from Italy to train for Operation Anvil-Dragoon, the invasion of southern France that began on August 15, 1944. After the capture of Rome in June 1944, Murphy earned his first decoration for gallantry. Throughout these campaigns, Murphy's skills earned him advancements in rank, because many of his superior officers were being transferred, wounded or killed. Murphy landed at Salerno, Italy to fight in the Voltuno River campaign, and then at Anzio to be part of the Allied force that fought its way to Rome. He consistently demonstrated how well he understood the techniques of small-unit action. First entering combat in July 1943, during the invasion of Sicily, he proved himself to be a proficient marksman and a highly skilled soldier.

Seeking an escape from this difficult life, Murphy enlisted in the Army in 1942 - falsifying his birth certificate so that he appeared to be 18, one year older than he actually was.įollowing basic training, Murphy was assigned to the 15th Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division in North Africa.

He was 16 years old when his mother died, and he watched as his siblings were doled out to an orphanage or to relatives. After his father deserted the family, he helped raise his 11 brothers and sisters, dropping out of school in the fifth grade to earn money picking cotton.

Murphy grew up on a sharecropper's farm in Hunt County, Texas. He was Audie Murphy, the baby-faced Texas farmboy who became an American legend. Reluctantly, he settled on the infantry, and ultimately became the most-decorated heroes of World War II. The paratroopers wouldn't have him, either. He wanted to join the Marines, but he was too short.

Do medal of honor recipients get paid