It’s Audie Murphy day

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greenmonster

Well-known member
Yep, to climb aboard a burning tank and keep firing a 50 cal machine gun resulting in single handedly stopping a German attack. Quite something indeed. Do we still have men like that in this country? I hope so but I worry
 
GAJ

GAJ

Well-known member
I became aware of this shortly after coming to the US in 1966 as there was a movie about the even starring that pipsqueak Murphy.

He went on to become a minor star in Westerns but was a gambler which led to financial ruin prior to his death in a private plane crash.

This I did not know about him though.

Very very brave to come out about his PTSD like this at that time considering his status.

From Wiki.

Since his military service, Murphy had been plagued with insomnia and bouts of depression, and he slept with a loaded pistol under his pillow.[91][92] A post-service medical examination on 17 June 1947 revealed symptoms of headaches, vomiting, and nightmares about the war. His medical records indicated that he took sleeping pills to help prevent nightmares.[93] During the mid-1960s, he recognized his dependence on Placidyl, and locked himself alone in a hotel room for a week to successfully break the addiction.[13] Post-traumatic stress levels exacerbated his innate moodiness,[8] and surfaced in episodes that friends and professional colleagues found alarming.[94] His first wife, Dixie Wanda Hendrix, claimed he once held her at gunpoint.[95] She witnessed her husband being guilt-ridden and tearful over newsreel footage of German war orphans.[96] Murphy briefly found a creative stress outlet in writing poetry after his Army discharge. His poem "The Crosses Grow on Anzio" appeared in his book To Hell and Back,[97] but was attributed to the fictitious character Kerrigan.[98]

To draw attention to the problems of returning Korean War and Vietnam War veterans, Murphy spoke out candidly about his own problems with posttraumatic stress disorder.[99] It was known during Murphy's lifetime as "battle fatigue" and "shell shock", terminology that dated back to World War I. He called on the government to give increased consideration and study to the emotional impact of combat experiences, and to extend health care benefits to war veterans.[100][101] As a result of legislation introduced by U.S. Congressman Olin Teague five months after Murphy's death in 1971, the Audie L. Murphy Memorial VA Hospital[102] in San Antonio, now a part of the South Texas Veterans Health Care System, was dedicated in 1973.[103][10
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greenmonster

Well-known member
Wow I did not about this PTSD thing he had. Makes sense though considering what he went through. Those guys were told to go home and “forget about it “.
 
budman

budman

General Menace
Staff member
I emailed my son the link to the article. Supposedly he is related on his Mothers side according to his grandma. Never researched it, but hoping he will.

The dude was truly one studly American war hero.
 
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greenmonster

Well-known member
Studly in terms of his bravery for sure but per Wiki he was 5.5 feet tall and weighed 112 pounds when he enlisted in the Army. He was initially rejected for being underage and underweight so he went on a diet and had his sister falsify his birth cert by one year.
 
GAJ

GAJ

Well-known member
Audie Murphy starred in the 1955 movie "To Hell and Back" which chronicled his combat story if interested.

10 years after war's end and he still looked like a kid.
 
blrmaker

blrmaker

Well-known member
greenmonster said:
Yep, to climb aboard a burning tank and keep firing a 50 cal machine gun resulting in single handedly stopping a German attack. Quite something indeed. Do we still have men like that in this country? I hope so but I worry
Click to expand...

I do not believe there are people like him left in this world. : |
 
superhawk

superhawk

B Group Sandbagger
He was the reason I enlisted, I was 5'6" 120lbs when i went to MCRD. Watched to hell and back many times in my youth.
Nothing but respect
 
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