Texas Army National Guard
Which military brach did Audie Murphy belong to from 1950 to 1966?
Audie Murphy Audie Leon Murphy ( 20 June 1925 – 28 May 1971 ) was an American soldier , actor , songwriter , and rancher . He was one of the most decorated American combat soldiers of World War II . He received every military combat award for valor available from the U.S . Army , as well as French and Belgian awards for heroism . Murphy received the Medal of Honor for valor that he demonstrated at the age of 19 for single-handedly holding off a company of German soldiers for an hour at the Colmar Pocket in France in January 1945 , then leading a successful counterattack while wounded and out of ammunition . Murphy was born into a large family of sharecroppers in Hunt County , Texas . His father abandoned them , and his mother died when he was a teenager . Murphy left school in fifth grade to pick cotton and find other work to help support his family ; his skill with a hunting rifle helped feed his family . After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 , Murphys older sister helped him to falsify documentation about his birthdate in order to meet the minimum-age requirement for enlisting in the military . Turned down initially for being underweight by the Army , Navy and the Marine Corps , he eventually was able to enlist in the Army . He first saw action in the 1943 Allied invasion of Sicily ; then in 1944 he participated in the Battle of Anzio , the liberation of Rome , and the invasion of southern France . Murphy fought at Montélimar and led his men on a successful assault at LOmet quarry near Cleurie in north-eastern France in October . After the war , Murphy embarked on a 21-year acting career . He played himself in the 1955 autobiographical film To Hell and Back , based on his 1949 memoirs of the same name , but most of his roles were in westerns . He made guest appearances on celebrity television shows and starred in the series Whispering Smith . Murphy was a fairly accomplished songwriter . He bred quarter horses in California and Arizona , and became a regular participant in horse racing . Suffering from what would today be described as post traumatic stress disorder ( PTSD ) , Murphy slept with a loaded handgun under his pillow . He looked for solace in addictive sleeping pills . In his last few years , he was plagued by money problems but refused offers to appear in alcohol and cigarette commercials because he did not want to set a bad example . Murphy died in a plane crash in Virginia in 1971 , which was shortly before his 46th birthday . He was interred with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery , where his grave is one of the most visited . Early life . Audie Murphy was born on 20 June 1925 , in Kingston , a small rural community in Hunt County in northeastern Texas . He was the seventh of twelve children born to Emmett Berry Murphy ( 1887–1976 ) and his wife Josie Bell Murphy ( née Killian ; 1891–1941 ) . The Murphys were sharecroppers of Irish descent . As a child , Murphy was a loner with mood swings and an explosive temper . He grew up in northeastern Texas around the towns of Farmersville , Greenville , and Celeste , where he attended elementary school . His father drifted in and out of the familys life and eventually deserted them . Murphy dropped out of school in fifth grade and got a job picking cotton for a dollar a day ( ) to help support his family ; he also became skilled with a rifle , hunting small game to help feed them . After his mother died of endocarditis and pneumonia in 1941 , he worked at a radio repair shop and at a combination general store , garage and gas station in Greenville . Hunt County authorities placed his three youngest siblings in Boles Childrens Home , a Christian orphanage in Quinlan . After the war , he bought a house in Farmersville for his eldest sister Corinne and her husband , Poland Burns . His other siblings briefly shared the home . The loss of his mother stayed with Murphy throughout his life . He later stated : World War II service . Murphy had always wanted to be a soldier . After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 , he tried to enlist , but the Army , Navy and Marine Corps all turned him down for being underweight and underage . After his sister provided an affidavit that falsified his birth date by a year , he was accepted by the U.S . Army on 30 June 1942 . After basic training at Camp Wolters , he was sent to Fort Meade for advanced infantry training . During basic training , he earned the Marksman Badge with Rifle Component Bar and Expert Badge with Bayonet Component Bar . Mediterranean Theater . Murphy was shipped to Casablanca in French Morocco on 20 February 1943 . He was assigned to Company B , 1st Battalion , 15th Infantry Regiment , 3rd Infantry Division , which trained under the command of Major General Lucian Truscott . He participated as a platoon messenger with his division at Arzew in Algeria in rigorous training for the Allied assault landings in Sicily . He was promoted to private first class on 7 May and corporal on 15 July . When the 3rd Infantry landed at Licata , Sicily , on 10 July , Murphy was a division runner . On a scouting patrol , he killed two fleeing Italian officers near Canicattì . Sidelined with illness for a week when Company B arrived in Palermo on 20 July , he rejoined them when they were assigned to a hillside location protecting a machine-gun emplacement , while the rest of the 3rd Infantry Division fought at San Fratello en route to the Allied capture of the transit port of Messina . Murphy participated in the September 1943 mainland Salerno landing at Battipaglia . While on a scouting party along the Volturno River , he and two other soldiers were ambushed ; German machine gun fire killed one soldier . Murphy and the other survivor responded by killing five Germans with hand grenades and machine gun fire . While taking part in the October Allied assault on the Volturno Line , near Mignano Monte Lungo Hill 193 , he and his company repelled an attack by seven German soldiers , killing three and taking four prisoner . Murphy was promoted to sergeant on 13 December . In January 1944 , Murphy was promoted to staff sergeant . He was hospitalized in Naples with malaria on 21 January and was unable to participate in the initial landing at the Anzio beachhead . He returned on 29 January and participated in the First Battle of Cisterna , and was made a platoon sergeant in Company B following the battle . He returned with the 3rd Division to Anzio , where they remained four months . Taking shelter from the weather in an abandoned farmhouse on 2 March , Murphy and his platoon killed the crew of a passing German tank . He then crawled out alone close enough to destroy the tank with rifle grenades , for which he received the Bronze Star with V device . Murphy continued to make scouting patrols to take German prisoners before being hospitalized for a week on 13 March with a second bout of malaria . Sixty-one infantry officers and enlisted men of Company B , 15th Infantry , including Murphy , were awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge on 8 May . Murphy was awarded a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster for his Bronze Star . American forces liberated Rome on 4 June , and Murphy remained bivouacked in Rome with his platoon throughout July . European Theater . During the first wave of the Allied invasion of southern France , Murphy received the Distinguished Service Cross for action taken on 15 August 1944 . After landing on Yellow Beach near Ramatuelle , Murphys platoon was making its way through a vineyard when the men were attacked by German soldiers . He retrieved a machine gun that had been detached from the squad and returned fire at the German soldiers , killing two and wounding one . Two Germans exited a house about away and appeared to surrender ; when Murphys best friend responded , they shot and killed him . Murphy advanced alone on the house under direct fire . He killed six , wounded two and took 11 prisoner . Murphy was with the 1st Battalion , 15th Infantry Regiment during the 27–28 August offensive at Montélimar that secured the area from the Germans . Along with the other soldiers who took part in the action , he received the Presidential Unit Citation . Murphys first Purple Heart was for a heel wound received in a mortar shell blast on 15 September 1944 in northeastern France . His first Silver Star came after he killed four and wounded three at a German machine gun position on 2 October at LOmet quarry in the Cleurie river valley . Three days later , Murphy crawled alone towards the Germans at LOmet , carrying an SCR-536 radio and directing his men for an hour while the Germans fired directly at him . When his men finally took the hill , 15 Germans had been killed and 35 wounded . Murphys actions earned him a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster for his Silver Star . He was awarded a battlefield commission to second lieutenant on 14 October , which elevated him to platoon leader . While en route to Brouvelieures on 26 October , the 3rd Platoon of Company B was attacked by a German sniper group . Murphy captured two before being shot in the hip by a sniper ; he returned fire and shot the sniper between the eyes . At the 3rd General Hospital at Aix-en-Provence , the removal of gangrene from the wound caused partial loss of his hip muscle and kept him out of combat until January . Murphy received his first Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster for his Purple Heart for this injury . The Colmar Pocket , in the Vosges Mountains , had been held by German troops since November 1944 . On 14 January 1945 , Murphy rejoined his platoon , which had been moved to the Colmar area in December . He moved with the 3rd Division on 24 January to the town of Holtzwihr , where they faced a strong German counterattack . He was wounded in both legs , for which he received a second Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster for his Purple Heart . As the company awaited reinforcements on 26 January , he was made commander of Company B . The Germans scored a direct hit on an M10 tank destroyer , setting it alight , forcing the crew to abandon it . Murphy ordered his men to retreat to positions in the woods , remaining alone at his post , shooting his M1 carbine and directing artillery fire via his field radio while the Germans aimed fire directly at his position . Murphy mounted the abandoned , burning tank destroyer and began firing its .50 caliber machine gun at the advancing Germans , killing a squad crawling through a ditch towards him . For an hour , Murphy stood on the flaming tank destroyer returning German fire from foot soldiers and advancing tanks , killing or wounding 50 Germans . He sustained a leg wound during his stand , and stopped only after he ran out of ammunition . Murphy rejoined his men , disregarding his own injury , and led them back to repel the Germans . He insisted on remaining with his men while his wounds were treated . For his actions that day , he was awarded the Medal of Honor . The 3rd Infantry Division was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for its actions at the Colmar Pocket , giving Murphy a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster for the emblem . On 16 February , Murphy was promoted to first lieutenant and was awarded the Legion of Merit for his service from 22 January 1944 to 18 February 1945 . He was moved from the front lines to Regimental Headquarters and made a liaison officer . Decorations . The United States additionally honored Murphys war contributions with the American Campaign Medal , the European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with arrowhead device and 9 campaign stars , the World War II Victory Medal , and the Army of Occupation Medal with Germany Clasp . France recognized his service with the French Legion of Honor – Grade of Chevalier , the French Croix de guerre with Silver Star , the French Croix de guerre with Palm , the French Liberation Medal and the French Fourragère in Colors of the Croix de guerre , which was authorized for all members of the 3rd Infantry Division who fought in France during World War II . Belgium awarded Murphy the Belgian Croix de guerre with 1940 Palm . Brigadier General Ralph B . Lovett and Lieutenant Colonel Hallet D . Edson recommended Murphy for the Medal of Honor . Near Salzburg , Austria on 2 June 1945 , Lieutenant General A.M . Patch presented Murphy with the Medal of Honor and Legion of Merit for his actions at Holtzwihr . When asked after the war why he had seized the machine gun and taken on an entire company of German infantry , he replied , They were killing my friends . Murphy received every U.S . military combat award for valor available from the U.S . Army for his World War II service . Postwar military service . Inquiries were made through official channels about the prospect of Murphy attending West Point upon his return to the United States , but he never enrolled . According to author Don Graham , Murphy suggested the idea and then dropped it , possibly when he realized the extent of academic preparation needed to pass the entrance exam . Murphy was one of several military personnel who received orders on 8 June 1945 to report to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio , Texas , for temporary duty and reassignment . Upon arrival on 13 June , he was one of four assigned to Fort Sam Houston Army Ground & Services Redistribution Station and sent home for 30 days of recuperation , with permission to travel anywhere within the United States during that period . While on leave , Murphy was feted with parades , banquets , and speeches . He received a belated Good Conduct Medal on 21 August . He was discharged with the rank of first lieutenant at a 50 percent disability classification on 21 September and transferred to the Officers Reserve Corps . Post-traumatic stress . Since his military service , Murphy had been plagued with insomnia and bouts of depression , and he slept with a loaded pistol under his pillow . 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 . During the mid-1960s , he recognized his dependence on the sedative Placidyl , and locked himself alone in a hotel room for a week to successfully break the addiction . Post-traumatic stress levels exacerbated his innate moodiness , and surfaced in episodes that friends and professional colleagues found alarming . His first wife , Dixie Wanda Hendrix , claimed he once held her at gunpoint . She witnessed her husband being guilt-ridden and tearful over newsreel footage of German war orphans . 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 , but was attributed to the fictitious character Kerrigan . 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 . It was known during Murphys 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 . As a result of legislation introduced by U.S . Congressman Olin Teague five months after Murphys death in 1971 , the Audie L . Murphy Memorial VA Hospital in San Antonio , now a part of the South Texas Veterans Health Care System , was dedicated in 1973 . Texas Army National Guard . At the end of World War II , the 36th Infantry Division reverted to state control as part of the Texas Army National Guard , and Murphys friends , Major General H . Miller Ainsworth and Brigadier General Carl L . Phinney , were the 36ths commander and deputy commander respectively . After 25 June 1950 commencement of the Korean War , Murphy began a second military career and was commissioned as a captain in the 36th Infantry Division of the Texas Army National Guard . He drilled new recruits in the summer training camps , and granted the Guard permission to use his name and image in recruiting materials . Although he wanted to join the fighting and juggled training activities with his film career , the 36th Infantry Division was never sent to Korea . At his request , he transferred to inactive status on 1 October 1951 because of his film commitments with MGM Studios , and returned to active status in 1955 . Murphy was promoted to the rank of major by the Texas Army National Guard in 1956 and returned to inactive status in 1957 . In 1969 , his official separation from the Guard transferred him to the United States Army Reserve . He remained with the USAR until his transfer to the Retired Reserve in 1969 . Film career . Throughout an acting career spanning from 1948 to 1969 , Murphy made more than 40 feature films and one television series . When actor and producer James Cagney saw the 16 July 1945 issue of Life magazine depicting Murphy as the most decorated soldier , he brought him to Hollywood . Cagney and his brother William signed him as a contract player for their production company and gave him training in acting , voice and dance . They never cast Murphy in a movie and a personal disagreement ended the association in 1947 . Murphy later worked with acting coach Estelle Harman , and honed his diction by reciting dialogue from William Shakespeare and William Saroyan . Murphy moved into Terry Hunts Athletic Club in Hollywood where he lived until 1948 . Hollywood writer David Spec McClure befriended Murphy , collaborating with him on Murphys 1949 book To Hell and Back . McClure used his connections to get a $500 ( ) bit part in Texas , Brooklyn & Heaven ( 1948 ) for Murphy . The agent of Wanda Hendrix , whom Murphy had been dating since 1946 , got him a bit part in the Alan Ladd film Beyond Glory directed by John Farrow earlier that same year . His 1949 film Bad Boy gave him his first leading role . The films financial backers refused to bankroll the project unless Murphy was given the lead ; thus , Allied Artists put aside their reservations about using an inexperienced actor and gave him the starring role . Universal Studios signed Murphy to a seven-year studio contract at $2,500 a week ( ) . His first film for them was as Billy the Kid in The Kid from Texas in 1950 . He wrapped up that year making Sierra starring Wanda Hendrix , who by that time had become his wife , and Kansas Raiders as outlaw Jesse James . Universal lent him to MGM in 1951 at a salary of $25,000 to play the lead of The Youth in The Red Badge of Courage , directed by John Huston . Murphy and Huston worked together again in the 1960 film The Unforgiven . The only film Murphy made in 1952 was The Duel at Silver Creek with director Don Siegel . Murphy worked with Siegel one more time in 1958 for The Gun Runners . In 1953 , he starred in Frederick de Cordovas Column South , and played Jim Harvey in Nathan Jurans Tumbleweed , an adaptation of the Kenneth Perkins novel Three Were Renegades . Director Nathan Juran also directed Gunsmoke and Drums Across the River . George Marshall directed Murphy in the 1954 Destry , a remake of Destry Rides Again , based on a character created by author Max Brand . Although Murphy was initially reluctant to appear as himself in To Hell and Back , the 1955 adaptation of his book directed by Jesse Hibbs , he eventually agreed ; it became the biggest hit in the history of Universal Studios at the time . To help publicize the release of the film , he made guest appearances on television shows such as Whats My Line? , Toast of the Town , and Colgate Comedy Hour . The Hibbs-Murphy team proved so successful in To Hell and Back that the two worked together on five subsequent films . The partnership resulted in Murphy appearing as John Phillip Clum in the 1956 western Walk the Proud Land , and the non-westerns Joe Butterfly and World in My Corner . They worked together for the last time in the 1958 western Ride a Crooked Trail . Joseph L . Mankiewicz hired Murphy to play the titular role in the 1958 film The Quiet American . Murphy formed a partnership with Harry Joe Brown to make three films , starting with The Guns of Fort Petticoat ( 1957 ) . The partnership fell into disagreement over the remaining two projects , and Brown filed suit against Murphy . In 1957 Murphy was cast as The Utica Kid along with James Stewart and Dan Duryea in the western Night Passage . Murphy was featured in three westerns in 1959 : he starred opposite Sandra Dee in The Wild and the Innocent , collaborated as an uncredited co-producer with Walter Mirisch on the black and white Cast a Long Shadow , and performed as a hired killer in No Name on the Bullet , a film that was well received by critics . Thelma Ritter was his costar in the 1960 Startime television episode The Man . During the early 1960s , Murphy donated his time and otherwise lent his name and image for three episodes of The Big Picture television series produced by the United States Army . He received the 1960 Outstanding Civilian Service Medal for his cooperation in the episode Broken Bridge , which featured his visits to military installations in Germany , Italy , Turkey and the U.S . state of New Mexico to showcase the militarys latest weaponry . Writer Clair Huffaker wrote the 1961 screenplays for Murphys films Seven Ways from Sundown and Posse from Hell . Willard W . Willingham and his wife Mary Willingham befriended Murphy in his early days in Hollywood and worked with him on a number of projects . Willard was a producer on Murphys 1961 television series Whispering Smith , and co-wrote the screenplay for Battle at Bloody Beach that year . He collaborated on Bullet for a Badman in 1964 and Arizona Raiders in 1965 . The Willinghams as a team wrote the screenplay for Gunpoint as well as the script for Murphys last starring lead in the western 40 Guns to Apache Pass in 1967 . Murphy made Trunk to Cairo in Israel in 1966 . He first met director Budd Boetticher when Murphy requested to be his boxing partner at Terry Hunts Athletic Club . He subsequently appeared in the 1951 title role of Boettichers first western The Cimarron Kid . Boetticher wrote the script in 1969 for Murphys last film , A Time for Dying . Two other projects that Murphy and Boetticher planned to collaborate on – A Horse for Mr Barnum and When Theres Sumpthin to Do – never came to fruition . Personal life . Murphy married actress Wanda Hendrix in 1949 . Their divorce became final two years later in 1951 . Four days later , he married former airline stewardess Pamela Opal Lee Archer ( 7 October 1919/1920/1923 – 8 April 2010 ) , with whom he had two sons : Terry Michael ( born 14 March 1952 ) , and James Shannon ( born 1954 ) . Murphy bred quarter horses at the Audie Murphy Ranch in what is now Menifee , California , and the Murphy Ranch in Pima County , Arizona . His horses raced at the Del Mar Racetrack , and he invested large sums of money in the hobby . Murphys gambling left his finances in a poor state . In 1968 , he stated that he lost $260,000 in an Algerian oil deal and was dealing with the Internal Revenue Service over unpaid taxes . In spite of his financial difficulties , Murphy refused to appear in commercials for alcohol and cigarettes , mindful of the influence he would have on the youth market . In May 1970 , he was arrested in Burbank , California , charged with battery and assault with intent to commit murder in a dispute with a dog trainer . He was accused of firing a shot at the man , which he denied . Murphy was cleared of the charges . Death and commemorations . On 28 May 1971 , Murphy was killed when the private plane in which he was a passenger crashed into Brush Mountain , near Catawba , Virginia , west of Roanoke in conditions of rain , clouds , fog and zero visibility . The pilot and four other passengers were also killed . The aircraft was a twin-engine Aero Commander 680 flown by a pilot who had a private-pilot license and a reported 8,000 hours of flying time , but who held no instrument rating . The aircraft was recovered on 31 May . After her husbands death , Pamela Murphy moved into a small apartment and got a clerk position at the Sepulveda Veterans Administration Hospital in Los Angeles , where she remained employed for 35 years . In 1975 , a court awarded Murphys widow , Pamela , and their two children $2.5 million in damages because of the accident . On 7 June 1971 , Murphy was buried with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery . In attendance were Ambassador to the U.N . George H . W . Bush , Army Chief of Staff William Westmoreland , and many of the 3rd Infantry Division . Murphys gravesite is in Section 46 , headstone number 46-366-11 , located across Memorial Drive from the Amphitheater . A special flagstone walkway was later constructed to accommodate the large number of people who visit to pay their respects . It is the cemeterys second most-visited gravesite , after that of President John F . Kennedy . The headstones of Medal of Honor recipients buried at Arlington National Cemetery are normally decorated in gold leaf . Murphy previously requested that his stone remain plain and inconspicuous , like that of an ordinary soldier . The headstone contains the birth year 1924 , based upon purportedly falsified materials among his military records . In 1974 , a large granite marker was erected just off the Appalachian Trail at at 3,100 elevation , near the crash site . Civilian honors were bestowed on Murphy during his lifetime and posthumously , including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . In 2013 , Murphy was honored by his home state with the Texas Legislative Medal of Honor . In 2014 , the rock band Sabaton released a song titled To Hell and Back in reference to Audie Murphy and his film , on their album Heroes . Song writing . David McClure , his collaborator on the book To Hell and Back , discovered Murphys talent for poetry during their work on the memoir when he found discarded verses in Murphys Hollywood apartment . One of those poems , The Crosses Grow on Anzio , appears in To Hell and Back attributed to a soldier named Kerrigan . Only two others survived , Alone and Far Removed and Freedom Flies in Your Heart Like an Eagle . The latter was part of a speech Murphy had written at a 1968 dedication of the Alabama War Memorial in Montgomery , and later set to music by Scott Turner under the title Dusty Old Helmet . Murphy was a fan of country music , in particular Bob Wills and Chet Atkins , but was not a singer or musician himself . Through his friend Guy Mitchell , Murphy was introduced to songwriter Scott Turner in 1961 . The two collaborated on numerous songs between 1962 and 1970 , the most successful of which was Shutters and Boards and When the Wind Blows in Chicago . External links . - Image of Audie Murphy with unidentified man during screen test in Los Angeles , California , 1946 . Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive ( Collection 1429 ) . UCLA Library Special Collections , Charles E . Young Research Library , University of California , Los Angeles .