I entered the Army in 1942 and served in Europe during World War II
and in Korea after the fighting, and also in Vietnam.
In August of 1944, I was shipped to England.
Stayed there two or three weeks and then into France.
And in France, I joined the 3rd Infantry Division.
I was initially a rifle platoon leader.
And then on the eighth of December of that year,
I was made company commander and except for times in the hospital,
I was commander of that company for the rest of the war.
NARRATOR: On December 16th, 1944,
First Lieutenant Charles Murray led the men of the 30th Infantry, C Company,
into a narrow mountain pass outside the town of Kaysersberg, France.
As company commander, the young lieutenant had a dual responsibility:
to ensure the safety of his men,
and to guarantee the safe completion of the unit's mission.
While on patrol, he and his men would encounter
an entrenched force of about 200 German soldiers.
During the early morning hours of the 16th of December,
which was the Bulge day, by the way,
for those who are familiar with the fighting up north.
On that morning we crossed a footbridge built by the engineers
on the edge of the little town of Kaysersberg, and went into the hills.
And our battalion was to send one platoon down into the next valley
to establish a position to keep the Germans from getting in or out of that valley.
The approach to the bottom of the hill was down a narrow mountain trail.
As we started down, we had two scouts, two men,
out in front of us about a hundred yards to be sure we weren't surprised.
And after just a short time down that little mountain trail,
the first scout pointed out, at the bottom of the hill, about 200 Germans,
who were spread out about a half a block long in a sunken road.
It was a beautiful artillery target, and I called for artillery fire.
The first round came in very rapidly, and it was off target a couple hundred yards.
And I adjusted and fired another round, and that round was close.
And I was prepared to tell them, I guess, to fire for effect,
to fire another spotting round, when the battery in my radio went dead.
I sent somebody-- some of the troops-- up the hill to get one of my mortars.
And while they were going up the hill,
I knew something had to be done, so I borrowed a Browning automatic rifle
and laid in the trail and fired at the enemy for maybe 30 minutes, I guess.
During the process, a German truck came out of the sunken road toward my position.
I fired a couple bursts and hit the truck, both the doors flew open.
Nobody came out, I'd taken care of them pretty well.
At that time, most of the Germans were beginning to run backwards
toward the main road.
And I kept firing and firing as they were running through the vines.
And about that time, my mortar section sergeant,
came up, tapped me and he said, "Sir, I've got the mortars."
The trail was such thattake three steps and you couldn't see them,
...go back three steps and you couldn't see them.
So there was only room for one person to lay down and do the shooting.
So I got behind the mortar,
Sergeant Shoemaker had gotten into the assistant gunner's position
and he got a round ready to go, and then I fired.
And the first round, coincidentally and by surprise to me,
hit about where I wanted it to go, in the creek.
And I fired the rest of these rounds, 10 or 12 of them, chasing the Germans.
I didn't see the damage I was doing, but I knew they were in there.
And I kept firing until those rounds were gone.
NARRATOR: Murray's fierce attack routed the superior German force,
inflicting enormous casualties and scattering the enemy ranks.
Though he was seriously wounded while taking prisoners during his troop's advance,
Murray nonetheless stayed to complete the mission,
setting an inspiring example for his men.
I don't feel like I did anything at all that was heroic,
I did what I felt should have been done.
And I'm sure 99 percent of the ones who have ever been decorated--
--awarded the Medal, will say the same thing.
They were doing their job, what they thought had to be done,
and it was done spontaneously by some....
some lasted weeks, their battles
and some lasted seconds, when they fell on a grenade.
And in my case, maybe 30 minutes, maybe an hour and a half,
I had no feeling of the time at all.
One thing that I did after the war, I went back in 1949
and I was stationed in Austria for almost four years.
And during that time I went back to France and through Germany
and found the spot where each of the men that served with me was killed.
And I wondered, "What could I have done differently to not get them killed?"
But in the long run, I was told by other people who were in the company that,
"You couldn't have done anything different, you did the best you could."
So I don't feel sorrow for those people.
They did the job that they were trying to do at the time, and they were killed.
And I grieved for them a long, long time... But no more.
I'm happy that they did their job and they served their country.