It's the closing days of the second world war, and despite defeat being a near-certainty,
the German army is still fighting ferociously, forcing Allied troops to pay for every inch
of territory with their blood.
Just outside the Vosges Mountains, an American infantry platoon is under heavy assault by
a well-coordinated and armed German advance.
Several M10 tank destroyers are lending their fire to the battle on the American side, but
one by one they are hit by German panzerschrecks- anti-tank munitions- forcing their crews to
abandon the vehicles.
Amidst the chaos, one soldier sees that his men are about to be overrun, and he immediately
orders them to make a break for the woods behind them.
To cover their retreat, the soldier leaps up and rushes to a burning tank destroyer,
hopping atop it and manning the .50 caliber machine gun, standing alone against a horde
of oncoming Germans.
Just two years earlier Audie Murphy found himself being rejected for military service
by first the Army, then the Navy, and finally the Marine Corps.
The 5'5” would-be soldier was too short and underweight, the military doctors all
said.
Plus to boot he was too young, only 16 years old.
Yet there was a war on, and the pain of Pearl Harbor was still deeply felt by Murphy and
most Americans, plus the US had just suffered crushing defeats in the Philippines- Murphy
wanted to fight, and he wasn't going to stop trying to enlist until he was allowed to.
Faking his birth certificate with the help of his sister, Murphy was finally accepted
into the Army on the 30th of June 1942.
Taunted for his short stature, Murphy nonetheless immediately proved a very capable soldier,
earning his Marksman Badge with Rifle Component Bar and Expert Badge with Bayonet Component
Bar.
Graduating from basic training, Murphy was sent overseas to the Mediterranean Theater,
acting as a platoon messenger in Algeria while the allies trained for their upcoming assault
landings in Sicily.
Weeks later, Murphy found himself on a speeding landing assault craft, plowing through stormy
seas with swells several feet high.
A freak summer storm had sprung up overnight, preventing the landing of paratroopers meant
to strike the German defenders from behind and ease the pressure on the landing sites.
The weather was so bad however, and the sea so violent, that German commanders relaxed
their defenses, thinking no Allied commander would be insane enough to risk amphibious
landings in such extreme wind and rain.
Yet from out of the gloom and howling wind there suddenly came the thunderous booming
of battleship batteries, raining death down amongst the German defensive positions- and
just behind the fiery onslaught were lines of allied landing craft, bringing 150,000
soldiers into the soft underbelly of Axis-held Europe.
Murphy hit the beach with his men that day, and while on a scouting patrol came across
two fleeing Italian officers which he shot and killed.
Having survived the violence of the initial landings though, a severe illness sidelined
Murphy and he was forced into a field hospital for a week.
Rejoining his unit, he was then sent to Salerno, landing near Battipaglia, where he and two
other soldiers were ambushed by a German unit.
The withering barrage immediately cut down one of the soldiers, leaving Murphy and another
soldier alone against a squad of five Germans firing at them from a fortified position.
Responding with hand grenades and their own machine gun fire, Murphy and his comrade killed
all five Germans- sadly too late to save the injured soldier's life.
One month later Murphy joined in the assault against the Volturno Line, the southernmost
line of German defenses meant to slow down the Allied assault into Italy.
There Murphy and his men repelled a counterattack by seven German soldiers, killing three and
taking four prisoners.
For his leadership and excellence on the battlefield, Murphy received a promotion to Sergeant, only
to be promoted just one month later in January 1944 to Staff Sergeant- still only 19 years
old.
Hospitalized with malaria, Murphy was out of action for a week and a half before rejoining
his men at the first battle of Cisterna- a disastrous American defeat that saw the loss
of over 700 US Army Rangers.
As US forces licked their wounds, Murphy found himself taking shelter in an abandoned farmhouse
along with his unit.
Suddenly, a German Panzer discovered their position, and Murphy crawled out alone on
his belly, drawing close enough to destroy the tank with rifle grenades.
For his incredible heroism, Murphy was awarded the Bronze Star with V device.
Months later Murphy found himself once more on a landing craft, being tossed around on
the choppy seas as he sped to shore on the south of France.
The Normandy invasion had been successful, and Allied forces from a now-defeated Italy
would join in the retaking of France by catching the Germans between a northern and southern
invasion, squeezing the Nazis back into Germany.
Under heavy fire, the landing craft hit the beach and men rushed forward to destroy the
German defenders firing down on them from fortified bunkers.
As the invasion force pushed out of the beaches, Murphy and his platoon found themselves picking
their way through a beautiful French vineyard- a surreal moment of peace and calm amidst
the incredible violence raging all around them.
However the peace was quickly shattered as German infantry opened fire on the Americans,
wounding and killing several.
Murphy's squad's machine gunner had been detached from the rest of his unit, and desperately
in need of some heavy suppressing fire, Murphy braved a storm of bullets to retrieve the
weapon, and then incredibly rushed back into the fray and began returning fire, killing
two German soldiers.
Suddenly the German fire slacked off and stopped, and two German soldiers left their position
inside a house with their hands up, appearing to surrender.
Murphy's best friend responded and approached the soldiers, ready to take them prisoner,
when suddenly Germans hiding inside the house opened fire, killing him instantly.
In a fit of rage Murphy stormed the house completely alone as the Germans poured fire
in his direction.
Incredibly, Murphy avoided being hit, and armed only with his rifle he killed six Germans,
wounded two, and took 11 prisoner.
For his and his men’s heroism that day and in the days following, Murphy and his unit
received the Presidential Unit Citation.
Murphy's seemingly invulnerability however came to an end when on the 15thof September,
1944, he was wounded by a mortar blast, shrapnel cutting deep into his heel.
Just a few weeks later though Murphy was back in the action, and would earn a Silver Star
for assaulting a German machine gun position, killing four and wounding three.
Just three days later, engaging the Germans at L'Omet in the Cleurie river valley, Murphy
and his unit found themselves unable to take a heavily defended hill from their German
defenders.
Crawling alone forwards towards the German position where he could get a better vantage
point, Murphy directed his men in their assault via radio even while Germans rained machine
gun and rifle fire down on him for over an hour.
After successfully taking the hill, Murphy earned a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster for his Silver
Star, and a battlefield commission to second lieutenant.
Joining the assault into the heart of France, Murphy and his Platoon were ambushed by German
snipers on the 26thof October.
Picking his way from cover to cover, Murphy managed to make his way right up to the German
position, taking two of the soldiers prisoner when suddenly a third sniper shot him in the
hip.
Spinning on his attacker, Murphy leveled his rifle and put one round directly between the
sniper's eyes.
For his injury Murphy received his first Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster for his Purple Heart, but
partial loss of his hip muscle due to the removal of gangrene from the wound forced
Murphy out of combat until January.
By that time though the Allies were pushing the Germans steadily back and out of France.
Joining his men at the Colmar Pocket in the Vosges Mountains, near central France, Murphy
and his men found themselves in the thick of some of the most brutal fighting of the
war.
Determined to force the Allies back into the sea, a fierce German counterattack broke on
the US lines like a storm.
Caught out in the open, Murphy called for any fire support available to prevent the
Germans overrunning their position.
A detachment of M10 tank destroyers responded and immediately began engaging the Germans.
However, German fire quickly began eliminating the vehicles one by one.
Firing from a hastily prepared defensive position, the blast of a panzerschreck striking an M10
just feet away rolled over Murphy.
Knowing his men would be killed to the last if they remained out in the open, Murphy ordered
his men to make a break for the woods behind them, remaining at his position alone as he
fired at the oncoming Germans while also directing artillery fire over the radio.
Murphy knew he needed to lay down some heavy suppressing fire if his men were going to
have any chance of making it to safety, but he was armed with only his M1 rifle.
That's when Murphy spotted the .50 caliber machine gun atop the destroyed M10- and ignoring
the flames, smoke, and incoming German fire all around him, Murphy made a mad dash for
the burning wreck and crawled atop it, manning the heavy machine gun and laying down a withering
barrage of fire at the oncoming Germans.
For over an hour Murphy stayed atop the burning vehicle, returning fire against the Germans
and advancing vehicles.
The mighty .50 caliber machine gun, nicknamed Ma 'Deuce by US forces, belched out high-speed
death, shredding even the armor of the German vehicles.
Wounded in both legs and finally out of ammunition after over 60 minutes of fighting, Murphy
finally left the burning wreck and crawled his way back to his men in the woods behind
him.
Having killed and wounded 50 Germans and knocking out several German vehicles, Murphy ignored
the wounds to his legs and led his men in an assault to repel the German counterattack,
pushing the enemy back and securing the US position.
On guard against a second counterattack, Murphy refused to be evacuated to a field hospital,
and remained with his men as his wounds were treated.
For his heroism that day Murphy was awarded the US military's highest decoration- the
Medal of Honor, given only in the most extreme cases of gallantry and heroism.
His wounds proved to be too great to rejoin the fighting this time however and Murphy
was moved from the front lines to Regimental Headquarters to act as an Army liaison officer-
a well deserved rest for an incredible soldier.
Audie Murphy would ultimately become one of the most highly decorated soldiers in US history,
and even earn several awards and citations from the French and Belgium governments for
heroism.
Unable to continue service due to his injuries, Audie left the military at the end of the
war and began a very successful career as a hollywood actor, starring in several films
featuring his own exploits in combat.
Sadly, Murphy would go on to be killed in a plane crash on the 28thof May, 1971, though
his body would be interred in Arlington National Cemetery where it remains one of the most
visited graves.