Audie Murphy

By: E. J. Addington

Most of you won't actually remember Audie Murphy, unless you can remember the post World War II era. But many of you may remember the story of this miraculous man. Audie Murphy was born in Hunt County Texas, not even in a town, but merely "near" Kingston. His parents, Josie and Emmett Murphy, were dirt poor sharecroppers. (in case you don't remember what that is either, a sharecropper was a person that was too poor to buy any land, back when land was pennies an acre, but would work the land for some better off land owner, in return for a "share of the crops", hence the name, sharecropper) Because of these austere surroundings into which young Audie was born, he was forced to drop out of school in the eighth grade (not unusual in that era) to work for a dollar a day, plowing and picking cotton, on anyone's farm that would hire him at such a young age. Audie was number six in a series of twelve children and, also not atypically for that time, saw three of his siblings die before they reached eighteen years of age. Yet it was his poverty and need for food that resulted in him becoming quite handy with a rifle, in hunting rabbit and squirrel, which, in a twist of adversity that only the Creator could be behind, was to become the miraculous skill that catapulted his bravery into world-wide fame.

To add to his childhood woes, Audie's father, Emmett, deserted the family when Audie was only twelve, which pressured Audie into early responsibilites and maturity.

At sixteen years of age, after holding at least 4 or 5 different jobs, sometimes 2 at time, tragic adversity struck the young man again.

His mother, Josie, suddenly died, and Audie was forced to put her three youngest children in a local orphanage. One can only imagine how painful this combination of events would have been.

Murphy tried to join the military shortly thereafter, out of emotional and financial desperation, but was turned down by all three branches of service because of his age. Finally at his eighteenth birthday, the army accepted him and he was inducted only a few days thereafter. Once in the service, his fortune did not change any too soon, as he was nick-named "Baby" by his peers because of his youthful appearance, and commanders actually tried to force him to accept transfers into cook or baker's school because of his reputation. But Audie Murphy persisted, and after only 13 weeks, was succesful in being accepted into advanced infantry training.

Even after all that, adversity continued to taunt him, as he had to fight officials to get authorization for overseas assignment and then, once there, he contracted Malaria, which was to burden him for years. But Murphy's tenacity continued to reward him, and he was promoted to Sergeant after battling his way out of an Axis ambush.

Murphy's exceptional bravery and marksmanship, coupled with the fervor of his tenacious character, ended up earning him Every Award for Valor in Battle that the United States has to bestow ! !

As some of you know, that's not the end of the story !

When Audie Murphy returned from the war to the United States, he was such a household name as a hero, that he landed some Hollywood movie parts and excelled magnificently as an actor in that arena as well!!

It was James Cagney himself that personally helped to launch Audie's movie career by inviting him to Hollywood and lending him Cagney's connections. However, the long terrible arm of adversity was not to simply leave the ill-fated Murphy with a life of luxury. It took Audie over two years of austere struggle to make it in the movie business, and all the while he was plagued with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Malaria relapses, and other illness.

After several more years of Murphy's Astonishing Tenacity in the face of Adversity, his Autobiographical Movie, "To Hell and Back", (in which He Starred as Himself!) became the Biggest Blockbuster for Universal Pictures of All Time, not to be overturned until "Jaws" took that honor away from him in 1975, which mean's Murphy's movie Reigned Supreme for Exactly Twenty Years after it's delayed 1955 release ! !

Audie Murphy's extremely numerous achievements are too many to chronicle in this short article, so we at WhenMagazine are going to provide you with the links below so that you can see further astonishing Information regarding this phenomenal American hero.