AUDIE L. MURPHY, Second Lieutenant, (then Staff Sergeant), Infantry, Company B, 15th Infantry Regiment, for extraordinary heroism in action. Landing near Ramatuelle, France, with the first wave of the assault infantry, at 0800 hours, 15 August until halted by intense machine gun and small arms fire from a boulder-covered hill to his front. Leaving his men in a covered position, he dashed forty yards through withering fire to a draw. Using this defiladed route, he went back toward the beaches, found a light machine gun in position seventy-five yards in advance of his platoon. In the duel which ensued, Lieutenant Murphy silenced the enemy weapon, killed two of the crew and wounded a third. As he proceeded further up the draw, two Germans advance toward him. Quickly destroying both of them, he dashed up the draw alone toward the enemy strongpoint, disregarding bullets which glanced off the rocks around him and hand grenades which exploded fifteen yards away. Closing in, he wounded two Germans with carbine fire, killed two more in a fierce, brief fire-fight, and forced the remaining five to surrender. His extraordinary heroism resulted in the capture of a fiercely contested enemy-held hill and the annihilation or capture of the entire enemy garrison.

Major Murphy resided in Southern California. View Major Murphy’s Medal of Honor.

EDITORS NOTE: Audie Leon Murphy was the most decorated American combat soldier of World War II who died tragically in an airplane accident in 1971. He received every decoration for valor that this country had to offer plus 5 decorations presented to him by France and Belgium.