What Happened to AUDIE MURPHY

audi leon murphy one of the most decorated american soldiers of world war ii was born june 20th 1925 in kingston texas murphy and his seven siblings lived in poverty which was exacerbated after his father abandoned the family prompting murphy to leave school and start working in 1941 when he was 16 murphy lost his mother and his younger siblings were placed in orphanages or sent to live with relatives in december of that same year after the japanese attacked pearl harbor murphy attempted to enlist in the armed forces but the five foot seven inch youngster was told to wait until he was 18. in june of 1942 just a few days shy of his 17th birthday murphy presented a fake birth certificate he'd filed with the county to support his claim that he was 18 and was finally able to join the army before leaving town he promised his younger siblings that upon his return he would purchase the house where they all could live after he completed his training murphy sailed to casablanca and from there to italy where he took part in the invasion of sicily his company marched up through italy and then took part in the invasion of southern france out of 235 men murphy and one supply sergeant were the only ones left at the end of the bloody journey throughout his trek through europe murphy's skill and bravery earned him every u.s military combat award for valor available from the u.s army while his exploits can and have filled volumes one worth noting happened in a french vineyard where he single-handedly overtook an entire german garrison and captured 11 prisoners on january 26 1945 murphy's actions during the battle of colmar pocket in france earned him the medal of honor and the cover of magazines across the united states according to eyewitnesses while under withering attack from german soldiers murphy climbed atop a burning tank destroyer commandeered a 50-caliber machine gun and over the course of an hour held off an entire german infantry company as it desperately tried to take him out a grateful french nation also awarded murphy the french croatiguer with palm and silver star as his combat tour ended murphy left europe the most decorated combat veteran of world war ii upon his return home he kept his promise to his siblings buying a house where they all resided together after murphy was featured on the cover of life magazine actor and producer james cagney offered him film work in hollywood though his career with cagney was short-lived murphy remained in la and started landing film roles but life after combat wasn't all hollywood stars and glamour murphy was one of the first veterans to acknowledge that he suffered from battle fatigue now known as post-traumatic stress disorder coming home again i started to think about home for change which we didn't dare think of before because as you know you live from day to day minute to minute in most cases and uh suddenly i was a little frightened strange as it might seem i didn't know what i'd do when i got home and i suddenly felt just a little empty inside a little lonely about the whole thing although i was very happy the war was over i suddenly didn't feel that i had a home in january of 1949 murphy married actress wanda hendricks the marriage was over by october of that year due to murphy's erratic and at times violent behavior which hendrix later blamed on ptsd two days after his divorce was finalized murphy married pamela archer with whom he had two children also in 1949 murphy published his autobiography to hell and back in which he described his experiences during world war ii in 1951 he was cast in the red badge of courage a film adaptation of the civil war era novel by the same name what are they marching us out of here for can't stand this much longer don't see any point to it at all me neither i sure would like to know what's going on we're being reconnoited around the center to keep the rebs from coming too close that's to develop them or something i'd rather do anything most people tramping around the country all day doing no good to anybody just wearing you although the film was directed by the now legendary john huston it was a box office failure unlike the much more successful 1955 film adaptation of to hell and back in which murphy played himself it was universal studios biggest film up to that date hey give me back my thompson will you fired you guys over there get ready to go you stay here make sure those artillery people get up there all right [Music] throughout the 1950s and early 60s murphy starred in numerous westerns which he described as the same movie just with different horses if i leave here that boy goes with me joey why do you want him maybe for the good of his soul as the rolls died down murphy started breeding racehorses although he earned a lot of money during his acting career much of it was squandered on horse gambling and bad investments and by 1968 murphy had declared bankruptcy daddy hey looks like we've got another customer here this is my son terry he played your little brother in your picture didn't he audie you're dead you know he did the money you made invested in savings bonds did you really tear i surely did those bonds will not only help take care of his future but will help keep his america strong and free during that time he also worked on behalf of veterans including advocating for treatment for those suffering from ptsd on may 28 1971 murphy was considering investing in a modular home company and boarded a flight from atlanta georgia to martinsville virginia with other investors his plane crashed in roanoke virginia only 50 miles from their destination killing everyone on board in other news audie murphy the most decorated man of world war ii who went on to become a movie star was found dead this afternoon in the wreckage of a light plane in the hills of virginia the plane went down on friday afternoon in one last patriotic gesture audie murphy who was 45 years old at the time died during the weekend of memorial day [Music] he was buried with full military honors at arlington cemetery murphy who months earlier had stopped by the cemetery during a trip through washington dc to reserve a space there requested a plane headstone instead of the more ornate one offered only to medal of honor recipients the headstone bears the year 1924 which reflects the falsified date given to join the army years earlier murphy's resting place is the second most visited site in arlington cemetery from devastating poverty through the fields of war-ravaged europe to the heights of fame audi murphy courageously fought battles both real and psychological through it all he remained humble and always credited those who fought alongside him for his accolades [Music] throughout his life murphy downplayed his medals saying they were earned by all his comrades many of whom did not live to receive them in hollywood he was known for befriending the studio workers instead of the movie stars during times when the word hero is used to describe athletes and entertainers it's easy to forget that not too long ago the term was reserved for people with real courage and nobility people who risked their lives without question to fight for their comrades for their country for freedom and among those heroes there were none like audie murphy [Music] thank you for watching if you like this video please comment and hit the like button and please don't forget to subscribe to our channel

Channel: Alpha 11

Views: 331,083

Rating: 4.9223366 out of 5

Keywords: Audie Murphy, Medal of Honor, Audie Murphy HD, To Hell and Back, The Red Badge of Courage, Jimmy Stewart, james cagney, WWII Hero, Wanda Hendrix

Id: v7PL9DLYT5Q

Length: 8min 32sec (512 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 31 2021