Map of Where Audie Murphy Was Deployed Free Updated

He earned every honor from the U.s. military plus v from abroad at 19. But that'southward non all — Audie Murphy too became a Hollywood sensation.

On a common cold Jan afternoon in 1945, Second Lieutenant Audie Murphy watched with mounting alarm equally over 200 German troops emerged from the woods. But instead of succumbing to panic, the 19-year-quondam Murphy jumped on a called-for tank — and began spraying bullets at his enemies.

For his bravery, he would after win the prestigious Medal of Laurels, along with several other awards and medals. But that January 24-hour interval was just one chapter in Murphy'southward remarkable story. His life had started in poverty, led to wartime glory and Hollywood fame, and ended in utter tragedy.

This is the life — and death — of war hero and Hollywood star Audie White potato.

Audie Irish potato'south Early on Life And Enlistment

Audie Murphy

U.S. Army War hero Audie White potato, continuing tall with his many medals in 1948.

By the fourth dimension he was 20 years old, Audie Leon Irish potato had achieved worldwide renown. Merely his early years were difficult. I of 11 children, Murphy was built-in on June xx, 1925, to a family unit of poor sharecroppers in Texas. And he took on a very heavy load at a young historic period.

His begetter abandoned the family. His mother died. And to feed his siblings, Murphy took to killing rabbits with a slingshot or a borrowed rifle. Since he could only beget a dime's worth of bullets, White potato learned not to miss.

But despite Murphy'southward all-time efforts to assist his family, his siblings were steadily shipped off to live with relatives or in orphanages. So, ten days afterward his 17th birthday, Audie Irish potato decided to go fight in Earth War II. Still, there was just one problem — he was considered too young and too small.

"Unfortunately the [Marine] corps was looking for men, men italicized," Murphy wrote in his memoir To Hell and Back. "A seargent glanced over my skinny physique. My weight did not measure up to Leatherneck standards."

After beingness rejected past both the Marines and the paratroopers in the military, he was eventually accustomed by the U.S. Army — but only when his sis signed an affirmation that falsely added a year to his age. At the time, Audie Murphy stood only five'5″ tall and weighed but 112 pounds.

"Thus, with a pocket total of holes, a head full of dreams, and an ignorance beyond my years, I boarded a bus for the consecration center," White potato wrote. "Previously I had never been over ane hundred miles from home."

Following basic training, Murphy was assigned to the 15th Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, and arrived in Casablanca, Kingdom of morocco, in 1943. Just a few months afterward, he fought in the invasion of Sicily, charged the beaches at Anzio, and helped the Allied forces push toward Rome.

"I accept seen war as information technology actually is," Irish potato after wrote, "and I do not like information technology."

Simply despite his individual feelings about the disharmonize, Spud shone as a soldier. A skilled marksman and tactician, he swiftly ascended the ranks — helped, in part, by multiple deaths, injuries, and transfers amid his superior officers. By 1944, he and his unit were sent to fight in France.

In that location, Audie Murphy plant great danger — and glory.

How Audie Potato Won The Medal Of Accolade

Life Magazine Cover

Pinterest Audie Murphy standing alpine on the cover of LIFE magazine.

By January 1945, Audie Murphy had already won two Silver Stars and the Distinguished Service Cross. And at just 19 years former, he was now in command of his own unit of measurement. But White potato would be tested on January 26, in Holtzwihr, France, an area that was also known as the Colmar Pocket.

On that 24-hour interval, Irish potato and his men were holding a roadway and awaiting reinforcements when over 200 Germans with Panzer tanks flare-up out of the woods nearby. Fighting panic, Murphy ordered most of his men to retreat equally he called Allied command and demanded reinforcements. Equally shells flare-up effectually him, an artillery commander asked about the Germans' proximity.

"Just hold the phone and I'll let you lot talk to one of the bastards!" Tater said.

But amid the melee, Tater of a sudden saw an opportunity to fight dorsum. While crouching by a burning tank, he realized that its gun was still operational. So he jumped onto the tank, aimed the gun, and started firing.

"My numbed encephalon is intent only on destroying," Murphy later wrote. "I am conscious but that the fume and the turret afford a expert screen, and that, for the kickoff fourth dimension in three days, my anxiety are warm."

By the time the smoke had cleared, Murphy had single-handedly taken down some 50 Nazi soldiers. "How come I'k not dead?" he wondered in a daze.

Of class, Murphy had done more than survive the onslaught — he'd go a legendary state of war hero. In the backwash of his brave stand at the Colmar Pocket, he was awarded the prestigious Medal of Honor.

"Murph was a daredevil; he took chances that others just wouldn't take. He was as well daring for about of united states of america," recalled Brad Croeker, a Company B individual. "His center name was Lucky."

By the time the war had ended, Murphy had earned every honor offered by the U.S. military at the fourth dimension — plus a few from France and Belgium. He returned home one of the nigh decorated soldiers from the war with 33 medals and awards. Unsurprisingly, Murphy received a literal hero's welcome and was soon feted with parades and interviews.

Meanwhile, a new chapter of his life loomed on the horizon. Audie White potato had become such a compelling and admired figure throughout the United States that he was encouraged to try his hand at Hollywood.

From The Front Lines To Hollywood Fame

Audie Murphy Headshot

Wikimedia Commons Audie Murphy was catapulted into stardom the instant he returned dwelling house.

After Audie Murphy appeared on the cover of LIFE in July 1945, he caught the center of actor James Cagney, who believed Irish potato could conquer Hollywood. James and his blood brother, Nib, encouraged Irish potato to get an actor.

Though Murphy believed he had "no talent," he followed their advice and moved to Hollywood, where he nabbed a bit part in 1948's Beyond Celebrity.

"I had viii words to say," Irish potato said. "Seven more than I could handle."

Nonetheless the film jobs kept coming, and so he kept accepting them. Spud went on to announced in more than than xl films and even played himself in the 1955 adaption of his autobiography, which was also titled To Hell and Back.

Murphy found that experience odd and oft wrenching. He called it a "strange jerking back and forth between make‐believe and reality" and recalled one scene where he had to relive the death of a friend.

In real life, his fellow soldier had stood up and was striking by auto gunfire. He died shortly thereafter in Irish potato'south arms, telling him: "I goofed, Murphy."

"When we shot the scene, we inverse the part where Brandon died in my artillery," Tater remembered. "That was the way information technology had really happened, but it looked too corny, they said. I guess information technology did."

Despite Irish potato's apprehensive assessment of his ain skills equally an actor, movie audiences apparently liked him. He was even voted the virtually pop Western actor in America in 1955 by movement moving picture exhibitors.

After 20 years of film-making, Audie Murphy retired from the film business concern. Along the way, he'd gotten married, divorced, and married again. But one last chapter remained in his life. And later on achieving glory in war and fame in Hollywood, this chapter would exist the darkest i all the same.

How Did Audie Murphy Dice?

Audie Murphy Monument

Jwalden/Wikimedia Commons A monument to Audie Murphy at the site where he died.

Despite his success on the battleground — both existent and made upwards — Audie Murphy never fully shook the ghosts of war. When once asked how some people survived a war, Murphy responded: "I don't think they ever do."

Haunted by the "boys who never came back," Murphy slept with a pistol under his pillow and experienced many common symptoms of mail service-traumatic stress disorder, including nightmares and depression. He developed an addiction to sleeping pills and soon began gambling.

This vice — and a series of bad investments — led Murphy to declare bankruptcy in 1968. And just three years afterward, Audie Murphy tragically died while exploring notwithstanding another way to brand more coin.

On May 28, 1971, Murphy and 5 other men boarded a twin‐engine Aero Commander aeroplane in order to check out an investing opportunity. Merely instead, the plane crashed into Castor Mountain near Roanoke, Virginia, killing all on board. Audie Tater was just 45 years old when he died.

Only during his brusque time on Earth, Audie Murphy seemed to accept lived multiple lives before he died. He spent his childhood in poverty, achieved glory during World War II, and even became a famous Hollywood actor.

Buried with total honors at Arlington Cemetery, Murphy is remembered today equally both 1 of America's most decorated soldiers and as a man who stayed humble even at the tiptop of his success.

"I'g just a friendly, sort of scrawny, freckled face kid from Texas," Audie Murphy once said. "So how can anyone honestly expect me to maintain an air of superiority and romantic mystery?"

After this look at Audie Murphy, read about Ira Hayes, the Native American war hero who raised the flag at Iwo Jima. And so, cheque out the story of Erich Hartmann, Germany'south deadliest flying ace of all time.

Map of Where Audie Murphy Was Deployed Free Updated