A portrait of Audie Murphy in his Class A uniform as an army captain.
Well, Ashley is again putting on a fabulous event, and I have to join in as often as possible! Today is 1940s Historical Sunday, so I chose to share my favorite World War 2 hero, Audie Murphy. I'm terribly notorious for making my writing waaaayyy too long (when in high school my papers were always about 2000 more words than they were supposed to be!), so I'll skim over things and make this as brief as possible.
Audie L. Murphy was the most decorated soldier of World War 2 --- in fact, to this day he is the most decorated US soldier ever. Joining the army at the age of 17, Audie fought in 7 major campaigns of World War 2, was given a "battle field" commission as 2nd Lieutenant, was wounded three times, and survived. Audie personally killed 240 Germans, and was one of the only two soldiers left in the orginal company at the end of the war. He received every decoration his country could give (some of them more than once), including some from the French and Belgium governments -- 33 decorations and awards in total. Audie was awarded the highest award that a soldier can receive, the Congressional Medal of Honor, on August 9th, 1945, just after his 19th birthday.
In 1955 Audie's amazing story was made into a movie that was based on his autobiography. The movie, To Hell and Back, featuring Audie playing as himself, was a box office hit and the highest grossing picture for Universal Studios until 1975. Audie L. Murphy was without a doubt a true hero.
xox Achaia
I need to find some Audie movies! Reading all about him is making him a historical favorite with me!! He was certainly a courageous solider!
-Gaby
Posted by: Gabrielle Renee | March 12, 2012 at 04:21 PM
Gaby!
Oh, yes, you DEFINITELY have to see some Audie movies!! He’s lately been such a favorite that we hardly watch anyone else. *grin* The movie about his life is really amazing, but he made a lot of wonderful westerns too. Oh, and Audie plays in a boxing movie that we LOVE. I love the way you’re always ‘liking’ our Audie pins on Pinterest. –wink-
Hope you are doing well!! We miss you girls!!
xox Kay
Posted by: the Long ladies | March 14, 2012 at 08:34 AM
Oh, I'll have to find some, too! Thanks for your article... certainly got me inspired! WW2 is really something to study over here, where we can visit the Pearl Harbor memorials and we live in a house that was standing even before then. Hopefully I can find some Audie Murphy moveies at the library.
Posted by: Cami | March 14, 2012 at 09:22 AM