What a beautiful Lady...........
Audie was only 46 years old when he died in a
helicopter crash into the Virginia Mts. He was bothered all
his life when he came back from the war and it really affected his
life. He never got the medical help like he should have
gotten.
Not many young people know who Audie
Murphy was or how big a war hero he was. Two or three of the medals
he earned would make most service men proud, but to have earned his
decorations in battle is truly
unbelievable.
Now to find out that his widow was also most
certainly a hero. Truly fantastic.
List of Decorations for Audie
Murphy:
Medal of Honor
Distinguished
Service Cross
Silver Star (with oak leaf cluster)
Legion of Merit
Bronze Star (with
oak leaf cluster and Valor Device)
Purple Heart (with
two oak leaf clusters)
U.S. Army
Outstanding Civilian Service
Medal
U.S. Army Good
Conduct Medal
Presidential Unit Citation (with First Oak Leaf
Cluster)
American Campaign
Medal
European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal (with One
Silver Star, Four Bronze Service Stars (representing nine
Campaigns) and one Bronze Arrowhead (representing
assault landing at Sicily and Southern France )
World War II
Victory Medal
Army of Occupation
Medal (with Germany Clasp)
Armed Forces
Reserve Medal
French Fourrage in
Colors of the Croix de Guerre
French Legion of
Honor - Grade of Chevalier
French Croix de
guerre (with Silver Star),
French Croix de
guerre (with Palm)
Medal of Liberated
France
![Description: cid:B04DA7C52E7C46D5AB48171A3EE9ACB3@BarbaraHarvey]()
Belgian Croix de guerre (with 1940
Palm)
Additionally, Murphy was awarded:
|
the Combat
Infantry Marksman badge with Rifle Bar,
Expert
Badge with Bayonet
Bar.
Isn't it sad the media can tell us all about
the BAD that goes on, but ignores the GOOD
people?
If a movie Star or politician stubs their toe
we have to hear about it for Days!!!
(From the Los Angeles Times on April 15,
2010)
Pamela Murphy, widow of WWII hero and actor,
Audie Murphy, died peacefully at her home on April 8, 2010. She was
the widow of the most decorated WWII hero and actor, Audie Murphy,
and established her own distinctive 35 year career working as
a patient liaison at the Sepulveda Veterans Administration hospital,
treating every veteran who visited the facility as if they were a
VIP.
Any soldier or Marine who came into the
hospital got the same special treatment from her. She would
walk the hallways with her clipboard in hand making sure her boys
got to see the specialist they needed. If they didn't, watch
out.
Her boys weren't Medal of Honor recipients or
movie stars like Audie, but that didn't matter to Pam. They had
served their Country. That was good enough for her. She never called
a veteran by his first name. It was always "Mister." Respect came
with the job.
"Nobody could cut through VA red tape faster
than Mrs. Murphy," said veteran Stephen Sherman, speaking for
thousands of veterans she befriended over the years. "Many times I
watched her march a veteran who had been waiting more than an hour
right into the doctor's office.
She was even reprimanded a few times, but it
didn't matter to Mrs. Murphy. "Only her boys mattered.
She was our angel."
Audie Murphy died broke in a plane crash in
1971, squandering millions of dollars on gambling, bad investments,
and yes, other women. "Even with the adultery and desertion at the
end, he always remained my hero," Pam told me.
She
went from a comfortable ranch-style home in Van Nuys where she
raised two sons to a small apartment - taking a clerk's job at the
nearby VA to support herself and start paying off her faded movie
star husband's debts. At first, no one knew who she was. Soon,
though, word spread through the VA that the nice woman with the
clipboard was Audie Murphy's widow. It was like saying General
Patton had just walked in the front door. Men with tears in their
eyes walked up to her and gave her a
Hug.
"Thank you," they said, over and
over.
The first couple of years, I think the hugs
were more for Audie's memory as a war hero. The last 30 years, they
were for Pam.
One year I asked her to be the focus of a
Veteran's Day column for all the work she had done. Pam just shook
her head no. "Honor them, not me," she said, pointing to a
group of veterans down the hallway. "They're the ones who deserve
it."
The vets disagreed. Mrs. Murphy deserved the
accolades, they said. Incredibly, in 2002, Pam's job was going to be
eliminated in budget cuts. She was considered "excess staff."
"I don't think helping cut down on veterans' complaints and showing
them the respect they deserve should be considered excess staff,"
she told
me.
Neither did the veterans. They went ballistic,
holding a rally for her outside the VA gates. Pretty soon, word came
down from the top of the VA. Pam Murphy was no longer considered
"excess staff."
She remained working full time at the VA
until 2007 when she was 87.
"The last time she was here was a couple of
years ago for the conference we had for homeless veterans," said
Becky James, coordinator of the VA's Veterans History Project. Pam
wanted to see if there was anything she could do to help some more
of her boys.
Pam Murphy was 90 when she died. What a
lady.
Dennis McCarthy,
Los Angeles
Times on April 15,
2010
I know you will pass this one on.....
