Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Price of Valor: The Life of Audie Murphy

Killing, psychologists say, is “the single most pervasive, traumatic experience of war.” Second to this is the emotional distress experienced by observing violence and the death of friends and comrades. Murphy had done more than his fair share of killing and seeing others killed. Despite an appealingly fresh-faced and youthful appearance that stayed with him well into his adult years, his wartime trauma left him scarred. There was always a profound melancholy just under his surface along with a fatalism that was completely at odds with his image. The tension made him an interesting actor, but it came at a high cost.

3 comments:

Sean said...

Strange as it may seem, I remember a number of black soldiers that were exceedingly pleased at the death of Audie Murphy. I knew these guys personally, and when I asked them what they were so happy about, one said that "Audie Murphy ain't shit". Back in 1971, a lot of blacks had a very bad attitude in the Army. Don't know that it has improved any. I was saddened to see him go. I always looked up to him, not just because of his bravery, but because I'm 5'7". When, comes such another?

Informed42 said...

Audie Murphy was one of my heroes when I was growing up too. And he
always will be.

As to your question, 'When comes such another ?' Sean. I offer the
following. Put Roy P. Benavides into Google for a search.

Another Medal Of Honor recipient from Texas. Often called 'the little Mexican', as he was the same size as Audie Murphy. 5'5" tall.

He was a Medic. Severely wounded multiple times at Loc Ninh, Viet Nam in 1967. Years to recover. A great role model.

A veteran friend that was a Medivac 'Dustoff' pilot checked his old log books after I sent him Benavides citation story, and emailed me back that he may have flown him out of Loc Ninh that day as he was first up to fly. My friend has a DFC amongst his other decorations, so he was in good company !!

Informed42 said...

Sean. I misspelled his last name.
Try this link in Google-

Roy Benavidez - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia