US Army

Medal of Honor.

Lieutenant Audie Murphy, studio portrait, wearing the Medal of Honor. Murphy is credited with being the most highly decorated US combat soldier of WW2. Apart from the Medal of Honor, he was awarded two Silver Stars, Distinguished Service Cross, two Bronze Stars, three Purple Hearts, both French and Belgian Croix de Guerre, and was inducted into the French Legion d'Honneur. Just the highlights. Coming from a poor, sharecropping background in Texas, Audie Murphy really found his metier in the Army, and in the war. He was an extremely formidable individual fighter as well as an effective junior officer, showing on occasions courage bordering on berserker fearlessness - not something I would say about many. Postwar, he suffered severe depression and other mental problems, almost certainly contributed to by post-traumatic stress disorder. Nonetheless, he battled these problems with typical determination, and developed a successful Hollywood career, notably in war movies and Westerns. He died in an aeroplane crash in 1971, and was honoured with burial at Arlington National Cemetery, with full military honours. Best regards, JR.