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Profiles in Courage

Maj Audie Murphy, U.S. Army (1942-1969)

Maj Audie Murphy, U.S. Army (1942-1969)

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He wanted to join the Marines, but he was too short. The paratroopers wouldn't have him either. Reluctantly, he settled on the infantry, enlisting to become nothing less than one of the most-decorated heroes of World War II. He was Audie Murphy, the baby-faced Texas farm boy who became an American Legend. Audie Murphy Begins Life in Hardship and Early Responsibility The sixth of twelve children, Audie Murphy, was born in Kingston, Hunt County, TX, on June 20, 1925. The son of poor sharecroppers, Emmett and Josie Murphy, Audie grew up on a rundown farm and attended school in Celeste. His education was cut short in 1936 when his father abandoned the family. Left with only a fifth-grade education, Murphy began working on local farms as a laborer to help support his family. A gifted hunter, he was also able to feed his siblings from game animals he shot. Though he attempted to support the family on his own by working various jobs, Murphy was ultimately forced to place his three youngest...

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5 Unsung Heroes of the U.S. Marine Corps

5 Unsung Heroes of the U.S. Marine Corps

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When it comes to famous Marine Corps veterans, everyone remembers Lewis "Chesty" Puller, John Basilone, Sgt. Maj. Daniel Daly, and a slew of other legendary devil dogs. But to celebrate the Marine Corps' 250th birthday, it's important to remember that the Corps has no end of heroes, many of whom fade away further and further with time.  So we don't forget the Marines who fought with distinction, but may not have been as quotable as Chesty, as political as Smedley Butler, or as smart as John Glenn, here are a few more worth remembering.  1. Brig. Gen. Joe Foss Joe Foss earned his wings in March 1941, months before America officially entered World War II. After Pearl Harbor, the young Marine aviator shipped out to the South Pacific and joined the Cactus Air Force over Guadalcanal, where the air was thick with heat, malaria, and Zeros. Across three brutal months, he hunted enemy bombers and fighters, sometimes limping home with holes in his Wildcat, ditching in the drink and getting...

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The Most Decorated Enlisted Sailor in Navy History

The Most Decorated Enlisted Sailor in Navy History

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In the history of the United States Navy, only seven men have earned all of the big three valor awards: Medal of Honor, Navy Cross, and Silver Star. Six were World War II officers, including one aviator. The seventh was James Elliott "Willy" Williams - considered the most decorated enlisted man in the history of the Navy. James Williams Joined the Navy at Sixteen James Williams, a Cherokee Indian, was born November 13, 1930, in Fort Mill, South Carolina. Two months later he moved with his parents to Darlington, South Carolina where he spent his early childhood and youth. He attended the local schools and graduated from St. John's High School.   In August 1947, at the age of 16, Williams enlisted in the United States Navy with a fraudulent birth certificate. He completed basic training at Naval Training Center San Diego. He served for almost twenty years, retiring on April 26, 1967, as a Boatswain's Mate First Class (BM1). During those years, he served in both the Korean War and...

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Maj Bernie Fisher – First Air Force MOH

Maj Bernie Fisher – First Air Force MOH

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A separate design for a version of the Medal of Honor for the U.S. Air Force was created in 1956, authorized in 1960, and officially adopted on April 14, 1965. Previously, members of the U.S. Army Air Corps, U.S. Army Air Forces, and the U.S. Air Force received the Army version of the medal.  The first person to receive the new U.S. Air Force Medal of Honor was Major Bernie Fisher during the Battle of A Shau Valley in March 1966. He also received a Silver Star during the same battle. Into the Fierce Battle of A Shau Valley The A Shau Valley is located in Thua Thein Hue Province, 30 miles southwest of the coastal city of Hue, along the border of Laos. The valley runs north and south for twenty-five miles and is a mile-wide flat bottomland covered with tall elephant grass, flanked by two strings of densely forested mountains that vary from three to six thousand feet. Its geography and isolation made it a primary infiltration route for the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) into South...

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General John Kelly’s Speech About Two Heroic Marines

General John Kelly’s Speech About Two Heroic Marines

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Two years ago, when I was the Commander of all U.S. and Iraqi forces, in fact, the 22nd of April 2008, two Marine infantry battalions, 1/9 "The Walking Dead," and 2/8 were switching out in Ramadi. One battalion in the closing days of their deployment going home very soon, the other just starting its seven-month combat tour. Haerter, Jordan, LCpl Yale, Jonathan Tyler, Cpl Yale and Haerter Form an Unlikely Brotherhood in Ramadi Two Marines, Corporal Jonathan Yale and Lance Corporal Jordan Haerter, 22 and 20 years old respectively, one from each battalion, were assuming the watch together at the entrance gate of an outpost that contained a makeshift barracks housing 50 Marines. The same broken down ramshackle building was also home to 100 Iraqi police, also my men and our allies in the fight against the terrorists in Ramadi, a city until recently the most dangerous city on earth and owned by Al Qaeda. Yale was a dirt poor mixed-race kid from Virginia with a wife and daughter,...

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Heroes of Hill 488

Heroes of Hill 488

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During the Vietnam War, one of the 1st Marine Division's primary area of operation was the southern two provinces of I Corps - Quang Tin and Quang Ngai, located in the southern portion of South Vietnam's I Corps Military Region. Astride the boundary between Quang Nam and Quang Tin provinces is the populous, rice-rich Que Son Valley, considered as strategically important in controlling South Vietnam's five northern provinces. For that reason, it was a principal focus for the Marines in I Corps.  Hill 488 Became A Critical Reconnaissance Point In early June 1966, when intelligence reports indicated increased numbers of uniformed North Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops moving into the Que Son Valley, it became an even greater issue. To gain more immediate and timely eyes-on intelligence on the reported movements, seven recon teams from the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion were sent out to ring the large valley. If enemy's positions were located, the teams were to call in artillery and...

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John J. Kelly Received Two Medals of Honor for the Same Action

John J. Kelly Received Two Medals of Honor for the Same Action

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On Oct. 3, 1918, the U.S. Army's 2nd Infantry Division, along with the French Fourth Army, advanced on Blanc Mont Ridge, the Imperial German machine gun death trap that the Entente forces had failed to capture over the past four years. The goal was to capture the ridge and push the Huns back over the Aisne River. It was a good plan, but like all World War I strategies, it was easier said than done.  John Kelly Charged Through Fire to Make History The Americans stepped off toward the ridge in the wake of a rolling artillery barrage. As the shells chewed up the battlefield to soften up the defenses, a lone Marine could be seen running through the maelstrom of high explosives. It was Pvt. John J. Kelly, who was about to go down in history. The German commander at Blanc Mont Ridge knew he didn't have the manpower to hold the position indefinitely. His goal was to deter attacks by inflicting as many casualties as possible. This is why the French had failed in their previous attempts...

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The Fighting Arkansans

The Fighting Arkansans

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Lloyd L. "Scooter" Burke - the most highly decorated soldier in Arkansas' history - was born in Tichnor (Arkansas County) on September 29, 1924, one of five children of A. D. Burke, a foreman at a lumber mill in Clarendon (Monroe County) and his wife, Belly Burke. In 1942, Lloyd Burke graduated from Stuttgart High School and enrolled at Henderson State Teachers College, now Henderson State University. Lloyd Burke Rose Through Courage and Leadership In 1943 when Burke was 18-years-old, he dropped out of Henderson State College and joined the United States Army. He served two years during World War II as a sergeant with combat engineers in Italy. After the war, he returned to school at Henderson, where he participated in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program, which is now named "Burke's Raiders" in his memory. He was also a member of the Phi Sigma Epsilon fraternity. In 1950, he graduated as a Distinguished Military Graduate. After graduation, Burke was commissioned a...

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Lt. Michael Murphy, U.S. Navy (2000 – 2005)

Lt. Michael Murphy, U.S. Navy (2000 – 2005)

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On June 28, 2005, deep behind enemy lines east of Asadabad in the Hindu-Kush of Afghanistan, a very dedicated four-man Navy SEAL team was conducting a counter-insurgency mission at the unforgiving altitude of approximately 10,000 feet. Lt. Michael Murphy was the officer in charge of the SEAL team. The other three members were Gunner's Mate 2nd Class Danny Dietz, Sonar Technician 2nd Class Matthew Axelson and Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Marcus Luttrell. Their assignment was to capture or kill high-value target Ahmad Shah - a terrorist leader of a Taliban guerrilla group known as the "Mountain Tigers" that had aligned with other militant groups close to the Pakistani border. The mission was in response to Shah's group killing over twenty U.S. Marines, as well as villagers and refugees who were aiding American forces. Michael Murphy Faces the Enemy As the team carefully moved to where they hoped to find Shah, the SEALs were accidentally discovered by an elderly shepherd and two teenage...

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Lt. Col. Stanley T. Adams, U.S. Army (1942–1970)

Lt. Col. Stanley T. Adams, U.S. Army (1942–1970)

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Mounting a knife on the end of a rifle might seem like an antiquated tactic, especially when the enemy is bearing down on you with automatic weapons, explosives, and whatever else they brought to bear. Running at these killing machines with sharp, cold steel might seem like suicide. Stanley Adams Chose a Bayonet Charge The only problem with that point of view is that bayonet charges still work on the battlefields of today's wars, because there's nothing that instills fear in the enemy like dozens of knives running at them at full sprint. That's why then-Sgt. 1st Class Stanley Adams decided it was the thing to do.  By the time the Korean War came around, Stanley Adams was a seasoned combat veteran. The Kansas native was wounded in action while fighting in both North Africa and Sicily during World War II. After the war, he was sent to Japan for occupation duty. It wasn't long after North Korea invaded South Korea that he was sent to that war, too.  Stanley Adams Led a Bold...

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Out of the Darkness : Navy Seals

Out of the Darkness : Navy Seals

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On June 6, 1943, the Naval Combat Demolition Unit (NCDU) training school was established at Ft. Pierce, Florida. Training candidates came from rugged, physically capable Marine Raider and Navy Scout and Construction Battalion volunteers with previous swimming experience. Demolition work was emphasized without restriction. Grueling nighttime training conducted in the snake- and alligator-infested swamps of Florida produced a specimen of a man who was at home with mud, noise, exhaustion, water, and hostile beings, human or otherwise. The trainees were divided into teams of six men - one officer and five enlisted - called Underwater Demolition Teams, or UDTs (later changed in the mid-1950s to Sea, Air, and Land, or SEALs), and were also known as Frogmen for their amphibious abilities and appearance. The UDTs conducted amphibious assaults on D-Day and on Japanese-held islands in the Pacific. Navy Seals Built a Museum to Preserve Their Legacy In the 1980s, a group of retired UDT-SEALs...

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Side-By-Side

Side-By-Side

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Friday morning February 2, 2008 was cold in Baghdad but since Friday is a big shopping day, shoppers crowded the markets throughout the city. At one of Baghdad's most popular gathering places, the al-Ghazl animal market, hundreds of closely packed shoppers moved from stall to stall when suddenly and without warning, a huge explosion shattered the silence, killing dozens of Iraq's. Twenty minutes later, another bomb ripped through an open air market in south eastern Baghdad. The two suicide bombers who carried out the attacks that ultimately killed 99 people were mentally challenged women with Down's syndrome. The unwitting pawns were apparently fooled into wearing explosive vests which were then detonated remotely by mobile phones as the women mingled with crowds, killing 46 people and injuring 100 in the al-Ghazl explosion. In the second bombing at the smaller bird market in south-eastern Baghdad, 27 people were killed and at least 67 wounded, many dying later. When it became...

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