Lieutenant · United States Army · 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division
1924–1971 | Aged 46
Died: 28 May 1971
Buried at: Arlington National Cemetery, United States
Award: Medal of Honor
Audie Murphy grew up in a farming family in Texas and enlisted in the United States Army in 1942. He served in the Mediterranean and European campaigns of the Second World War.
On 26 January 1945, near Holtzwihr in France, his company faced an attack by German armour and infantry. Murphy directed artillery fire while his men withdrew to prepared positions.
He then climbed onto a burning tank destroyer and used its machine gun to hold off the attackers. Wounded in the leg, he continued fighting before rejoining his men and organising a counterattack.
He received the Medal of Honor for his actions. After the war he became an actor. He died in an aircraft crash in 1971 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Source: Congressional Medal of Honor Society — https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/audie-l-murphy