Lamont

Audie Murphy’s Life After The War

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Lamont

Audie Murphy was and is still known today as the most decorated combat soldier in American history (Glen). He was only still a young man when he came back home and he had to change his lifestyle completely. There were many hardships coming back from the war, and he suffered through all of them.

Audie Murphy was sent home from World War II with 28 medals (including three from France and one from Belgium) and was greeted back in America with a huge parade for putting his life before others to save their lives. Many people knew about his bravery and even the “Life Magazine” had him on the front cover of their magazines telling about his story, according to The National World War II Museum. Some of Audie’s friends and relatives encouraged him to try out for West Point  (West Point is a military school that trains the absolute best soldiers to become a General), but he told his friends that he would not pass the physical test since he was wounded multiple times in the war. 

He became the new attraction in America, and actor James Cagney saw an opportunity for Murphy’s future, says IMDb. Audie Murphy was hard to train into becoming an actor. His first film was “Beyond Glory”, and he had a small role in it. Audie Murphy kept getting better and got bigger roles. In all his life, he contributed to over 40 different films. His biggest film was his own back story, “To Hell And Back”, it was a huge hit and set a record for Universal as the largest viewed movie (until “Jaws” in 1975). This was his starring point in his career and was successful with films until the last five years of his life as Gosset Sue shows. 

During his film career, he was also a businessman, a rancher (that bred and raised horses), and he was also a songwriter (according to IMBd). The most famous song he wrote was called “Shutters And Boards” from Audie Murphy Top Songs. Sadly for him, he declared bankruptcy (according to IMDb). He had a huge gambling problem and spent the rest of his money on his PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder, usually called PTSD, is when someone has a “flashback” of something horrific and relives it all over again). 

 When Audie Murphy came home from the war, he had a lot of trauma (now called PTSD). He had a quick temper and many people were scared of him. At night, he had nightmares of the war. He would wake up screaming and pound on the walls. One time he pounded on the walls for so long that his hands started to bleed so much that he had to go to the hospital. IMDb says that he also slept with a pistol under his pillow and held his wife at gunpoint not knowing it was her (no one was hurt). As Vietnam veterans came home, Audie Murphy pressed concerns to the government on how they would be just like him. That is having PTSD. 

Sadly, when Audie Murphy was 46, he was in a private plane when it crashed (according to IMDb). He went through many hardships in his life. Audie Murphy said this,”I can never remember being young in my life.” Audie Murphy will always be a reminder to people that in all things, many things are possible.  

Works Cited

“Audie Murphy”, Arlington Cemetery, www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Explore/Notable-Graves/Medal-of-Honor-Recipients/World-War-II-MoH-recipients/Audie-Murphy. Accessed on March 3, 20224.

The National World War II Museum, “Audie Murphy Single-handedly Stopped a German Attack”, edited by Tyler Bamford, nationalww2museum.org, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/audie-murphy-single-handedly-stoppe. Accessed on March 3, 20224.

IMDb "Audie Murphy Biography." IMDb, IMDb.com, Inc., 

           www.imdb.com/name/nm0001559/bio/?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

          German-attack. Accessed on March 3, 20224.

Vela, Glen. “Audie Murphy: World War 2's Most Decorated Soldier”, apps.dtic.mil, 28 Feb. 2005, apps.dtic.mil/sti/trecms/pdf/AD1131121.pdf. Accessed on March 3, 20224.

Gossett, Sue. “Audie Murphy's Movies”, Audie Murphy Research Foundation, 1996, www.audiemurphy.com/movies.htm. Accessed on March 3, 20224.

“Audie Murphy Top Songs”, Music VF, 2007, www.musicvf.com/songs.php?page=artist&artist=Audie+Murphy&tab=songaswriterchartstab. Accessed on March 3, 20224.

Audie Murphy, Public Domain, http://www.detrick.army.mil/samc/index.cfm