audie murphy playing audie murphy in universal pictures highest grossing film during 1955 in "to hell & back" as a foot soldier, by continually acting above and beyond the call of duty, received every validation that america could award.  at age 12 as an orphan growing up in texas he was already a fair great shot with a rifle.  at that time, his family was very poor, so he quit school to work for a neighboring farmer,  himself an ex-marine, and who influentially always said, "my biggest mistake i ever made was gettin' out (of the military)".  audie's mom approved of him quitting school to work by saying to the other kids, "we've just decided who the head of the family is."  

a few years later, when w.w.ii broke out, the kind hearted audie was out working when he heard his mom died.  after conversing with his boss, who said you "can do more for the other kids (in your family) with service pay than any other way ... think of it as a career...if i'd stayed in, i'd be a general by now!" audie joined the military, with hardship i might add, considering he joined by his own volition under age.

he also starred in "red badge of courage."

other than perfect side - after the war, he slept with a gun under his pillow and was a compulsive gambler.  heroism - epitomized by the fact that he refuses medical help when most needed, as when he stood upon a tank, which could explode at any time, and solely shot down an entire opposing infantry, after he ordered his troops behind him, and into the woods for safety, as they all on looked in awe as audie defeated an entire infantry by himself.  audie always did things beyond the call of duty, no one ever asked him to do the heroic things he did - it was his nature.

audie enlisted at age 17.  among his 34 awards and decorations was the coveted congressional medal of honor, the highest military award for bravery that can be given to any individual in the united states of america, for "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty."  he also received every decoration for valor that his country had to offer, some of them more than once, including 5 decorations by france and belgium.

also his total number of awards is 34 and this does not included the outstanding civilian service medal:

audie murphy awards (info from stan smith, editor - the audie murphy national fan club)

medal of honor (1)
distinguished service cross (2)
silver star with first oak leaf cluster (4)
legion of merit (5)
bronze star medal with “v” device and first oak leaf cluster (7)
purple heart with second oak leaf cluster (10)
distinguished unit emblem with first oak leaf cluster (12)
good conduct medal (13)
american campaign medal (14)
european-african-middle eastern campaign medal with one silver star, four bronze service stars and bronze arrowhead (24)
world war ii victory medal (25)
army of occupation medal with germany clasp (26)
armed forces reserve medal (27)
combat infantryman badge (28)
french fourragere in colors of the croix de guerre (29)
french legion of honor, grade of chevalier (30)
french croix de guerre with silver star (31)
french croix de guerre with palm (32)
medal of liberated france (33)
belgian croix de guerre 1940 palm (34)

audie is the most decorated soldier of wwii only and not in the history of the united states as some claim.

credited with either killing over 240 of the enemy while wounding and capturing many others, he became a legend within the 3rd infantry division.  beginning his service as an army private, audie quickly rose to the enlisted rank of staff sergeant, was given a "battle field" commission as 2nd lieutenant, was wounded three times, fought in 9 major campaigns across the european theater, and survived the war.

during murphy's 3 years active service as a combat soldier in world war ii, audie became one of the best fighting combat soldiers of this or any other century.  what audie accomplished during this period is most significant and probably will never be repeated by another soldier, given today's high-tech type of warfare. the u.s. army has always declared that there will never be another audie murphy.

on 21 september, 1945, audie was released from the army as an active member and reassigned to inactive status.  during this same time, actor james cagney invited murphy to hollywood in september 1945, when he saw murphy's photo on the cover of life magazine.  the next couple of years in california were hard times for audie murphy. struggling and becoming disillusioned from lack of work while sleeping in a local gymnasium, he finally received token acting parts in his first two films.

his first starring role came in a 1949 released film by allied artists called, bad boy.  in 1950 murphy eventually got a contract with universal-international (later called universal) where he starred in 26 films, 23 of them westerns over the next 15 years. 

his 1949 autobiography - to hell and back was a best seller.  murphy starred as himself in a film biography released by universal-international in 1955 with the same title. the movie, to hell and back, held the record as universal's highest grossing picture until 1975 when it was finally surpassed by the movie jaws.  in the mid-60s the studios switched from contract players to hiring actors on a picture-by-picture basis. consequently, when his contract expired in 1965 universal did not renew.  this gave him the opportunity to work with other studios and independent film producers.  in the 25 years that audie spent in hollywood, he made a total of 44 feature films.

despite his success in hollywood, audie never forgot his rural texas roots. he returned frequently to the dallas area where he owned a small ranch for a while.  he also had ranches in perris, california and near tucson, arizona.  he was a successful thoroughbred and quarter horse racehorse owner and breeder, having interests in such great horses as "depth charge."  his films earned him close to 3 million dollars in 23 years as an actor.  audie loved to gamble, and he bet on horses and different sporting events.  he was also a great poker player. in his role as a prodigious gambler, he won and lost fortunes.

audie murphy wrote some poetry and was quite successful as a songwriter.  he usually teamed up with talented artists and composers such as guy mitchell, jimmy bryant, scott turner, coy ziegler, or terri eddleman.  dozens of audie murphy's songs were recorded and released by such great performers as dean martin, eddy arnold, charley pride, jimmy bryant, porter waggoner, jerry wallace, roy clark, harry nilsson and many, many others.  his two biggest hits were shutters and boards and when the wind blows in chicago.  eddy arnold recorded when the wind blows in chicago for his 1993 album last of the love song singers which is currently in release by rca.

audie suffered from what is now known as post traumatic stress syndrome (pts) and was plagued by insomnia and depression.  during the mid-60's he became dependent for a time on doctor prescribed sleeping pills called placidyl.  when he recognized that he had become addicted to this prescription drug, he locked himself in a motel room, stopped taking the sleeping pills and went through withdrawal symptoms for a week. always an advocate for the needs of veterans, he broke the taboo about discussing war related mental problems after this experience. in a effort to draw attention to the problems of returning korean and vietnam war veterans, audie murphy spoke-out candidly about his personal problems with pts, then known as "battle fatigue".  he publicly called for united states government to give more consideration and study to the emotional impact war has on veterans and to extend health care benefits to address pts and other mental health problems of returning war vets.

while on a business trip on may 28, 1971, (memorial day weekend) he was killed at the age of 46.  a private plane flying in fog and rain crashed in the side of a mountain near roanoke, virginia.  five others including the pilot were also killed.  although audie owned and flew his own plane earlier in his career at hollywood, he was among the passengers that tragic day.

on june 7th, audie murphy was buried with full military honors in arlington national cemetery.  his gravesite, near the amphitheater, is 2nd most visited gravesite year round. president kennedy's grave is the most visited.

in 1996 the texas legislature officially designated his birthday, june 20th, as audie murphy day.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/audie_murphy