Audie Murphy - Texas Legislative Medal of Honor

From what I understand about Texans, if it happens in Texas that's all that matters anyway.

Dave, I think this is great. Thank you for the link to the video. I was so happy to hear his sister, Nadine Lokey, speak. I know it must have been very gratifying to her to know her brother is still remembered and is still honored.

I loved when she said, she'd always heard, "You're not really dead until you're forgotten." Anything we can do to keep the memory of good, honorable people, like Audie Murphy, alive, so much the better as far as I'm concerned. We are inundated with "news" about all sorts of celebrity clowns misbehaving in all sorts of ways. I think we could use more stories about people like Audie Murphy in the news. I'd much rather hear a story like this than one more story about the Toronto mayor. Bring on the recognition and let the accolades keep coming. If receiving an honor such as this, which was well-deserved, helps keep his memory alive and a positive role model in the news, I think that's just fine.

 

Thanks for the link, Dave. Good luck with the petition. I sincerely hope that we hear back from you in 2014 with good news about
its impact.

Clem

 

Thanks Clem! Well, I said I would add a video with the photo montage of the many, many distinguished Americans who have endorsed the petition for Audie.
Here is the link, it is a rather long video as there have been so many great Americans who have signed. The musical scores are all patriotic and fitting.
This high def video starts with distinguished members of government beginning with former secretaries of defense, etc. followed by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, followed by the service chiefs and vice chiefs of each branch of service, then the remainder of the 4 star generals descending down to the 1 star generals in order of appearance by rank and position.
Then it flows into the Medal of Honor recipients, distinguished veterans, and celebrities.
Hope you will take time to review it. I think Murphy would be proud to know he is still so respected.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v466VgpzA2I

Thanks!

 

Not to put a damper on this award, clearly Audie Murphy deserves it but the article linked says he was the most decorated soldier of WW2 earning an unprecedented thirty-three decorations, medals and citations"
However this website claims he isn't -- this post is not to diminish Audie's contribution or heroism in battle but to ensure the facts are correct. Plus the article makes the distinction between "most decorated" and "most highly decorated"

So maybe Audie was the "most highly decorated" but not the "most decorated" in terms of numbers.

http://www.homeofheroes.com/quickquiz/050801_mostdecorated.html

[SIZE=10pt]"In terms of sheer numbers, Audie[/SIZE] Murphy had 29 combat awards and unit citations" - a difference of 4 from the article.

[SIZE=10pt]"So Matt Urban in terms of sheer numbers,[/SIZE] exceeded Murphy's count of these awards by 4 Purple Hearts and 1 Bronze Star"

I don't know if the website homeofheroes is correct but it appears to be published by a Vietnam Vet who appears credible.

Also I looked up wikipedia and it sayst Matt Urban "In Section 7a of the "Prominent Military Figures" portion of Arlington National Cemetery's webpage there is the statement "Lt. Col. Matt Urban - World War II infantry officer who earned the distinction as the most decorated soldier in WW II".

This website contends that "Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Matt Urban is recognized at Arlington National Cemetery as “America’s most highly decorated infantry officer of World War II"

 

I think this quote from the Home of Heroes' article for which you provided the link, says it about right:

 

Yes but the media seem to give the title to Audie Murphy and never mention Matt Urban.

Banding about titles of "most decorated soldier of WW2" and/or distorting of historical accuracy is what I am concerned about. i.e.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/second-most-decorated-wwii-soldier-wont-get-medal-of-honor/

 

You won't get any argument from me about media incompetence or laziness. Audie Murphy was a celebrity after the War, so he gets most of the attention. It's easy research for them and multiple angles to cover. Their primary interest is getting a story for the least amount of work that will sell. Historical accuracy is not irrelevant to them. It's just not the most important thing to them.

 

Thanks for the note. Several years ago, in a wiki post I made the comparison and started the whole "most decorated" or "most highly decorated" subject. I will say that I come into this subject, with my own bias, as I am a friend of the Murphy family.
Homeofheroes.com is a great website but in this particular case, I feel he has it wrong. First, it appears to me, that it could be looked at either way depending of your perspective.

I consider Murphy 'most decorated' as Urban did not receive the Distinguished Service Cross or the French Legion of Honor. We would not even be having this conversation today except for the sheer numbers of awards of the Purple Heart awarded Urban (including the one awarded 35 years after the war).

By that standard, if hypothetically, one soldier had 12 Purple Hearts in WWII, but no Medal of Honor, no Distinguished Service Cross, no Silver Star(s). In fact his only valor award was for example one Bronze Star with "V" but he had a boat load of campaign/unit/service awards, toppling Murphy and Urban, would he be "most decorated"?
I think that would be absurd to contend such a statement, but that is what has been contended with Urban, as only his Purple Hearts put him over the top...with the help of the one dubious Purple Heart awarded thirty-five years after the war concluded.

'Most' and 'Most Highly' are purely subjective terms. Murphy was particularly "rankled" by the term and could have cared less one way or the other.
I am familiar with Arlington's website, and it appears they have it wrong as well, in that they have both Murphy and Urban credited on the page you refer to as "most decorated".
We could have this conversation endlessly with never being able to come to a consensus and this will be debated long after we have all gone to our rewards.
I am not sure if the wording you refer to has been changed or not but perhaps Urban is considered the 'most highly decorated infantry officer" by Arlington.

Murphy never sought out the term "most decorated" and never tried to capitalize on it. He stated that he felt especially "rankled" by the term. I am sure that if given the opportunity Murphy would have been more than glad to have pinned the "most decorated" phrase on Urban instead of carrying the burden himself. Just my opinion.

Now after having studied this whole Murphy/Urban business for many years, I feel I can make a few observations of fact. I think the reason that Murphy has always had the distinction of being referred to as "most decorated" is generally because at the time of the end of the war he was certainly "most decorated" and the legend grew from there.
It has nothing to do with the media not doing their job and again is quite subjective anyway. Urban went to extensive lengths to portray himself as "most decorated" including lobbying for his own Medal of Honor, as well as simultaneously lobbying for an award of the Legion of Merit and an additional award of the Purple Heart. My personal thoughts are as early as the late 1970's Urban had already calculated the awards for Murphy and knew that he could close the gap with a Legion of Merit and an additional Purple Heart, and he exploited it very calculatingly. I hate to disparage his character, but I find it very odd that suddenly after extensive lobbying he is awarded/approved for the Medal of Honor and then ends up with a Legion of Merit (on the same day) and a subsequent Purple Heart for which he had never sought the award of previously. It was only as the 'gap' closed that he began his lobbying for more.
He took those actions once he realized that by award of the Medal of Honor (with his extensive Purple Hearts) he would be a rival to Murphy as "most decorated."

In addition, Urban penned his own autobiography with the help of a ghost writer, and added the subtitle, "America's most decorated soldier of WWII."

Murphy was a humble person, and as I am sure you can recollect in his autobiography, there is no mention of "me" or "my heroism" but it was rather a tribute to the men he served with during the war. Urban's autobiography is the opposite. Very humble guy he was.
Murphy endeared himself to the American public and indeed the international community through his humility, and I regret I cannot say the same for Urban.
Even amongst the recipients of the Medal of Honor Society Urban was not well recei3eved as they considered him somewhat of a boisterous person...a braggart. I have that first-hand from several now deceased WWII recipients.

It appears that for every honor Murphy has been accorded, the Urban Polish-American veterans want the same. They headed up and lobbied for Urban to be included on Arlington's website and tour groups, they have tried endlessly for 15 years to have the U.S. Postal Service issue a commemorative postage stamp in honor of Urban, something that still has not happened.

Many American's do not know that the Office of the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff holds an annual wreath laying ceremony at Murphy's grave each year to commemorate his birth. This has been done for at least 20 years. The Urban folks are now attempting to do the same. I kind of find the tit-for-tat from the Urban folks silly and petty. Murphy has been dead for almost fifty years, Urban for almost twenty. I just don't see the point.

Thanks for listening,

 

I had a discussion on their FB page as they state on their memorial committee web page as they say Urban was the "most decorated soldier of WW2"

they even quote this from Arlington National Cemetery.:

LTC Matt Urban, a recipient of the Medal of Honor, is recognized at Arlington as “the World War II infantry officer who has earned the distinction of being the most decorated combat soldier of WWII”.

I took them to task on their FB page but I don't think I am going to get a straight answer, they seem to caught up with the title and refuse to listen to reason.

My point is their really can't be two vets supporters claiming this distinction, only one. Someone is clearly stretching the truth to bolster their own camp. Both are highly decorated and no doubt about either achievements.

I have copied and pasted below what Arlington states on their website below:


http://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/history/Military/HF_MilFigures.aspx
Section 7a
Lt. Col. Matt Urban - World War II infantry officer who earned the distinction of the most decorated soldier in WWII.*(40)
Section 46
1st Lt. Audie L. Murphy, USA* World War II most-decorated U.S. soldier (366-11)

This only creates more confusion and encourages the tit for tat as you say.

 

Murphy has him beat....go look t their decorations on Wikipedia.

 

As I stated in my earlier post, for everything Murphy has/received it seems the Urban folks have to mimic. Murphy has had a website devoted to his legacy for almost 20 years. Now just recently they came up with the Urban website with almost an identical title.
They can attempt to copy all they want, but as I posted earlier, because of Murphy's true humility and "lack of bragging" 100 years from now historians will still refer to Murphy as the "most decorated" soldier of WWII.
I did check the Arlington website and they have both Murphy and Urban listed as "most decorated".
I plan to take the Arlington Webmaster to task over this at a future date.

What I have always found interesting is that Murphy's 201 file has always been available to researchers and we have placed the file in it's entirety on the Audie Murphy Memorial Website. The Urban file still remains elusive. The Urban folks have never made it public although I guess if one wanted to pursue it someday they should be able to access it.

In the mid-90's I contacted Department of the Army and they gave me the complete list of awards for each. I used that list in my original dissertation on wiki discussions some years ago. It has disappeared from wiki (the Urban awards) although the Murphy awards still appear there. This was not on the main page but it was rather on the discussions page.
I cannot find my hard copy or even a digital file of the Department of the Army letter listing Urban's official awards, but Urban fell short by my count, by I think five in those letters.

One additional thought; Urban's MoH is for multiple actions over an extended period, whereas Murphy's citation is for personal heroism over a one-day event. Although authorized, Urban's citation is based more on his leadership than heroism, and kind of reminds me of MacArthur or Vandergrift. Again, just my opinion. In either case, both were certainly valiant, but different in their acceptance of their hero status..

As a great friend recently told me "Murphy only wore his valor awards in uniform. There are no known photos of him wearing any others. Urban by contrast wore all he was entitled to, and then some."

Thanks,

Dave