His first tours of duty were in the Mediterranean, where he was promoted all the way to platoon sergeant and received a Bronze Star for helping take out a German tank in Italy. His platoon eventually took to the European campaign through southern France. Near Ramatuelle, he advanced on a house alone that was occupied by German soldiers, where he killed six, wounded two and took eleven of them as prisoner. For this he received the Distinguished Service Cross.
He received his first Purple Heart after being wounded by shrapnel on September 15, 1944 in L'Omet, France. Over the next month he helped attack and capture more German held areas and prisoners and was also shot in the hip. He was back with his unit by January 1945, in the Colmar area of France. Near the town of Holtzwhir, the platoon came under attack and he was wounded in both legs. Despite his wounds, he was made commander of his company.
On this day in 1945, January 26th, his company was forced to take position in the woods after the Germans had destroyed one of their tanks, though he remained at his post. He alone fired upon the Germans and directed artillery fire at them. He climbed on the destroyed tank, fired the massive machine gun mounted on it, and killed a squad of Germans who were crawling toward him. He killed or wounded nearly 50 Germans, only stopping when he ran out of ammo. He had been wounded again in the leg. He insisted on staying with his platoon. For these actions, he was awarded the Medal of Honor. Two weeks later he would be promoted again and removed from the front lines.
Murphy was one of the most decorated combat soldiers of World War II. He would go on after the war to be a Captain in the Texas Army National Guard. He also starred in nearly 40 movies including playing himself in the film "To Hell and Back".
He died on May 28, 1971 when a small plane he was riding in crashed in the mountains of Virginia. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
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