DUANE
Duane's take
The way the marker tells it — and I'm stayin' true to every word — this is the story of Audie Murphy, Hunt County's most famous son. Most decorated soldier in all of World War II. Let that sit with you a moment.
Not most decorated from Texas. Not most decorated from his unit. From the entire war.
He was born four and a half miles south of right here, on June 20, 1924 — the sixth of nine children born to tenant farmers Emmett and Josie Killian Murphy. The family moved from farm to farm the way tenant farming families did, but they called Celeste home, and it was in Celeste that Audie Murphy went to school — through the eighth grade. That was as far as he got, because the family needed more than school could provide.
He had to quit to help support them. Now here's where the story starts to turn. To put food on the table, young Audie hunted.
And in doing so, he acquired marksmanship skills that — well, the world would hear about those soon enough. On his eighteenth birthday, he tried to enlist in the Marines. They turned him away.
Five feet seven inches tall, one hundred and thirty pounds — too small, they said. So he walked over and enlisted in the Army, while he was working in Greenville. The Marines passed on Audie Murphy.
You can decide for yourself how that chapter ends. What followed was a war record that staggers the imagination — except we don't have to imagine it, because the marker counts it out plain: twenty-four decorations. Among them, the United States Congressional Medal of Honor.
The French Legion of Honor, Chevalier. The Distinguished Service Cross. A Silver Star.
Twenty-four total. For unusual courage and bravery, the inscription says — and that phrasing alone tells you the official record ran out of ordinary words. After the war, Audie Murphy became a successful actor.
His most prominent role? Portraying himself — in the film called "To Hell and Back," the screen adaptation of his own war career autobiography. Not every man gets to play himself on the big screen.
Fewer still earn the right. Then came May 28, 1971, and a plane crash in Virginia. His death is described by the marker as untimely, and there is no better word for it.
He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. And the United States Congress, in a final tribute, dedicated a new veterans' hospital in San Antonio to his memory. He was survived by his widow Pamela, and by his sons Terry and James.
A tenant farmer's sixth child, hunting for food in the fields around Celeste, turned away at the recruiter's door for being too small — and laid to rest at Arlington, with a hospital bearing his name. Hunt County raised that boy, and the whole country claimed him in the end.
What the marker says
Most decorated soldier in World War II. Born 4.5 miles south, June 20, 1924, sixth of nine children of tenant farmers Emmett and Josie Killian Murphy. Living on various farms, Audie Murphy went to school through the 8th grade in Celeste -- considered the family's home town. He had to quit school to help support the family, acquiring marksmanship skills by hunting to provide food. On his 18th birthday, after being rejected by the Marines because of his size (5 feet, 7 inches; 130 pounds), he enlisted in the Army while working in Greenville. For unusual courage and bravery, he received 24 decorations, including the U. S. Congressional Medal of Honor; the French Legion of Honor, Chevalier: the Distinguished Service Cross; and a Silver Star. After the war he became a successful actor, his most prominent role portraying himself in the film "To Hell and Back," his war career autobiography. Following his untimely death in a plane crash in Virginia, May 28, 1971, and burial in Arlington National Cemetery, the U. S. Congress paid him a final tribute, dedicating a new veterans' hospital in San Antonio to the memory of this American hero. Survived by widow Pamela, sons Terry and James. (1973)