Originally Posted by
SGT Rock
I didn't sleep well last night, for some reason I had a hard time getting to sleep. It may have been a case of PTSD from the ride up with the Dinos. I got permission to talk about it. She Dino was driving and we were coming out of the Subway parking lot in Blacksburg. The exit from that parking lot is at a traffic light, which I guess she missed totally because she drove out into the intersection with a red light - cars coming from both ways.
Anyhow, I finally got over being askeerd around midnight and fell asleep. I awoke to the sound of Boy Scouts and the herders, I mean leaders trying to get them moving. I laid in my hammock for a while enjoying the warmth and not wanting to get too caught up in all that. When I finally rolled out of my hammock it was 19F bit it was nice since it was dry and there was no wind. The Scouts, however, were freezing and got highly impressed with themselves when I told them what the snivel meter said.
They left the shelter about 10 minutes before I did, but I passed them at the shelter cut off trail where they had stopped after about 0.3 miles to take off all the sweaty snivel gear they left camp wearing. I moved on down the ridge enjoying the views from the numerous rock outcroppings, I only wish Burke's Gardens had more unobscured views like that.
I made it to Niday Shelter about lunchtime and met 3 French Canadians that are thru-hiking together. The older one spoke English and was the Terp for the crew, and apparently the other two are brothers but speak English about as well as I speak French. We introduced ourselves but then they got going as I got settled in to cook. As I finished lunch another Scout leader walked in. He had come in from VA621 and was linking up with the troop at the shelter.
I moved on down to Craig Creek and there was another Southbound thru-hiker that had gotten back on after a break Faithful is his name, he was a nice guy and seemed to be traveling well. He was at a cache of trail magic someone had left by one of the footbridges. We sat down and had some fresh apples while talking trail.
After the snack I moved on up to Audie Murphy's memorial to share in a toast of bourbon with him as a tribute to fallen comrades. It was nice to see a couple of US flags and a Texas flag flying up there and hikers have started a cairn beside the memorial marker. Now here I plan to get a little long winded, so bear with me. Since yesterday when I met up with the Scouts and talked to the leaders I told all of them they should plan to stop at the Audie Murphy Monument. Almost none of them had even heard of Audie Murphy and the ones that had couldn't remember what he was known for. The Companion even got it wrong. So, as a history lesson, I want to educate some of you. I'm doing this all out of memory without a fact check reference so please forgive any slight errors, but I guarantee that most of what I say is fact and the few errors are purely that of a tired mind.
Audie Murphy is an American Hero. His life is so extraordinary one might be led to think it was created by a writer dreaming up what he thought the proto-typical American Hero should be. But he really did exist. He was born in Kingston, TX in 1924 the second of 6 children. He was 6 when his father, a share cropper, abandoned the family during the Great Depression. At about the age of 14 (I may be off on that) his mother died, leaving the kids to fend for themselves. Audie quit school to work in order to help support the family. His older sister married and as I recall was helping as well.
Audie was 17 when WWII started and wanted to enlist, but since he had no parents to sign for consent, his boss signed for them. Now at this point Audie Murphy was about 5'3" and weighed about a buck 'o five, but wanted to fight. He had become a crack shot putting rabbit meat on the table and had listened to stories of his employer who was a Marine in WWI. The Marines turned him down because he was too small, he tried to enlist to become a Paratrooper in the Army, but met the same resistance. He finally got into the Army as a standard old grunt leg infantryman.
In basic training he got sick and spent time in the infirmary they say from the inoculations, but by the time he finished Infantry training he was starting to be recognized for having something. They made him an acting sergeant for the movement of replacement troops to North Africa. When he got there he was assigned to B Co, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division. He was only 18 years old then.
He fought with his unit in Sicily, Italy, France, Belgium, and Germany. As he went, it became apparent that this little country boy was a natural. He was small and walked sort of hunched over with an easy, fast gait that made him a hard target to hit. He made decisions with a sort of down to earth wisdom which served him and his soldiers well. Soon he was a Corporal, then a Sergeant, the a Platoon Sergeant. He earned Bronze Stars with "V" devices, a Silver Star, a Legion of Merritt, and a Service Cross as he advanced. He turned down two battlefield commissions because the policy at the time was to move soldiers that were commissioned out of their unit which he did not want to do. But finally he accepted a commission to 2nd Lieutenant when the rule was changed due to an extreme need for officers - he was only 20 years old at that point.
He served as platoon leader for the men he had been with and was respected by them. During a push into the Arden Forrest his unit was being supported by tanks when they ran into a large group of German soldiers. The tanks were destroyed and the Germans had overwhelming force, so he ordered his men to pull back to cover them. He climbed onto a burning US tank and used the Commander's machine gun to bring direct fire on the enemy while at the same time using a field radio to direct artillery against the advancing Germans at danger close ranges. He was wounded by a bullet to his hip but stayed on the tank until the Germans retreated. His action saved his unit and stalled the German offensive in that battle. His wound was the end of his career as a soldier in the war. He was sent back to the US where he was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions.
The Companion states he was famous for capturing a large number of Germans, that was actually SGT Alvin York in the 1st WW. Audie Murphy was cited for single handedly destroying 6 tanks and killing over 240 German soldiers, and wounding or capturing many more.
When he returned to the US, he was approached by James Cagney who convinced him to get into acting. He eventually stared in "To Hell and Back" which was about his life and even played the cowardly soldier in "The Red Badge of Courage" which was controversial in that the greatest hero of WWII played a coward, but the director explained that there is a thin line between hero and a coward that he wanted to explore.
Audie Murphy was able to get into the Texas National Guard during the Korean War, but his unit was never called up for deployment. He eventually was promoted to the rank of Major before he died, so if you go to Arlington his tombstone reads MAJ Murphy.
Murphy suffered from PTSD and was one of the first of his generation to break the code of silence and discuss his issues and the effects of PTSD on Veterans of WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. He was also a poet, country western song writer, and a father. When he died, he left two sons and a wife - he was only 46 when he died.
Audie Murphy was not a perfect man, his first marriage didn't last (as I recall, his PTSD may have helped in that) and he sunk to B movie status soon after starting his movie star career. He got addicted to sleeping pills that were prescribed to him for his PTSD (he kicked it solo and cold turkey). But because he always dealt with things straight and (according to those who knew him) he was always humble about what he did, in my book he is an enduring sort of hero. With all the crazy stars of music, sports, movies and just plain old stupid pop-culture, it is something our generations need to remember. Folks who actually, really really had it hard and dealt with life honestly and the best they could.
I hope what I have written does honor to Audie Murphy and the men he served with (the ones he considered his heroes). I also hope that a few less hikers get to that spot on the AT clueless as to how important a spot they are on that really is. One of America's Greatest heroes and a type of man legends are made of died right there.
My war was not nearly as brutal or costly by any measure as MAJ Murphy's. I had the benefit of a good life, lots of training and experience before I got there, and an over match of equipment against my enemy, I felt like a B team amateur compared to what young Audie Murphy has endured. But it was for me a time to revisit what I think is part of the reason I came out here for. I pulled out my remainder of Woodford Reserve (Thanks to Alligator) and I proceeded to toast Audie Murphy and his friends, then to toast my fallen friends, then to reflect on those young men and women over there now. As much as some like to knock our younger generation, I saw some of the most outstanding folks I have ever met while over there. They have been baptized in blood and fire and come out steel. Compared to some more adult people these "kids" have learned and I personally have great hope and faith that these sort of people will continue to keep our nation great and strong, maybe even better than some of the older generations that knock them and put them down.
Now by this point I had drank a good deal of bourbon and was a little melancholy, then my revelry was broken by two muldoons on mopeds. These two dufusses had ridden their 50cc motorized bicycles up the AT from some FS parking area on the top of the ridge and were pretty proud of themselves. I was in no mood for dealing with them and was close to heavy buzz level. Instead of educating them, which is what I should have done, I just grabbed my pack to get down the AT.
Besides being in no mood for idiots, I was running late to link up with Don. I moved down the trail at a fairly reasonable pace, but not my best showing - a sore ankle and trail legs that were not back up to par yet kept me from moving much faster. As I got close to Trout Creek I saw Don (Hikerhead or Hokey Pokey) coming up the AT. Apparently we were both running late. He took me back to his house where I cleaned up, then we went out for food and some pool. It's nice to be around some people.
Audie Murphy
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