whilst I know that we come from a different culture, to us in Britain the whole idea of presenting a teenager with such a thing is…. Well, scary.
As it should be, to the enemy. Your culture wouldn't exist without mine.
Meet Audie Murphy, the most decorated war hero in US history. He grew up shooting squirrels out of trees, huntng doves, & rabbits, and picking cotton. He's from Texas, as are most military special forces personnel I'm told.
In northern Europe, Murphy made a name for himself. Some of the highlights of his actions are near Ramatuelle, France, where a group of German soldiers appeared to surrender, only to kill his best friend. Murphy then advanced under direct machine gun fire on the structure they occupied and wounded two of them, killed six, and took 11 prisoner.
Soon after, he earned a Silver Star for taking out an enemy machine gun position, killing four Germans and wounding three near the L’Omet quarry. In the same place three days later, he advanced alone and under heavy fire on a hill with a radio and directed his men for an hour.
When his unit caught up to him, they found Murphy alone, surrounded by 15 dead Germans and 35 wounded. His actions earned him a battlefield commission.
Murphy’s most famous action was the one that earned him the Medal of Honor at the age of 19 in January 1945. During a routine advance near Holtzwihr, France, Murphy and his men were moving forward aboard an M-10 tank destroyer that took a direct hit from enemy fire, disabling it. He ordered his men to withdraw to a patch of nearby woods as he stayed in place with a field telephone to direct artillery fire. All the while, enemy forces continued to pour heavy fire on his position. His Medal of Honor citation details the heavy enemy casualties inflicted by American artillery. Nevertheless, German forces continued their attack, advancing on Murphy from three sides. Ignoring the grave danger, he climbed atop his burning M-10 — in danger of exploding at any moment — and began firing at the enemy with the vehicle’s .50-caliber machine gun, killing dozens of Germans and thwarting the attack.
Murphy held his position, and later killed an entire German squad attempting to flank his position at a distance as close as 10 yards away. According to reports, when asked how close the Germans were to his position, he said, “Just hold the phone and I’ll let you talk to one of the bastards!”
