The Quiet Strength Of An American Hero

The Story Of Lt. Michael Murphy, Recipient Of The Medal Of Honor

(CBS)  Michael Murphy was a born leader, whose quiet strength won the respect of others. So when his parents, Daniel and Maureen, accepted the Medal of Honor from President Bush today, it was public recognition of what they had always known, CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric reports.

"Now, the nation knows ... what a good man, what a polite man, what a brave man,” Michael’s father, Daniel, said.

Born on Long Island, Murphy graduated with honors from Penn State. He passed up law school to take on one of the toughest jobs in the military. It was the terrorist attacks of September 11th that made his mission in Afghanistan not just important, but personal.

“It was, ‘I'm going to the land where they recruited, plotted and attacked not only the United States but New York City,’” Daniel Murphy explained.

And so in late June 2005, Lt. Murphy snuck a four-man team high into the desolate mountains near the Pakistani border in search of a Taliban commander. They came upon some goat herders, but rather than kill them, decided to let them go, risking having their secret mission exposed.

It was a humane decision, but one they regretted when a large militia soon returned.

“They were looking for us,” Marcus Luttrell, one of Murphy’s men, explained.

How many were there?

“Four of us, and our best guesstimation, more than a hundred of them,” he said.

As this Taliban video, purportedly of the firefight, shows, the battle was fierce. But Murphy crawled into the open so he could get a signal to radio for help, even though he knew he would draw fire. He was struck at least twice.

A Chinook helicopter flew to their aid. But it was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, killing all 16 on board. After a two-hour battle, Matt Axelson, Danny Dietz, and Murphy were dead.

Wounded, Luttrell managed to survive for six days before he was rescued.

“I just rolled over and belly crawled into the side of the cliff, wedged myself into some rocks, covered myself,” he said. “With mud and stuff on the legs, stopped the bleeding.”

If Murphy hadn't gone out there, risked his life, Couric wouldn’t have been talking to Luttrell.

Lt. Michael P. Murphy was laid to rest after a hero's funeral on a gloomy summer day.

That night, his mother received an e-mail that had been written by her son months earlier, but had never come through.

And it said, "Mom, I'm home safe and sound."

“That was the day he was buried I got that message that never came like three months before,” Maureen Murphy said. “I feel like it was Mike saying, ‘It's okay, Mom. I'm okay.’”

Today was the kind of event his fiancée, Heather Duggan, said Luttrell never would have wanted, but she wishes he were here to see for himself. He died five months before their wedding date.

“He wasn't doing it for any honors. This, for him? He would brush it off,” Duggan said. “I think he would want to be remembered for what he believed morally.”

“We had a great son. And while we lost him at this point, the world had a great American,” Daniel Murphy said.

And the country has a great hero.

[tomtomasters]

Soldiers like to claim they are fighting for our freedom. What they can''t give me is freedom from War!
Something wrong with this! I believe 911 was committed by Bush CIA. More people die for our country who do not believe in war, and they are given nothing, yet they honor a soldier who is part of the Military Industrial Complex that has murdered thousands of innocent people, women and children? The news networks are as insane as the government who believes War protects our freedoms. If you can not give me the freedom from war, you are fighting against freedom, not for it.

[sendreidpelo]

tomtomasters,

you are a lousy traitor - not even fit to live among men like Lieutenant Murphy. It is your kind that gave us 9/11 - the cowards and liars like Pelosi who refused time and time again to upgrade our military, enhance our intelligence gathering methods - and are still doing the same today.

If you had any brains or guts you''d point your fingers at the Pelosis, the Reids, the Deans, the traitors like Kerry who compared his fellow servicemen to "Genghiz Khan" yet the ignoramuses of his party nominated him to be President - you''d go after the Clintons who had Bin Laden in their gunsights but refused to kill him because it would offend their friend Yasser Arafat. But who knew how to incinerate 2000 Serb civilians in our ILLEGAL war in Kosovo.

But, no, we''ve got a typical gutless, brain dead Lefty here. Thanks though, for affirming what I''ve always said:

IF LEFTIES HAD BRAINS, THEY''D BE REPUBLICANS. AND AMERICANS.

Murphy was a hero - something the Lefties and their friends in the Neo-Nazi MoveOn.Org could never fathom in a million years.

[likeitis5050]

Soldiers like to claim they are fighting for our freedom. What they can''''t give me is freedom from War! ...yet they honor a soldier who is part of the Military Industrial Complex that has murdered thousands of innocent people, women and children? If you can not give me the freedom from war, you are fighting against freedom, not for it.
tomtomasters



stupid...stupid....stupid...but I agree...you should be left to fend for yourself. You are the other stupid side of "If you are with me (Bush)..then you are against me (anti-American/terrorist). I thought that was a criminal statement to make and has since divided the nation down the middle, but you...you are beyond ignorant. I can''t say it enough...stupid!!!! You are either functionally retarded and have no business pretending to be old enough to understand...or you are just stuck on stupid. NO ONE in their right mind likes war...you dumba..s..s....and few will disagree that THIS WAR is not right...but to put the blame on the soldiers who have signed on...you aren''t just stupid...you are a coward. You should be dumped on some island and left to take care of yourself, you ungrateful bag of entrails. Either your lithium drip ran dry while you were posting or you really are just stupid, but either way...****!!!

[likeitis5050]

Should have read, stupid statement from Bush: ''either you ARE with me, or you ARE against me.'' Ignorance like that from tomatomasters should be filtered through some sort ''ignorance catcher'' so it never makes it to a board.

[realpatriot1]

tomtomasters,

I have to agree with sendreidpelo on this, although he uses the term traitor a bit loosely(like against me for no reason) it seems to fit your words.

First of all, you don''t seem to understand what the term militaru industrial complex refers to. It was coined by President eisenhower to refer to the defense
contractors and their lobbyists and the Congressmen and Pentagon officials who buy their armaments.

That does not include the men and women who sacrifice to serve and who in instances such as this give their lives to save others. Actually, the military industrial complex often victimizes our soldiers by giving them substandard armaments for carrying out their missions.

As far as 911 is concerned, I won''t argue with you about whether it was an inside job or not because neither of us really knows. What we do know is that AQ
attacked us the USS Cole, the embassies in Africa, the WTC in 1993, and has been responsible for numerous attacks on America. So those who fight to oppose them are fighting for our freedom and are doing their best to give you the world without war that you seek.

Soldiers don''t make the policy, they risk and sometimes give up their lives to carry out the policies established by the governments that we all give them.

[thunder45872]

In yesterdays news Katie had a story about our hero and it amazes and angers me as to Katie saying that they let the 4 Afgan people go because they didn`t want to kill them therefore taking a chance, when the real truth is they didn`t want the media or the politicians to hang them out to dry and THAT is the reason they let them go. Katie say the WHOLE story not your version.Read his book if you think I`m lying.

[realpatriot1]

thunder45872,

What''s your point? They didn''t know the loyalties of these civilians when they let them go. Any civilian in war time poses a potential threat if their loyalties are not apparent. That doesn''t mean that politicians and the media shouldn''t expect our troops to adhere to rules of engagement, particularly when winning the hearts and minds of the civilians is priority #1 in a foreign peration like Afghanistan. That''s part of the complexity of what our troops have to deal with and she was pointing out that they did the right and nobile thing rather than the expedient thing.

These men acted honorably under the stress of war and that was part of the story of their heroism.

[mudrose-2009]

In yesterdays news Katie had a story about our hero and it amazes and angers me as to Katie saying that they let the 4 Afgan people go because they didn`t want to kill them therefore taking a chance, when the real truth is they didn`t want the media or the politicians to hang them out to dry and THAT is the reason they let them go. Katie say the WHOLE story not your version.Read his book if you think I`m lying.
Posted by thunder45872

I''m surprised they even covered it. But of course it''s always their twisted spin that goes with it. Good post!

[sgtrds]

The sad part is that the parents of this true hero had to accept the medal from a craven gutless yellow-bellied coward like that POS Bush.

[oscarez]

CBS should not have enabled comments for this story.

[stopthewarrr]

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[wogerwabbit]

CBS should not have enabled comments for this story.

Posted by Oscarez

I agree.

[badmofojim]

Lt. Michael P. Murphy, you took the ultimate scriface for all New Yorkers, and for the US. May you rest in peace for the servitude you did for this country.

As for comments they should have been disabled.

[toolmangler-2009]

Lt. Michael P. Murphy, you took the ultimate scriface for all New Yorkers, and for the US. May you rest in peace for the servitude you did for this country.

As for comments they should have been disabled.

Posted by Badmofojim at 06:45 PM : Oct 23, 2007


I agree 100%

[realpatriot1]

"Know that I''m in a better place, where soldiers live in peace and angels sing Amazing grace."- Tim Mcgraw

Thank you for your service and sacrifice, Lt. Murphy.

[sgtrds]

RIP Bro...........

[signof4]

Kudos to CBS for telling the story. Much more than can be said for the losers at CNN and MSNBC.....who ignored the story in total. Can''t tell a hero''s story.......might make Bush look good. Disgusting bunch of losers!!!!