To Hell and Back by Audie Murphy
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Book Reviews of To Hell and Back
Book Review: Honest and humble memoir
Summary: 5 Stars
It was interesting to read this account of Audie Murphy's travails in World War II (Murphy was one of the most highly decorated soldiers of that war) having read Ambrose's eulogy Band of Brothers .Murphy received (every major medal, some more than once, that the army has to offer). He joined the army at age 17 to support six siblings after his mother died (his father had left the family earlier), and he doesn't talk about how the war haunted the rest of his life.
He portrays a brutal, harsh struggle to survive, where the only thing that matters is keeping oneself and one's friends alive. There are moments of great poignancy, others of humor. Once, hungry, dirty and wet, mired in their foxholes, they notice they are under a tree with ripe cherries. Not daring to stick a head up, let alone climb out of the foxhole, Murphy's buddy gets the idea of shooting down the branches with his machine gun, and soon they are delighted to have cherry branches falling on them, making the day just a little brighter.
Not once does Murphy mention his numerous awards, Clearly, Murphy believed that luck played as much a part in his survival as anything he did. He was however, the kind of person who tried to control his destiny, doing what was necessary and taking the initiative in order to get through the day. A little piece of Murphy died every time a friend was killed, and soon almost all of his friends were gone. He was delighted if they received a wound that would return them to the rear, away from battle. He sympathized and worried for the lieutenant who had been badly injured and returned voluntarily to the front only to lose his nerve under the intense shelling. It must have been horribly traumatic to develop such close bonds and to have them ripped apart.
At the risk of sounding a little chauvinistic, I quote from the last lines of his book:
" When I was a child, I was told that men were branded by war. Has the brand been put on me? Have the years of blood and ruin stripped me of all decency? Of all belief? Not of all belief. I believe in the force of a hand grenade, the power of artillery, the accuracy of a Garand. I believe in hitting before you get hit, and that dead men do not look noble.
"But I also believe in men like Brandon and Novak and Swope and Kerrigan; and all the men who stood up against the enemy, taking their beatings without whimper and their triumphs without boasting. The men who went and would go again to hell and back to preserve what our country thinks right and decent.
"My country. America! That is it. We have been so intent on death that we have forgotten life. And now suddenly life faces us. I swear to myself that I will measure up to it. I may be branded by war, but I will not be defeated by it.
"Gradually it becomes clear. I will go back. I will find the kind of girl of whom I once dreamed. I will learn to look at life through uncynical eyes, to have faith, to know love. I will learn to work in peace as in war. And finally - finally, like countless others, I will learn to live again."
Book Review: An American hero's story
Summary: 5 Stars
I was moved by reading the positive reviews on Amazon of this book. I read the book many years ago , and it is confused in my mind with the movie based on it. As a young person I wondered how one became a hero, and wondered whether I would ever have the kind of courage that Audie Murphy displayed time and time again in the war. Now my own Army days are long gone and I have not ever been tested, and the question of what I might have been remains academic and now irrelevant. Murphy has courage which means the ability to put oneself in danger and take those actions which remove danger from one's own people, and in the process do injury to the enemy. His boyhood training in hunting no doubt helped him develop the instincts of a soldier . The reviewers on Amazon tell how movingly Murphy writes about his fellow soldiers, and their loss in battle. After the Second World War researches about combat came to center on the idea that what mattered in motivation in war was the small unit, one's nearby fellow soldiers. The loyalty to those nearby was more important than the grand ideal. It is also said that Murphy had luck , and that goes without saying. To survive a war one must not be in the place where the grenade explodes or the bullet hits. And one can never have absolute control on that. But Murphy it is also clear also made his luck . He was a true soldier with real instincts of the right action to take. No doubt part of this was his readiness to kill. He apparently was with all the glory heaped upon him a modest person, deeply traumatized afterwards by all he had gone through. One reviewer reports that Murphy died in a small plane crash when he was only forty- six. What is important is that he was a true hero, a man who fought for his country risked himself time and time again, and played a decisive role in the combat he was involved in. Every country and maybe every war needs its heroes. Sergeant York in the first world war, and Audie Murphy ( among others)in the Second.
And here I would add one point. A nation has its freedom and Jefferson understood this only because there are Audie Murphys, those who will fight for it. The least that can be done for them is that they be recognized( as many are not) and given some kind of thanks( though they may resist this) I think now of my own dear uncle Larry Leo Zeibert of Troy, New York who was an Army Ranger and in the first landing boat in General MacArthur's invasion of the Phillipines in the battle of Leyte Gulf. My uncle fought in the jungles of New Guineau. When he came home he said to never ask him about the war, and he never talked about it. I do not want to think about the things this quiet good man saw and did . He too went through this world in a humble, backseat way and never really built anything for himself. He had a joke and a story and a way of making everyone laugh all the time. And how deeply sad and broken he was inside only God knows. May his memory like Audie Murphy's too, be for a blessing.
Book Review: An American Hero
Summary: 5 Stars
An American Hero
I had read Audie Murphy's To Hell and Back many years ago and always marveled at the man's incredible unassuming nature. After a recent POW-MIA commemoration I annually attend, I decided to revisit the heroism of Audie Murphy. The autobiography is the essence of combat in World War 2. It is even more poignant in that Mr. Murphy does not elaborate on his own heroic actions but rather simply tells the story of a front line combat solider and those who he had the honor to serve with. Now don't get me wrong, the actions that caused him to be the most decorated American soldier of WW2 are all written about, but never once did Mr. Murphy state that he was awarded any medals for his extraordinary heroism. Rather, Audie Murphy simply writes as one who was there. He talks about his friends and fellow fox hole mates not just as gritty combat vets, but as men who were asked to do a very dangerous job and who accepted their nation's challenge with dignity and grace. The personal battle scenes are gritty and graphic and not for the squeamish, but then that is the nature of war: Ugly, messy, smelly, dirty, and stalked by the specter of death, yet boring and loving at the same time. All of Audie Murphy's original company mates were either killed or grievously wounded, and sadly in the end only he survived to see VE Day on the field of combat. Audie Murphy was a true American hero of mega proportion whose heroic feats will be long remembered.
This autobiographical book is a memoir of Audie Murphy's World War 2 experiences only. It does not cover his entire life before or after his heroic service during World War 2. It covers all the battles that Mr. Murphy fought in but does not specifically delineate which awards he received for which battle. This is in character with the unassuming nature of the man. For more on which medal Mr. Murphy earned for which particular act of heroism, you will have to visit the various Audie Murphy web sites. Needless to say, not delineating the specific medal to the specific battle does not detract from the excellent nature of this fine memoir.
Must Read for WW2 buffs. Highly recommended for everyone else. One of the very best personal combat sagas of World War 2. In the same league as E.B. Sledge's With the Old Breed, Robert Leckie's Helmet for my Pillow, and William Manchester's masterpiece Goodbye Darkness. Simply an American combat classic.
Book Review: The horror of war, the heroism of soldiers
Summary: 5 Stars
"To Hell and Back," by Audie Murphy, is a gripping memoir of ground combat in Europe during World War II. The back cover notes that infantryman Murphy "was the most decorated American soldier during World War II"; among the many decorations he received was the Medal of Honor. The 2002 Owl Books edition features a brief foreword by Tom Brokaw, who declares, "In all of the research I've done on World War II combat veterans I cannot recall another story that involves so much up close and personal fighting."
The book's many vivid and detailed scenes of combat are impressive. Murphy offers lots of information about military gear and tactics: camouflage, the mechanics of a river crossing, the way a mortar shell explodes, how one calls in artillery support, etc. It's like a textbook of combat knowledge is blended into the text, making the book a compelling resource for military professionals. The battle scenes are not romanticized or glamorized; rather, they are presented in a matter-of-fact, disciplined style that I found powerfully effective.
Murphy details the many hardships and risks that WW2 infantry troops faced in the European campaign. These ranged from the annoying to the deadly: fleas, water deprivation, malaria, trenchfoot, frostbite, sniper fire, landmines, separation from family, and combat-induced mental disorder. Murphy is explicit in his portrayal of the horror of war. He shows bodies ravaged by injuries, lives snuffed out, minds broken. He does not spare the reader from "the smell of singed hair and burnt flesh." At times the book's grim tone and harsh representation of brutality has an almost antiwar flavor reminiscent of Dalton Trumbo's unforgettable novel "Johnny Got His Gun."
Murphy writes with respect and affection for the troops who shared the burden of war with him. The book is full of soldier conversations, including playful insults and humor. Murphy includes not only accounts of these troops in combat, but also anecdotes of soldiers during interludes of rest and play. Another interesting aspect of the book is how it shows Murphy moving up the ranks and functioning as a leader in combat. This is a powerful book that reads more like a novel than a memoir. It's a truly impressive example of World War II literature.
Book Review: A GREAT BOOK BY A GREAT AMERICAN HERO!
Summary: 5 Stars
If you have never read this book, buy it and read it. It is a very powerful and moving account of the most decorated American soldier of WWII. Audie Murphy was born outside of Kingston, Texas in June 1925, grew up poor, was deserted by his father, and joined the US Army at the age of 17 in 1942. His hunting skills as a boy served him well in hunting and killing an estimated 240 German and Italian soldiers in WWII.
An amazing aspect about Audie Murphy is that he was not limited to one feat of heroism in WWII. For almost two years, he distinguished himself as one of the greatest combat soldiers of all time with repeated acts of heroism, earning every medal our country could give including the Congressional Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, 2 Silver Stars, 2 Bonze Stars, and 3 Purple Hearts.
Audie Murphy was a humble man and a born leader who would rather put himself in harms way than to risk the lives of his men if at all possible. Even though he didn't have a good father as a role model, he was a father to the men who served with him. If a soldier under his command was afraid to do a job, he would do it himself.
The book doesn't mention his life after the war (it was written in 1949). After WWII, Audie went on to become a fine actor in Hollywood and made a few critically acclaimed films. He suffered for many years from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a result of his time in combat. He died tragically at the age of 45 in a small plane accident in the mountains outside of Roanoke, VA in May, 1971.
Audie Murphy was not a perfect man (there was only one - the Lord Jesus Christ) and he had his faults and problems to deal as we all do. However, he was a true American hero who deserves our nation's (and Europe's) respect and honor. May God bless Audie Murphy!