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Message:: [QUOTE="Hobo, post: 420510, member: 11521"]I would like to see Audie Murphy on a commemorative coin. He was the most decarated US combat soldier of WWII. He received 33 awards and decorations including the Medal of Honor and every decoration for valor that the US had to offer (some of them more than once). Belgium (1) and France (5) also awarded him with their decorations.  Audie Murphy wrote the book To Hell and Back about his experiences in Europe fighting the Germans. It is an excellent read and was made into a movie starring Audie Murphy.  Murphy was raised by sharecroppers and joined the Army (illegally) at age 17 as a Private. He quickly worked his way up to Staff Sergeant and 2nd Lieutenant (battlefield commission). He fought in 9 major campaigns in Europe and was wounded 3 times. He is credited with killing 230 enemy and wounding or capturing many more.  Audie Murphy was a small man - 5'-5" and 110 pounds when he enlisted and 5'7" and 145 pounds. (He was still growing!) But he was still the best US soldier of WWII or, arguably, any US war.  After the war he became a successful Hollywood movie star and a song writer.  Audie Murphy died in May, 1971 in a plane crash. He is buried in Arlington Cemetary. I had the distict priviledge of seeing his grave only days after his burial when I made my first trip to Washington, DC in June 1971. The dirt was fresh and there was no permanent marker on his grave. I didn't know who he was at the time but now that I know what a great soldier he was I feel priviledged to have been at his grave only days after his burial. Audie Murphy would make a GREAT choice for a commemorative coin. But he will probably never be selected because war heroes are not politically correct. Oh, well.[/QUOTE]

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