On this day fifty years ago, May 28, 1971, Audie Murphy died in a plane crash outside Roanoke.

His movies have been showing up on TV lately. He looks like a sixteen-year-old kid. You just can't imagine that he did the things he did.

Audie Murphy


Audie Murphy photographed in 1948 wearing the U.S. Army khaki "Class A" (tropical service) uniform with full-size medals.

Birth name: Audie Leon Murphy
Born: 20 June 1925; Kingston, Texas, U.S.
Died: 28 May 1971 (aged 45); Brush Mountain, near Catawba, Craig County, Virginia, U.S.
Buried: Arlington National Cemetery
Website: Audie L. Murphy

Audie Leon Murphy (20 June 1925 – 28 May 1971) was an American soldier, actor, songwriter, and rancher. He was one of the most decorated American combat soldiers of World War II. He received every military combat award for valor available from the U.S. Army, as well as French and Belgian awards for heroism. Murphy received the Medal of Honor for valor that he demonstrated at the age of 19 for single-handedly holding off a company of German soldiers for an hour at the Colmar Pocket in France in January 1945, then leading a successful counterattack while wounded and out of ammunition.

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Death and commemorations

Main article: 1971 Colorado Aviation Aero Commander 680 crash


Murphy's headstone at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia

On 28 May 1971, Murphy was killed when the private plane in which he was a passenger crashed into Brush Mountain, near Catawba, Virginia, 20 miles (32 km) west of Roanoke in conditions of rain, clouds, fog and zero visibility. The pilot and four other passengers were also killed.

The aircraft was a twin-engine Aero Commander 680 flown by a pilot who had a private-pilot license and a reported 8,000 hours of flying time, but who held no instrument rating. The aircraft was recovered on 31 May. After her husband's death, Pamela Murphy moved into a small apartment and got a clerk position at the Sepulveda Veterans Administration Hospital in Los Angeles, where she remained employed for 35 years.

In 1975, a court awarded Murphy's widow, Pamela, and their two children $2.5 million in damages because of the accident.


Monument at the site of the Virginia plane crash in which Audie Murphy was killed

On 7 June 1971, Murphy was buried with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. In attendance were Ambassador to the U.N. George H. W. Bush, Army Chief of Staff William Westmoreland, and many of the 3rd Infantry Division. Murphy's gravesite is in Section 46, headstone number 46-366-11, located across Memorial Drive from the Amphitheater. A special flagstone walkway was later constructed to accommodate the large number of people who visit to pay their respects. It is the cemetery's second most-visited gravesite, after that of President John F. Kennedy.

The headstones of Medal of Honor recipients buried at Arlington National Cemetery are normally decorated in gold leaf. Murphy previously requested that his stone remain plain and inconspicuous, like that of an ordinary soldier. The headstone contains the birth year 1924, based upon purportedly falsified materials among his military records. In 1974, a large granite marker was erected just off the Appalachian Trail at 37.364554°N 80.225748°W at 3,100' elevation, near the crash site.

Civilian honors were bestowed on Murphy during his lifetime and posthumously, including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2013, Murphy was honored by his home state with the Texas Legislative Medal of Honor.

In 2014, the rock band Sabaton released a song titled "To Hell and Back" in reference to Audie Murphy and his film, on their album Heroes.

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