This was Murphy’s third Purple Heart. He had been wounded twice before — at Genevreuille on September 15, 1944 (heel wound) and at an unnamed location on October 26, 1944 (hip wound, with subsequent gangrene requiring hospitalization until December 28). The hip wound in October had been serious enough to put him out of action for two months.
The fact that he continued on the burning M10 after sustaining the leg wound — continuing to fire the machine gun, continuing to call artillery corrections, staying until the ammunition was exhausted — is part of what makes the action extraordinary. The citation acknowledges this sequence: wounded, continued firing, left only when out of ammunition, returned to company, led counterattack.
The question of pain management and physical capacity in combat is one of those areas where the experience cannot be fully conveyed from outside. Combat physiology has specific effects on pain perception — adrenaline and other stress hormones can mask pain that would be incapacitating under normal conditions, allowing a person to continue functioning at a high level for a period after being wounded. What happens after the action, when those hormones dissipate, is different. Murphy’s refusal of immediate medical treatment after the action — noted in the accounts — and his insistence on leading the counterattack first, is consistent with the documented pattern of his behavior throughout his combat service: the military objective first, personal welfare after.
## The Awards Ceremony at Salzburg: June 2, 1945
The circumstances of the Medal of Honor presentation ceremony on June 2, 1945, near Salzburg, Austria, are worth describing in detail because they are specific and because the ceremony established the public identification of Murphy as the most decorated soldier by the person in the best position to make that claim.