Lt Michael Murphy MOH
First Naval Winner of the Medal of Honor since Vietnam
Lt Michael Murphy was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in 2007 after being mortally wounded while leading his Seal unit in Afghanistan in 2005.
Lt Michael Murphy was born May 7, 1976 in Smithtown, New York. He attended Penn State University where he majored in political science and psychology. He joined the United States Navy as a ensign in September 2000 through the US Navy's Officer Candidate School at Pensacola, Florida. After graduating from the grueling nearly year long US Navy Seal training program (Class 236), he joined the teams just in time for the Global War on Terror.
Deployed to Afghanistan in 2005, Murphy found himself detailed with a four man team to locate a high-level rebel leader near Asadabad in the Konar province. The team consisted of Murphy and three seals who were non-commissioned officers. While on this mission the team was ambushed by an estimated 40 man detachment of Taliban fighters on June 27/28 2005. Every man of the Seal team, including Murphy himself, was wounded in the encounter. When it became apparent that the team’s satellite phone could not communicate due to line of sight issues, Murphy exposed himself to enemy fire on purpose to affect a link with his upper unit command. While thus engaged in combat the young Lieutenant was mortally wounded. The communications call he made, however, allowed for his teams eventual relief and extraction. Also killed were Sonar Technician 2nd Class Matthew G. Axelson of Cupertino, California and Petty Officer 2nd Class Danny P. Dietz of Littleton, Colorado. The only member of the unit who survived, Hospitalman 1st Class Marcus Luttrell, was knocked down by a blast, and wounded in both legs. He walked several miles and was hidden by an Afghani shepherd until U.S. commandos rescued him July 3, 2005. All three of these men were awarded the Navy Cross and the Purple Heart
On October 22, 2007, Lt United States Navy Lieutenant Michael P "Murph” Murphy received the Congressional Medal of Honor, the United States highest award for selfless valor in combat and upholding the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. He is the first naval officer to win the award since Vietnam. Murphy and all of hihs team wore FDNY's Engine 53 and Ladder 43 (El Barrios Bravest) patches to commemorate the New York City firefighters killed in the Twin Towers on September 11th.
Of the 3410 Medal of Honor recipients since the US Civil War, 746 were from the US Navy. Lt Murphy was the first naval officer to win a Congressional Medal of Honor since Lieutenant Thomas R Norris and Petty Officer Michael Edwin Thornton who won the medals for actions in the Quang Tri Province of the Republic of Vietnam during 1972. It is no coincidence that all three men were SEALS.
Sources
Medal of Honor Citation, US Defense Department and Department of the Navy
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