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A great hero remembered.
Valor | In Rare Company
BY FRED L. BORCH
MARCH 2018 • MILITARY HISTORY MAGAZINE
Audie Murphy was the most decorated U.S. soldier of World War II, having received more than two dozen awards, including the Medal of Honor, over his two years of combat. His war memoir, To Hell and Back, and a subsequent film career made him internationally famous. Another American soldier, George Mabry, also saw hard combat in Europe and, while hardly a household name, certainly distinguished himself among the 8 million–man U.S. Army of World War II. Indeed, by some measures he was the second most decorated soldier of the war.
Born in 1917, George Lafayette Mabry Jr. was raised in Sumter County, S.C. The active teen balked at attending college until his father put him to work as a supervisor on the family farm. Attending Presbyterian College on a baseball scholarship, Mabry also served in the school’s Reserve Officer Training Corps. Though he had a contract to play semipro baseball on graduation in 1940, he instead accepted a commission as a second lieutenant. With war on the horizon, Mabry was assigned to the newly activated 4th Infantry Division, then training at Fort Benning, Ga. As the division polished its skills on maneuvers over the next several years, the shavetail rose to become a captain in the 2nd Battalion, 8th Infan
The 4th ID deployed to England in January 1944, and Mabry was in the first wave of soldiers ashore at Utah Beach in Normandy on June 6. Though he’d never been in combat, the young captain unhesitatingly led the attack on his unit’s objective, charging through a German minefield and point-blank small-arms fire, personally killing several enemy soldiers and capturing some 20 others. For his extraordinary heroism under fire, Mabry received the Distinguished Service Cross.
Less than three weeks later, during the drive to seize Cherbourg, 4th ID soldiers came under small-arms and artillery fire from a German strongpoint at a road junction. Mabry organized a counterattack and personally led the storming of the strongpoint. For that action he earned the Silver Star and promotion to major.
By September the 8th Infantry was embroiled in the fight to break through the Siegfried Line. Amid the efforts to dislodge the Germans, Mabry crawled forward to pinpoint a machine-gun nest and then radioed for artillery fire. The initial rounds struck dangerously close, but Mabry adjusted fire until the enemy position was destroyed. He received the Bronze Star for his grit.
On November 18 the 27-year-old major assumed command of the 2nd Battalion. Two days later he spearheaded an attack into the Hürtgen Forest near Schevenhütte, Germany. Moving ahead of his scouts, Mabry again found a path through a German minefield. Cutting his way through wire defenses, he captured three Germans and then assaulted three enemy bunkers in turn. Rushed by nine Germans, he knocked down one with his rifle butt and bayoneted another before help arrived. Mabry captured six more enemy soldiers, then led the battalion across 300 yards of fire-swept terrain to seize the high ground. There he set up a defensive position from which to pin down the enemy. This time his superlative courage earned Mabry the Medal of Honor.
Mabry finished the war as a lieutenant colonel. During his year under fire in Normandy, Northern France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany he had risen from company captain to battalion commander. In addition to his multiple awards for combat valor, Mabry also received the Purple Heart, while the British government awarded him its Distinguished Service Order.
At war’s end the onetime minor league baseball prospect decided to make the Army a career. Over the next three decades he took on assignments in places as far ranging as postwar Korea, Vietnam and the Panama Canal Zone. Mabry retired as a major general in 1975 and died in his home state of South Carolina in 1990 at age 72.
Valor | In Rare Company
BY FRED L. BORCH
MARCH 2018 • MILITARY HISTORY MAGAZINE
Audie Murphy was the most decorated U.S. soldier of World War II, having received more than two dozen awards, including the Medal of Honor, over his two years of combat. His war memoir, To Hell and Back, and a subsequent film career made him internationally famous. Another American soldier, George Mabry, also saw hard combat in Europe and, while hardly a household name, certainly distinguished himself among the 8 million–man U.S. Army of World War II. Indeed, by some measures he was the second most decorated soldier of the war.
Born in 1917, George Lafayette Mabry Jr. was raised in Sumter County, S.C. The active teen balked at attending college until his father put him to work as a supervisor on the family farm. Attending Presbyterian College on a baseball scholarship, Mabry also served in the school’s Reserve Officer Training Corps. Though he had a contract to play semipro baseball on graduation in 1940, he instead accepted a commission as a second lieutenant. With war on the horizon, Mabry was assigned to the newly activated 4th Infantry Division, then training at Fort Benning, Ga. As the division polished its skills on maneuvers over the next several years, the shavetail rose to become a captain in the 2nd Battalion, 8th Infan
The 4th ID deployed to England in January 1944, and Mabry was in the first wave of soldiers ashore at Utah Beach in Normandy on June 6. Though he’d never been in combat, the young captain unhesitatingly led the attack on his unit’s objective, charging through a German minefield and point-blank small-arms fire, personally killing several enemy soldiers and capturing some 20 others. For his extraordinary heroism under fire, Mabry received the Distinguished Service Cross.
Less than three weeks later, during the drive to seize Cherbourg, 4th ID soldiers came under small-arms and artillery fire from a German strongpoint at a road junction. Mabry organized a counterattack and personally led the storming of the strongpoint. For that action he earned the Silver Star and promotion to major.
By September the 8th Infantry was embroiled in the fight to break through the Siegfried Line. Amid the efforts to dislodge the Germans, Mabry crawled forward to pinpoint a machine-gun nest and then radioed for artillery fire. The initial rounds struck dangerously close, but Mabry adjusted fire until the enemy position was destroyed. He received the Bronze Star for his grit.
On November 18 the 27-year-old major assumed command of the 2nd Battalion. Two days later he spearheaded an attack into the Hürtgen Forest near Schevenhütte, Germany. Moving ahead of his scouts, Mabry again found a path through a German minefield. Cutting his way through wire defenses, he captured three Germans and then assaulted three enemy bunkers in turn. Rushed by nine Germans, he knocked down one with his rifle butt and bayoneted another before help arrived. Mabry captured six more enemy soldiers, then led the battalion across 300 yards of fire-swept terrain to seize the high ground. There he set up a defensive position from which to pin down the enemy. This time his superlative courage earned Mabry the Medal of Honor.
Mabry finished the war as a lieutenant colonel. During his year under fire in Normandy, Northern France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany he had risen from company captain to battalion commander. In addition to his multiple awards for combat valor, Mabry also received the Purple Heart, while the British government awarded him its Distinguished Service Order.
At war’s end the onetime minor league baseball prospect decided to make the Army a career. Over the next three decades he took on assignments in places as far ranging as postwar Korea, Vietnam and the Panama Canal Zone. Mabry retired as a major general in 1975 and died in his home state of South Carolina in 1990 at age 72.
Valor | In Rare Company | HistoryNet
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Posted 6 y ago
Responses: 13
Posted 6 y ago
Wow one true bad ass. Thanks for sharing.
SMSgt Lawrence McCarter SrA Christopher Wright Sgt Randy Wilber SGT Gregory Lawritson Cpl (Join to see) Lt Col Scott Shuttleworth LTC (Join to see) MSG Frederick Otero SFC Pete Kain SSG David Andrews LCDR (Join to see) PO1 Tony Holland SCPO Morris Ramsey SPC Margaret Higgins SGT Jim Arnold SFC William H. PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SGT Charles H. Hawes SFC Craig Dalen CPL Dave Hoover
SMSgt Lawrence McCarter SrA Christopher Wright Sgt Randy Wilber SGT Gregory Lawritson Cpl (Join to see) Lt Col Scott Shuttleworth LTC (Join to see) MSG Frederick Otero SFC Pete Kain SSG David Andrews LCDR (Join to see) PO1 Tony Holland SCPO Morris Ramsey SPC Margaret Higgins SGT Jim Arnold SFC William H. PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SGT Charles H. Hawes SFC Craig Dalen CPL Dave Hoover
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Thanks SGT (Join to see) for honoring Medal of Honor recipient Audie Murphy who was to short for USMC and US Army Airborne. Thankfully this short in stature but heroic in character infantry officer gave his all and dealt death and destruction to many Germans in WWII.
Medal of Honor Orders; General Orders No. 65
WAR DEPARTMENT
Washington 25, D.C., 9 August 1945
MEDAL OF HONOR - Award
Section 1
* * * * *
I. MEDAL OF HONOR. - By direction of the President, under the provisions of the act of Congress approved 9 July 1918 (WD Bul. 43, 1918), a Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty was awarded by the War Department in the name of Congress to the following-named officer:
Second Lieutenant Audie L. Murphy, 01692509, 15th Infantry, Army of the United States, on 26 January 1945, near Holtzwihr, France, commanded Company B, which was attacked by six tanks and waves of infantry. Lieutenant Murphy ordered his men to withdraw to a prepared position in a woods while he remained forward at his command post and continued to give fire directions to the artillery by telephone. Behind him to his right one of our tank destroyers received a direct hit and began to burn. It's crew withdrew to the woods. Lieutenant Murphy continued to direct artillery fire which killed large numbers of the advancing enemy infantry. With the enemy tanks abreast of his position, Lieutenant Murphy climbed on the burning tank destroyer which was in danger of blowing up any instant and employed its .50 caliber machine gun against the enemy. He was alone and exposed to the German fire from three sides, but his deadly fire killed dozens of Germans and caused their infantry attack to waver. the enemy tanks, losing infantry support, began to fall back. For an hour the Germans tried every available weapon to eliminated Lieutenant Murphy, but he continued to hold his position and wiped out a squad which was trying to creep up unnoticed on his right flank. Germans reached as close as 10 yards only to be mowed down by his fire. He received a leg wound but ignored it and continued the single-handed fight until his ammunition was exhausted. He then made his way to his company, refused medical attention, and organized the company in a counterattack which forced the Germans to withdraw. His directing of artillery fire wiped out many of the enemy; he personally killed or wounded about 50. Lieutenant Murphy's indomitable courage and his refusal to give an inch of ground saved his company from possible encirclement and destruction and enabled it to hold the woods which had been the enemy's objective.
* * * * *
BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR:
OFFICIAL:
EDWARD F. WITSELL
Major General
Acting the Adjutant General
G.C. MARSHALL
Chief of Staff
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC Wayne Brandon LTC Bill Koski Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown MSG Andrew White SFC William Farrell SSgt Robert Marx PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski SP5 Robert Ruck SPC Margaret Higgins SGT Charles H. Hawes SGT (Join to see) SGT (Join to see) Maj Marty Hogan
Medal of Honor Orders; General Orders No. 65
WAR DEPARTMENT
Washington 25, D.C., 9 August 1945
MEDAL OF HONOR - Award
Section 1
* * * * *
I. MEDAL OF HONOR. - By direction of the President, under the provisions of the act of Congress approved 9 July 1918 (WD Bul. 43, 1918), a Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty was awarded by the War Department in the name of Congress to the following-named officer:
Second Lieutenant Audie L. Murphy, 01692509, 15th Infantry, Army of the United States, on 26 January 1945, near Holtzwihr, France, commanded Company B, which was attacked by six tanks and waves of infantry. Lieutenant Murphy ordered his men to withdraw to a prepared position in a woods while he remained forward at his command post and continued to give fire directions to the artillery by telephone. Behind him to his right one of our tank destroyers received a direct hit and began to burn. It's crew withdrew to the woods. Lieutenant Murphy continued to direct artillery fire which killed large numbers of the advancing enemy infantry. With the enemy tanks abreast of his position, Lieutenant Murphy climbed on the burning tank destroyer which was in danger of blowing up any instant and employed its .50 caliber machine gun against the enemy. He was alone and exposed to the German fire from three sides, but his deadly fire killed dozens of Germans and caused their infantry attack to waver. the enemy tanks, losing infantry support, began to fall back. For an hour the Germans tried every available weapon to eliminated Lieutenant Murphy, but he continued to hold his position and wiped out a squad which was trying to creep up unnoticed on his right flank. Germans reached as close as 10 yards only to be mowed down by his fire. He received a leg wound but ignored it and continued the single-handed fight until his ammunition was exhausted. He then made his way to his company, refused medical attention, and organized the company in a counterattack which forced the Germans to withdraw. His directing of artillery fire wiped out many of the enemy; he personally killed or wounded about 50. Lieutenant Murphy's indomitable courage and his refusal to give an inch of ground saved his company from possible encirclement and destruction and enabled it to hold the woods which had been the enemy's objective.
* * * * *
BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR:
OFFICIAL:
EDWARD F. WITSELL
Major General
Acting the Adjutant General
G.C. MARSHALL
Chief of Staff
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC Wayne Brandon LTC Bill Koski Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown MSG Andrew White SFC William Farrell SSgt Robert Marx PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski SP5 Robert Ruck SPC Margaret Higgins SGT Charles H. Hawes SGT (Join to see) SGT (Join to see) Maj Marty Hogan
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