first lieutenant on 16 February. The 3rd Infantry Division was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for its actions. which earned Murphy an Oak Leaf Cluster for the PUC awarded for action at Montelimar. While the Division was stationed at Nancy, General O'Daniel held a ceremony on 5 March to award Murphy his previously won Distinguished Service Cross and Silver Star. Murphy was reassigned as 15th Infantry Regiment liaison officer on 11 March. From then until 20 May, he was assigned to the Director for Plans and Operations, a non-combat assignment that moved with the regiment. Although not authorized to do so, he did step out of that role when a message arrived that Company B's senior officers had been killed, leaving the unit in charge of an inexperienced officer. He commandeered a jeep, a driver and an interpreter and advanced to the Siegfried Line to successfully rescue the company. Medal of Honor and other decorations Brigadier General Ralph B. Lovett and Lieutenant Colonel Hallet D. Edson recommended Murphy for the Medal of Honor for his actions at Holtzwihr, the awarding of which was confirmed by an official press release on 24 May 1945. Near Salzburg, Austria on 2 June, General Patch presented Murphy with both the Medal of Honor and the Legion of Merit. As of that presentation, Murphy was then considered "the most decorated American soldier in World War II." When asked after the war why he had seized the machine gun and taken on an entire company of German infantry, Murphy replied simply, "They were killing my friends." For his war-time service, Murphy had earned every Army combat award for valor available during his period of service. He was awarded the American Campaign Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with nine combat campaign stars (one silver representing 5, and 4 bronze) and one arrowhead device for amphibious landings in Sicily and Southern France, the World War II Victory Medal, and the Army of Occupation Medal with Germany Clasp. On 16 April 1945, France awarded Murphy the French Croix de guerre with Silver Star, which was presented to him in Dallas on 15 September by U.S. Army Brigadier General William Albert Collier. At a public ceremony in Paris on 19 July 1948, French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny presented Murphy the French Legion of Honor – Grade of Chevalier and the French Croix de guerre with Palm. He