<P> Audie Leon Murphy ( 20 June 1925 -- 28 May 1971 ) 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 an entire 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 . Murphy was born into a large family of sharecroppers in Hunt County , Texas . His father abandoned them , and his mother died when he was a teenager . Murphy left school in fifth grade to pick cotton and find other work to help support his family ; his skill with a hunting rifle was a necessity for putting food on the table . </P>
<P> Audie Leon Murphy ( 20 June 1925 -- 28 May 1971 ) 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 an entire 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 . Murphy was born into a large family of sharecroppers in Hunt County , Texas . His father abandoned them , and his mother died when he was a teenager . Murphy left school in fifth grade to pick cotton and find other work to help support his family ; his skill with a hunting rifle was a necessity for putting food on the table . </P>
who was the most decorated american soldier in world war ii
who was the most decorated american soldier in world war ii
Audie Leon Murphy
Audie Leon Murphy