Mission Accomplished - For Real!

Medal of Honor for Penn State grad who died in Afghanistan

by Devlin Barrett
ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON - Shot in the back, making a desperate call for help for his men trapped on the side of an Afghanistan cliff, Lt. Michael Murphy heard that help was on the way, and said simply: "Roger that, sir. Thank you."

The 29-year-old Navy SEAL from Patchogue, N.Y., who graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1998 , gave his life in order to make that call, putting himself in a position exposed to enemy fire but the only one in which he could get a signal.

That selfless act was honored Monday by President Bush at the White House, where he presented Murphy's parents with the Medal of Honor - the nation's highest military award for valor, and the first given for combat in Afghanistan.

Moments before the emotional ceremony, Murphy's parents gave Bush a gold dog tag with their son's name and image on it.

"What we were most touched by was that the president immediately put that on underneath his shirt, and when he made the presentation of the Medal of Honor, he wore that against his chest," said the father.

After the ceremony, Dan Murphy said, Bush told the family, "I was inspired by having Michael next to my chest."

The father, who fought back tears during the ceremony, said they were "deeply moved" by Bush's gesture.

"It was very emotional on everybody's part," said Maureen Murphy.

Bush praised their son's battlefield decision as typical of someone who, even as a boy, was devoted to others.

"While their missions were often carried out in secrecy, their love of country and devotion to each other was always clear," Bush said. "On June 28, 2005, Michael would give his life for these ideals."

Murphy's parents cried at points in the ceremony as they stood next to the president and listened to their son's heroism recounted. Vice President Dick Cheney also attended, as did a handful of past Medal of Honor recipients.

"There's a lot of awards in the military, but when you see a Medal of Honor, you know whatever they went through is pretty horrible. You don't congratulate anyone when you see it," said Marcus Luttrell, the lone member of Murphy's team to survive the firefight with the Taliban.

Murphy, Luttrell and two other SEALs were searching for a terrorist when their mission was compromised after they were spotted by locals, who presumably alerted the Taliban to their presence.

An intense gun battle ensued, with more than 50 anti-coalition fighters swarming around the outnumbered SEALs.

Although wounded, Murphy is credited with risking his own life by moving into the open for a better position to transmit a call for help.

Still under fire, Murphy provided his unit's location and the size of the enemy force. At one point he was shot in the back, causing him to drop the mobile phone. Murphy picked it back up and completed the call.

He then returned to his cover position with his men and continued the battle. A U.S. helicopter sent to rescue the men was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, killing all 16 aboard. It was the worst single-day death toll for U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

By the end of the two-hour gunfight, Murphy and two of his comrades were also dead. An estimated 35 Taliban were also killed. Luttrell was blown over a ridge and knocked unconscious. He escaped, and was protected by local villagers for several days before he was rescued.

Murphy is the fourth Navy SEAL to earn the award and the first since the Vietnam War. Two Medals of Honor have been awarded posthumously in the Iraq war: to Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham, who was killed in 2004 after covering a grenade with his helmet, and to Army Sgt. 1st Class Paul R. Smith, who was killed in 2003 after holding off Iraqi forces with a machine gun before he was killed at the Baghdad airport.

Murphy's heroics have been widely recognized on Long Island, where he graduated in 1994 from Patchogue-Medford High School.

To his fellow SEALs, he was known as "Murph," but as a child, his parents nicknamed him "the Protector," because of his strong moral compass. After the 2001 terror attacks, that compass eventually led him to Afghanistan, where he wore a patch of the New York City Fire Department on his uniform.

"He took his deployment personally. He was going after, and his team was going after, the men who planned, plotted against and attacked not only the United States, but the city he loved, New York," said his father. "He knew what he was fighting for."


FOX News also has a story here.

Local Talk radio Host and Columnist Michael Smerconish does Lt. Murphy's Honor here.


The TrekMedic simply adds:

Rest easy, brother. Your job is done.