WORLD WAR II'S GREATEST SOLDIER; STAMP HONORING AUDIE MURPHY WELL-DESERVED AND LONG OVERDUE.

Byline: STEVE VLASICH Local View

ON this Nov. 11, when Americans mark another Veterans Day with patriotic speeches and parades, remembering all who fought for this country, one name out of the past deserves special remembrance - Audie L. Murphy, America's most decorated soldier of World War II.

The U.S. Postal Service recently announced it will issue a commemorative stamp in his honor in 2000 - 29 years after his death and 19 years after he first became eligible for the honor.

Murphy - who after the war lived in homes in Van Nuys, North Hollywood and Toluca Lake and was a popular Valley resident - is one of four soldiers who will be honored with a stamp for the ``Distinguished Soldiers'' collection. The first-class stamps will feature World War I heroes John J. Hines and Sgt. Alvin C. York, and World War II heroes Gen. Omar Bradley and Murphy.

This long-overdue move corrects what many veterans believe was a profound slight to the memory of a genuine American war hero.

Despite his documented heroism, many Americans today probably don't know who he is because his exploits occurred in the early '40s. To bring you up to speed, consider the following thumbnail sketch:

Born on June 20, 1924, Audie was the son of a dirt-poor Texas sharecropper and an overworked mother. Years of poverty dogged the family as they moved from shack to shack and into boxcars reserved for only the desperately poor. As bleak as the hardscrabble Texas landscape was, Audie's personal landscape was even more barren as he turned 16. His father left his family, his beloved mother died at 50 and his family scattered to the wind. It was a hollow 16th birthday for any young man.

Shortly after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Murphy tried to enlist, but he was only 17, 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighed a scant 112 pounds, so he was told to come back when he was old enough and big enough.

He returned on his birthday in 1942 and was duly sworn into the U.S. Army infantry.

Because of his short stature and baby face, Audie fought numerous attempts to put him in safe, noncombat assignments. In January 1943, he was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division, where he would serve for the duration of the war.

Shipped off to North Africa, Audie was at first disappointed that he didn't see combat, but that would change in Sicily in July 1943, when he learned quickly to respect the Germans.

From the Salerno landings to the Anzio beachhead, the young soldier was sorely tested. But it wasn't until the 3rd Division landed on the beaches of southern France in the middle of August that Murphy earned distinction. When his best friend Lattie Tipton was killed, Murphy went berserk with grief, wiping out a German machine gun nest and killing a dozen Germans to win the Distinguished Service Cross.

The Congressional Medal of Honor would come later in the bitter snows of northern France.

In October 1944, Murphy received a battlefield commission to 2nd lieutenant, a dubious honor since the casualty rate among 3rd Division junior officers was staggering because German snipers zeroed in on junior officers particularly.

Murphy's Congressional Medal of Honor - only 433 were won in World War II - was earned in an incredibly heroic action when he climbed aboard a disabled and burning American tank and turned its guns on a unit of attacking German soldiers. When it ended, all 50 Germans were dead. Audie was wounded, but the German attack was stalled.

At the war's end, Murphy found himself holding the Congressional Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver Stars, two Bronze Stars, three Purple Hearts and the Legion of Merit, plus other medals from U.S. and Allied countries totaling 37. Eleven of those were for valor.

In addition, Murphy was credited with killing 240 Germans, who, it should be noted, had only one mission in mind: killing as many of the Americans as they could. In killing them, Murphy saved the lives of hundreds of his fellow GIs.

When he returned home to Texas on June 13, 1945, he was among a planeload of soldiers, including 13 generals. But it was Murphy who stole the show.

Reluctantly, he tried to duck the microphones thrust in his face, but the feeding frenzy of the media continued. It hit a crescendo when his picture appeared on the July 16, 1945, cover of Life magazine, America's most popular magazine at the time.

The youthful, smiling Murphy was just what the doctor ordered for an apprehensive America that worried what effect the war had on its returning sons, brothers and husbands. If someone who had been to hell and back could look so normal, then surely all the returning veterans would be just as they were and everything would be as it was.

Sadly, this was an illusion. Those who served overseas did come back changed, in small and in profound ways, but none so badly as the heavily stressed veterans like Murphy and his fellow combat veterans.

The U.S. Army did not provide any support or counseling service for combat veterans, so they had to go it alone. The dark sides included flashbacks, shakes and tremors, irritability, stomach and bowel disorders, sleeplessness, nightmares and a host of other ailments.

When asked in 1970 if anybody ever gets over war, Murphy said, ``I don't think they ever do.''

After he left the Army, Murphy accepted an invitation from James Cagney to be his house guest in Beverly Hills and from that point on, Murphy regarded California as his home.

Tutored by Cagney and others, he became a screen actor and appeared in 44 films and on television. Some of his films received critical acclaim; many did not.

It was in a cheap apartment at Melrose and Gardner in Hollywood that Murphy and his good friend David ``Spec'' McClure wrote the gut-wrenching book of war memoirs titled, ``To Hell and Back,'' published in 1949.

It was turned into a well-received film in 1955, representing the high point of Murphy's acting career.

Audie Murphy was the prototype of the American citizen soldier. He was everyone's son and brother, friend and neighbor who left his home to beat the mightiest war machine ever assembled in the name of evil.

He differed only in that to him was given the highest fame to match the highest achievement of any soldier who served the flag. In this respect he was truly unique.

It is for this reason that his fellow veterans have long urged the U.S. Postal Service to issue a commemorative stamp in his honor.

Murphy, who was killed in a plane crash May 28, 1971, lies buried in Arlington National Cemetery, where his grave is the second-most visited plot, next to President John F. Kennedy's.

Hopefully, Murphy found in death the peace he won for millions of his fellow Americans.

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(2) no caption (Audie Murphy)