Frederick C. Murphy

Private First Class · U.S. Army

U.S. Army, Medical Detachment, 259th Infantry, 65th Infantry Division

18 March 1945 · Siegfried Line at Saarlautern, Germany

Branch: U.S. Army
Era: World War II
Home state: Massachusetts
Action: Siegfried Line at Saarlautern, Germany

The citation

Official citation

An aid man, he was wounded in the right shoulder soon after his comrades had jumped off in a dawn attack 18 March 1945, against the Siegfried Line at Saarlautern, Germany. He refused to withdraw for treatment and continued forward, administering first aid under heavy machinegun, mortar, and artillery fire. When the company ran into a thickly sown antipersonnel minefield and began to suffer more and more casualties, he continued to disregard his own wound and unhesitatingly braved the danger of exploding mines, moving about through heavy fire and helping the injured until he stepped on a mine which severed one of his feet. In spite of his grievous wounds, he struggled on with his work, refusing to be evacuated and crawling from man to man administering to them while in great pain and bleeding profusely. He was killed by the blast of another mine which he had dragged himself across in an effort to reach still another casualty. With indomitable courage, and unquenchable spirit of self-sacrifice and supreme devotion to duty which made it possible for him to continue performing his tasks while barely able to move, Private First Class Murphy saved many of his fellow soldiers at the cost of his own life.

Sources

U.S. Army Medal of Honor citation index
Wikipedia. Linked only. The article text is not copied here.