PUEBLO, Colo.-
Raymond “Jerry” Murphy, winner of the Medal of Honor during the Korean conflict in 1952, has died at the age of 77.
“Jerry was one of the most modest men I ever knew,” said Drew Dix, a friend and fellow Medal of Honor winner. “He was one of my heroes as a kid growing up in Pueblo. I can remember pedaling my bike on Jerry Murphy Road as a boy, never imagining that one day, Jerry would be my friend. Pueblo has lost a very special man.”
Gary Montgomery of Montgomery Steward Funeral Home in Pueblo confirmed that Murphy died Friday at the Pueblo Veterans Nursing Home.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave Murphy, a Marine second lieutenant, the medal in 1953 for ignoring his own wounds to evacuate his platoon from a hill under fierce fire from Chinese troops, a Browning Automatic Rifle in one hand and a pistol in the other. He refused to be evacuated until all his men were down.
“I think that was just Jerry’s nature and how he was raised, to just get the job done,” said retired Marine Brig. Gen. Jack Krasovich, who grew up in Pueblo and was a lifelong friend of Murphy’s. “I know he didn’t think twice about it. Those were his guys on that hill and he was going to get them all down.”
Seventeen marines were killed and 77 wounded in the action on Feb. 3.
A memorial is planned for Murphy at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Pueblo on Monday night. The funeral will be later in Santa Fe, N.M.
Murphy is survived by his wife, Mary Ann Murphy of Albuquerque, N.M., and four children.
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Information from: The Pueblo Chieftain,
