Audie Murphy Rides a Crooked Trail | Western Trails Stars of the Silver Screen

Known as America's most decorated World War II combat Soldier, Major Audie Murphy had many hobbies, including raising quarter horses, acting, and even writing poetry. Today, on his birthday, The United States Army Band Soldier Staff Sgt. Peter Walker performs Maj. Murphy's poem, "The Crosses Grow On Anzio," set to the tune of an old cowboy song. Staff Sgt. Walker chose this tune based on a scene described in Maj. Murphy's memoir, "To Hell and Back," and as a nod to his Texas roots. Maj. Murphy's

Audie Leon Murphy was an Army Veteran and one of the most decorated American combat soldiers of World War II. Murphy was born in 1925 on a north Texas sharecropper farm and as a child was known for his accuracy with a gun. Murphy’s father left the family and as a child, Murphy dropped out of school in fifth grade picked cotton for a dollar a day. Murphy’s mother died when he was only 16, leaving him and his siblings orphaned. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Murphy was determined to jo