From the citation for the Medal of Honor he earned for these actions:

Second Lt. Murphy commanded Company B, which was attacked by six tanks and waves of infantry. Second Lt. Murphy ordered his men to withdraw to prepared positions in a woods, while he remained forward at his command post and continued to give fire directions to the artillery by telephone. Behind him, to his right, one of our tank destroyers received a direct hit and began to burn. Its crew withdrew to the woods. Second Lt. Murphy continued to direct artillery fire which killed large numbers of the advancing enemy infantry. With the enemy tanks abreast of his position, 2d Lt. Murphy climbed on the burning tank destroyer, which was in danger of blowing up at any moment, and employed its .50-caliber machine gun against the enemy. He was alone and exposed to German fire from three sides, but his deadly fire killed dozens of Germans and caused their infantry attack to waver. The enemy tanks, losing infantry support, began to fall back. For an hour the Germans tried every available weapon to eliminate 2d Lt. Murphy, but he continued to hold his position and wiped out a squad which was trying to creep up unnoticed on his right flank. Germans reached as close as 10 yards, only to be mowed down by his fire. He received a leg wound, but ignored it and continued the singlehanded fight until his ammunition was exhausted. He then made his way to his company, refused medical attention, and organized the company in a counterattack which forced the Germans to withdraw. His directing of artillery fire wiped out many of the enemy; he killed or wounded about 50. Second Lt. Murphy’s indomitable courage and his refusal to give an inch of ground saved his company from possible encirclement and destruction, and enabled it to hold the woods which had been the enemy’s objective.

If you ever run across someone who’s trying to guilt-trip you about liking an actor who didn’t serve in one major war or another for medical or personal reasons, remember that whichever Patriotic Manly Man Movie Star that fan is hyping this time, his war record almost certainly pales in comparison to Audie’s. Also keep in mind that whoever that fan is, the one insinuating that you should watch stars based on whether they’re Patriotic Manly Men, and not whether you find the star in question entertaining…that fan probably can’t be bothered to watch To Hell and Back, let alone any of Audie’s westerns. Of the ones available on Region 1 dvd, I recommend No Name on the Bullet, Duel at Silver Creek, Ride Clear of Diablo, Apache Rifles, and Arizona Raiders. If you have a way of playing Region 2 or 4 dvds, Posse From Hell and Seven Ways from Sundown may also be worth your time. If you decide you like Audie well enough to become somewhat completist about him and want to watch all those fairly “mid” westerns he made in the fifties and early sixties…well, you will most definitely need a way to play Region 2/4 dvds. In the meantime, here’s Sabaton’s thoughts:

I’m not a huge fan of the film of To Hell and Back; it just wasn’t made with the technology or the artistic skill to live up to the source material. However, for the sake of completeness, here’s the Hollywood version of the events of January 26, 1945: