Is audie Murphy the most decorated soilder in history?

Answer 1

There are many great American soldiers from the Revolutionary War to Iraq. Every conflict has produced American soldiers of great bravery and honor. The most decorated soldier of all time is Gen Douglas MacArthur.

Answer 2

Audie Murphy is usually said to be the most decorated American soldier of WWII. Some now say that Major Matt Urban has more medals, but Urban was not awarded his Medal of Honor until more than thirty years after the war was over, and Urban never earned America's second highest award for valor, the Distinguished Service Cross, and Murphy did. Also Urban was an officer throughout the war, from start to finish, and officers usually get more notice and medals than enlisted men. Murphy earned most of his medals as an enlisted man, but was awarded the Medal of Honor for actions which occurred after he had accepted a battlefield commission and had become an officer.

In warfare medals are a relatively recent thing, really. The Purple Heart was originally created by George Washington to honor brave soldiers in his army in the Revolution, but only seven were awarded, and then the award lapsed into disuse. In the Civil War the Union Army created the Medal of Honor, and handed them out so freely that later about one thousand awards had to be vacated. By WWI the US also had the Distinguished Service Cross and the Navy Cross. The Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit and Soldiers Medal were all created between WWI and WWII.

To get a medal, someone has to see you do something heroic, and the witness has to live long enough to be able to write up a recommendation. Plenty of soldiers did extremely gutsy things every day during WWII, but received nothing.

Murphy was an exceptionally intrepid soldier, and lasted a very, very long time in combat for a US WWII soldier, and was fortunate that people saw what he was doing, and followed through with recommendations for medals. He is certainly among the most decorated American soldiers of all time. Whether he is THE most decorated soldier of all, among all soldiers of all nations is probably a question that can never be answered definitively. There were few US soldiers who saw more action and probably none who consistently acted with Murphy's bravery over such a long span.

In Vietnam there was "medal inflation" and soldiers, especially officers, got Bronze Stars just for getting off the plane in South Vietnam.

Answer 3

Clyde Morgan