World War II - U.S. Army
Frederick Coleman Murphy
Conflict/Era: World War II
Medical Detachment, 259th Infantry,
Medal of Honor Action Place: Siegfried Line at Saarlautern, Germany
An aidman, 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 machine-gun, 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, Pfc. Murphy saved many of his fellow soldiers at the cost of his own life.
Medal of Honor Recipient Frederick C. Murphy
Accredited to: Weymouth, Norfolk County, Massachusetts
Awarded Posthumously: Yes
Presentation Date & Details: February 27, 1946
City Hall, Quincy, Massachusetts, presented by Lt. Gen. O.W. Griswold to his Widow and Daughter
Born: 1918, Boston, Suffolk County, MA, United States
Died: March 18, 1945, Germany
Buried: A.B.M.C. Lorraine Cemetery (MH), St Avold, France
Location of Medal:
https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/frederick-c-murphy