The President of the United States
in the name of The Congress
takes pleasure in presenting the
Medal of Honor
to
*MURPHY, FREDERICK C.
Rank and Organization: Private First Class, U.S.
Army, Medical Detachment, 259th Infantry, 65th Infantry Division. Place and Date
Siegfried Line at Saarlautern, Germany, 18 March 1945. Entered Service at:
Weymouth, Mass. Birth: Boston, Mass. G.O. No.: 21, 26 February 1946.
Citation:
An aid man, 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 machinegun, 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.
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