PORTAGE, Maine — “I’m not dead you son of a (expletive deleted),” were the words that caught U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Allen Murphy’s attention while under enemy fire out on patrol in Vietnam in late October 1965.
Murphy’s platoon was on combat patrol along the Song Yen River when the Marines were ambushed while crossing a small stream, he recalled during an intervi ew at his Portage home on Sept. 16.
The last Marine bringing up the rear had his legs shot out from under him and was left wounded on a sand bar. The wounded man exclaimed to the enemy that he wasn’t dead yet.
Murphy fired back at the Viet Cong, then dropped his rifle and removed his body armor so he would be light enough to run and retrieve his wounded comrade.
“I knew I couldn’t carry him and all his gear so I took my gear off,” Murphy recalled. “I told the squad to cover me and I ran out.”
Still under enemy fire, Murphy made it to the fallen Marine and used that man’s weapon to fire back as he carried him 35 yards to safety.
Murphy’s military superiors told him shortly afterward that his actions earned him the Silver Star, the third-highest military combat decoration that can be awarded to a member of the United States Armed Forces. But it took more than 50 years for the former Marine to be recognized and receive it because records of the skirmish were lost in the war.
After leaving the Marines in 1966, Murphy said he made many attempts to secure the medal, but came up short without the records to prove what he had done. It seemed like he’d never get his star, so he gave up.
Then, as the years went on, his war buddies convinced him he shouldn’t quit, so he took up the cause again in the early 80s. He gathered as much documentation as he could and even had a notarized testimony from one of his fellow Marines of his heroic actions. But he was denied again, he said, because of a typo that transposed the date of the incident from 1965 to 1956.
The aging former Marine took up the fight one more time about 8 years ago, seeking help this time from the offices of then U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud and U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.
Eight years later, the 74-year-old had pretty much abandoned the idea of ever seeing the medal when on July 17, he and his wife Christine returned home to find a message on their answering machine confirming that he would receive his Silver Star.
“It just about knocked me over because I didn’t really expect it would ever get done, it’s been so (expletive deleted) long,” Murphy said.
Murphy received his Silver Star on Sept. 1 at a ceremony at the Brunswick Marine Reserve Center with the help of U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, who managed to get Murphy’s request over the final hurdle. She couldn’t make it to the ceremony herself, but her representatives, local Marines and Murphy’s friends and family turned out for the event that was 52 years in the making.
“I was delighted to assist Allen with receiving the Silver Star, a distinction he earned through his heroic actions in the Vietnam War,” Collins said in a press release. “The Silver Star is one of the highest military combat decorations that can be awarded to a member of the armed forces. The courage and gallantry Allen displayed while rescuing his fellow Marine made him highly deserving of this distinction.”
Sgt.Murphy also previously earned and receive the Presidential Unit Citation, Good Conduct Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with three bronze stars, Republic of Vietnam Meritorious Unit Citation Gallantry Cross Color and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.
