

Rank
and organization:
First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company C,
30th Infantry, 3d Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Kaysersberg, France, 16 December 1944. Entered service at:
Wilmington,
N.C. Birth: 26
September 1921, Baltimore,
Md. G.O.
No.: 63, 1 August 1945. Citation:
For commanding Company C, 30th Infantry, displaying supreme courage
and heroic initiative near Kaysersberg, France, on 16 December 1944, while leading a
reinforced platoon into enemy territory.
Descending into a valley beneath hilltop positions held by our troops,
he observed a force of 200 Germans pouring deadly mortar, bazooka, machine-gun,
and small arms fire into an American battalion occupying the crest of the
ridge. The enemy's position in a sunken
road, though hidden from the ridge, was open to a flank attack by 1st Lt.
Murray's patrol but he hesitated to commit so small a force to battle with the
superior and strongly disposed enemy.
Crawling out ahead of his troops to a vantage point, he called by radio
for artillery fire. His shells bracketed
the German force, but when he was about to correct the range his radio went
dead. He returned to his patrol, secured
grenades and a rifle to launch them and went back to his self‑appointed
outpost. His first shots disclosed his
position; the enemy directed heavy fire against him as he methodically fired
his missiles into the narrow defile.
Again he returned to his patrol.
With an automatic rifle and ammunition, he once more moved to his exposed
position. Burst after burst he fired
into the enemy, killing 20, wounding many others, and completely disorganizing
its ranks, which began to withdraw. He
prevented the removal of 3 German mortars by knocking out a truck. By that time a mortar had been brought to his
support. 1st Lt. Murray directed fire of
this weapon, causing further casualties and confusion in the German ranks. Calling on his patrol to follow, he then
moved out toward his original objective, possession of a bridge and construction
of a roadblock. He captured 10 Germans
in foxholes. An eleventh, while
pretending to surrender, threw a grenade which knocked him to the ground,
inflicting 8 wounds. Though suffering
and bleeding profusely, he refused to return to the rear until he had chosen
the spot for the block and had seen his men correctly deployed. By his single-handed attack on an
overwhelming force and by his intrepid and heroic fighting, 1st Lt. Murray
stopped a counterattack, established an advance position against formidable
odds, and provided an inspiring example for the men of his command.