Raymond G. Murphy, 77; defiant hero earned the Medal of Honor

Raymond G. “Jerry” Murphy, a Medal of Honor recipient whose defiance of direct orders during the Korean War led him to launch an assault and a rescue credited with saving many wounded Marines, has died. He was 77.

Murphy, who was wounded in the daring operation, died April 6 at a veterans nursing home in Pueblo, Colo.

He was presented with the Medal of Honor, the military’s highest award for valor, by President Eisenhower in a White House ceremony Oct. 27, 1953. The medal has been bestowed on 3,460 people in U.S. history. Murphy’s death leaves 110 recipients alive, according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

On Feb. 3, 1953, Murphy, a 23-year-old second lieutenant, was in command of a Marine platoon held in reserve for evacuation duties in Operation Clambake, an assault on entrenched enemy troops in the hills near Ungok, South Korea. The troops had been under mortar and artillery fire for almost two months, waiting for a chance to retaliate.

With air support and Army tanks, two other platoons from his company attacked at dawn. After an hour, the young officer became worried when no Marines returned.

Defying direct orders, he led a small group of men up the hill to assess the situation and found that the assault had stalled and most of the senior officers and noncommissioned officers had been killed. Instantly, Murphy took charge, “attacking a cleverly concealed and well-entrenched hostile force occupying commanding ground,” his official medal citation said.

Shouting encouragement to his platoon, he led it through an intense and withering barrage of mortar and small-arms fire. He and his troops freed comrades who had been trapped in the earlier fighting, and Murphy made several trips through the heavy fire to carry the wounded to safety.

A mortar round that exploded nearby sent fragments into his left side, but he ignored his wounds to keep up the attack.

When reinforcements were needed by assault troops, the platoon leader sent part of his unit and, in the ensuing battle, killed two enemy soldiers with his pistol.

“A sergeant who saw Murphy’s heroics said, ‘It would be impossible to know how many trips he made under enemy fire to pull guys to safety,’ ” Amvets magazine reported in its winter 2003 issue. “In touch with his battalion commander via radio, Murphy was told to end the attack. He passed the word and covered his men as they pulled back. At the base of Ungok ... before withdrawing himself, he organized a party to sweep the battlefield to ensure that no Marines were left behind.”

Although suffering intense pain from his wounds, Murphy seized an automatic rifle to provide more firepower when the enemy reappeared in the trenches, the citation said.

“On the way back, as Murphy was about to help lift the stretcher of a badly wounded Marine, a piece of shrapnel tore into his right hand, but he steadfastly held onto the stretcher,” the Amvets article said. He continued to refuse medical treatment until he was assured that all other casualties had been treated.

Eighteen Marines were killed and 70 wounded in the attack on Ungok, and Murphy was credited with preventing many more deaths.

After treatment aboard hospital ships and at a naval hospital, he was promoted to first lieutenant. Two months after the battle, he was released from active duty but remained in the Reserve. Promoted to captain at the end of 1954, he left the Reserve at the end of 1959. He had enlisted in 1951.

After his discharge, Murphy operated a bowling alley for a time, then spent the rest of his working life at the New Mexico Veterans Administration. He retired as director of the agency in 1997 and continued to volunteer at a veterans hospital until he returned to his hometown of Pueblo two years ago and moved into a nursing home.

Survivors include his wife, Mary Ann Murphy, and four children.