Memorial

More information

Pfc Frederick C. Murphy attended high school and worked for the National Youth Administration in Norfolk. He enlisted in Weymouth, Massachusetts in November 1943.

He was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously. The citation stated: An aid man, he was wounded in the right shoulder soon after his comrades had jumped off in a dawn attack. 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 unhesistatingly 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.

After the war a hospital in Boston was dedicated in his memory.