Today is, of course, Veterans' Day, that day when we commemorate all the men and women who have served in uniform. Originally, Armistice Day, the day we recognized the end of the Great War on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, was one holiday reboot we could all get behind. Sure, the Great War veterans deserved recognition - but all of them do.

While Veterans' Day is not only a day for those who served in battle, it is war that has that capacity to bring out the best (and sometimes the worst) in people, and to bring out the best people, the people who lead under difficult circumstances, who exhibit uncommon courage and determination.

People like Audie Murphy, the most-decorated soldier in American history.

Audie Leon Murphy was born in 1925 in Kingston, Texas. He wasn't a big man, but he had grit. The seventh of twelve kids in the Murphy family, Audie didn't have the best childhood. His father abandoned the family when Audie was very young. He eventually dropped out of the fifth grade and got a job picking cotton to help feed his family. He also turned into a crack shot, hunting small game to keep some protein on the table. His mother died in 1941. Of her death, Murphy said in his 1949 book, To Hell And Back:

She died when I was sixteen. She had the most beautiful hair I've ever seen. It reached almost to the floor. She rarely talked; and always seemed to be searching for something. What it was I don't know. We didn't discuss our feelings. But when she passed away, she took something of me with her. It seems I've been searching for it ever since.

Then came the war.

At 5'5" and 110 pounds, Audie Murphy was rejected by the Army Airborne and the Marines for his size, so he joined the regular Army infantry. After his training, he was sent to Europe to join the 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division. He served in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France, and Germany. 

His great moment, though, came in a place called the Colmar Pocket, deep in the Vosges Mountains. Murphy had already been wounded, but was nevertheless serving as commander of Company B of the 15th Regiment. In January of 1945, the division came under attack by the Germans. On the afternoon of January 26th, the Germans came at the 3rd with infantry and tanks. An M10 tank destroyer near Murphy's command post was hit and started burning. After ordering his company to withdraw, Murphy fired on the advancing Germans with an M1 carbine, directing artillery at the incoming attack, and finally climbed aboard the burning M10, firing its .50 caliber machine gun until the vehicle was completely engulfed. Reports claim he killed or wounded 50 Germans and held off an entire company. Only running out of ammo stopped him; he left the burning tank destroyer and, despite yet another leg wound, rejoined his company and led them back to the scene to repulse the German attack.

Audie Murphy was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions on that day. The 3rd Infantry received the Presidential Unit Citation. Another quote from Audie Murphy sums up his example on that day:

I'll tell you what bravery really is. Bravery is just determination to do a job that you know has to be done.

Besides his Medal of Honor, Audie Murphy was also awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star with Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster (two awards), the Bronze Star Medal with "V" Device and Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster (two awards), the Purple Heart with two Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters (three awards), the Legion of Merit, the Good Conduct Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Marksman Badge with Rifle Component Bar, the Expert Badge with Bayonet Component Bar, the Presidential Unit Citation with Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster (two awards), the American Campaign Medal and the European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with arrowhead device and nine campaign stars, as well as the World War II Victory Medal, the Army of Occupation Medal with Germany Clasp and the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal (awarded in 1960).

France also awarded Lieutenant Murphy with the French Legion of Honor – Grade of Chevalier, the French Croix de Guerre with Silver Star, the French Croix de Guerre with Palm, the French Liberation Medal, the French Fourragère in Colors of the Croix de Guerre, and, not to be left out, Belgium awarded him the Belgian Croix de Guerre with 1940 Palm.

About his decorations, Murphy said with characteristic modesty:

I never liked being called the 'most decorated' soldier. There were so many guys who should have gotten medals and never did--guys who were killed.

About that, there can be little doubt, but likewise, there can be little doubt that Audie Murphy was one of the standouts.

Read More: Veterans Day Remembrance

Thoughts on Veterans Day

After the war, he had a career in film, including what had to be the high point of playing himself in a movie made on his book, To Hell and Back. But he also struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder, often sleeping with a loaded pistol under his pillow. He also served in the reserve components after the war, in the Texas National Guard and the Army Reserves, leaving with the rank of Major.

Audie Murphy was killed in May of 1971, when the private plane he was a passenger in crashed into a mountainside in Virginia. He is interred in Arlington National Cemetery, and no man was ever more deserving of a place in the Garden of Heroes.

This is the day to remember him, yes, but even more so, it's a day to recognize all of his fellow veterans, the people who put in the colors, who served, so that this nation of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.