John Murphy 1945 - 1968

John Patrick Murphy 1945 -1968

by Robert Wellman

John Patrick Murphy was one of those friends I knew almost from the time I was born. Our families lived only blocks from each other and, in those days, you pretty much knew everyone who lived within a two-mile radius of your home... as opposed to now, when most people don't even know their next door neighbor. We both went to St. Cecilia's Grade School and Cathedral High School together so we knew each other and were friends for all those years. He had an awesome personality and was always fun to be with. After high school, I went to Creighton University and he went to some school in Texas. I can't remember the name of the school. I think it was a seminary, but I'm not sure. John's arrival in Vietnam preceded mine by three months. I arrived there in June of 1968, and I believe he arrived there in March or April of the same year. John went to I-Corps, whose theater of operations was the DMZ, or De-militarized zone, an area near the border separating South and North Vietnam. John was a Specialist 4th Class and a Medic in the U.S Army's 101st Airborne Division. I went to II-Corps, which operated in the Pleiku and Kontum area of the central highlands. I was also in the Army, arriving as a PFC, an E3. (I left Vietnam as a Sergeant, an E-5) I was on a "Search and Destroy" mission in the boondocks for my entire tour of duty. We had no fire base and we moved about the countryside looking for the enemy during an entire year... except during the monsoon season. We still didn't have a base during that period of time. We just couldn't move for almost three months due to the weather. The U.S. military distributed a newspaper called the "Stars and Stripes" and I remember thinking it was odd that it listed all those who were MIA, missing in action and or KIA, killed in action. I thought it was odd because the people reading it were on active duty in a war zone in the very country where all those people were either missing or killed. About three months after I got there, sometime in September, I was reading the "Stars and Stripes" and saw it listed a John Murphy as missing in action. Nothing more and nothing less. A chill came over me, when I realized it could be my friend and classmate from Omaha. But, then I figured it was a common name and there must be many others in the Army with the name of John Murphy. After that discovery, I made a point of looking for later copies of the Stars and Stripes so that I could keep checking his status. Several weeks passed before I finally saw the grim news that I had hoped and prayed I would never see. The KIA/MIA section simply said: "Changed status from missing in action to killed in action - Specialist 4th Class John Patrick Murphy, Omaha, Nebraska." There was no longer any doubt and I knew that John had gone to heaven.There's a saying that we all see every once in a while. It goes: "All Gave Some, Some Gave All." John Patrick Murphy, our friend and classmate, gave all. What most people may not know is that he was also born on the 4th of July.

JOHN PATRICK MURPHY Panel 51W - Line 35

Date of Birth: July 4, 1945 SP4 - E4 - Army - Selective Service 101st Airborne Division Length of service 1 year

His tour began on Mar 30, 1968 Casualty on Jul 22, 1968

In HUA NGHIA, SOUTH VIETNAM HOSTILE, GROUND CASUALTY

GUN, SMALL ARMS FIRE Body was recovered.