From Audie Murphy to Sabaton's To Hell and Back, via Pirates and Patriots Blog, Friday, November 18th, 2022.
Audie Murphy grew up poor, left elementary school to work for his family, abandoned by the dad. He worked hard, and with the attack of Pearl Harbor, he joined the Army after other service branches refused him due to his thin, petit physique. He fought with the infantry in Italy, France, and Germany, earning so many medals for bravery that he was one of the most decorated US soldiers in WW2. He later became a movie star, in westerns mostly, but also published his book To Hell and Back, his account of his time in the fighting. The book was an instant best seller, and was made into a movie, in which Murphy reluctantly played himself. He suffered from Post Traumatic Stress, and bravely shone the light on this previously hush-up condition. Most any internet search will provide tons of information that can and should be learned about this incredible American, who always insisted that he was no hero, that the men who died on the battlefield were the heroes. Murphy was entitled to a decorated grave marker at Arlington National Cemetery. But he had made arrangements to have a simple soldier's plain marker, so as not to distinguish himself from the other soldiers who had died defending freedom for all.
His book, To Hell and Back, includes a poem "The Crosses Grow at Anzio." Though Murphy attributes the poem to one of his best soldier pals, Brandon, it was Murphy himself who wrote the poem. Murphy died in a plane crash in 1971.
In 2014, in their album Heroes, the Swedish metal band, Sabaton, performs this poem in the song "To Hell and Back." They always sing this song as the finale of their shows. Sabaton bases the majority of their music on military history of many countries.
Here's a link to Sabaton's military history channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0PriUnAJ3U
And here's a link to their tribute to Audie Murphy in the song "To Hell and Back."
