[SIZE="5"]An American hero [/SIZE]
How a loving son from New York lived and died for us all
BY PATRICE O'SHAUGHNESSY DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Posted Sunday, April 15th 2007, 4:00 AM
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007...ican_hero.html
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[Image] Michael Murphy gave his life to save three men who served under him.
[Image] Above, Lieutenant Michael Patrick Murphy in Afghanistan in 2005; below, a yearbook photo of him in 1994.
[Image] 'Murph' was a star at a young age.
[Image] Maureen Murphy displays a sentimental item that exemplified her son's loving nature.
Shot in the gut after holding off a swarm of Taliban militia fighters, Navy SEAL Lt. Michael Patrick Murphy dashed out to a ledge on an Afghanistan mountain to get a clear signal to call for help on his satellite radio, exposing himself to fatal gunfire.
He made the decision to give his life to save three men who served under him; one is alive today. The sacrifice has earned Murphy consideration for the nation's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor.
What led this brave New Yorker to such a selfless act in the brutally inhospitable mountains of Afghanistan, thousands of miles away?
Those who knew him weren't surprised at how he died. Throughout his life, there were glimpses of the American hero he would become. The Daily News proudly tells the story of Michael Murphy.
Michael Murphy was 2 years old when his family moved into a house in Patchogue, L.I., in 1978, next door to a house with a built-in pool. Mike went right over as his parents spoke with the neighbors, and jumped off the diving board.
"We all headed for the pool in a panic," said his father, Daniel. "He just swam over to the side and got out with a big grin, almost like he knew he'd scare us. I knew then that he'd be okay."
He would be a daredevil all through his life, but he would also be a protector, living up to his namesake, the archangel, the patron saint of warriors and police.
His mother, Maureen, said when he was a toddler he hurt his head, blood was gushing out, and he had a gash above and below his eye.
"Mike was so brave, he saw me panic," said the mother, her eyes filling with tears, "and he said, 'It's okay, Mommy ... it doesn't hurt.'
"He was so unselfish to put his pain to the side."
Murphy was born on May 7, 1976. "He was the cutest little kid, and he picked his head up on the first day home," Maureen Murphy recalled.
He attended Canaan Elementary School and Saxton Middle School, played Little League, and developed a love for scary movies.
The blue-eyed, brown-haired boy grew up in a cozy, elegant house with porcelain teapots and family photos everywhere. He came from a family of fighters with a sense of duty.
Daniel Murphy, 60, was a prosecutor and now works for a Suffolk County judge. He earned a Purple Heart when he was wounded by sniper fire and rocket-propelled grenades on the border of Cambodia and Vietnam while fighting with the 24th Infantry Division — "Tropical Lightning" — out of Pearl Harbor. He was deemed 40% disabled by the Army.
Murphy's paternal grandfather, James, whom he called "Pop," was born on a boat from Ireland as it neared America. He served in World War II with the storied Fighting 69th. He raised a family in Ozone Park, Queens, and worked for B-line buses.
Maureen Murphy, 54, who works for a title company, spent time in Ireland as a girl, and her grandfather was imprisoned for his role in the Irish Republican movement in the 1900s.
Her son, she says, was always for the underdog, always defended people being picked on.
"The closest Mike came to 'getting in trouble' was when his middle school principal called me that Mike had been in a fight," said Maureen Murphy. "Some kids had pushed a special ed kid into a locker, and Mike got into that fight to protect the kid."
She said he was always a good student; history was his favorite subject. She recalled when he was 9, they were at a friend's house, and the friend's son happily announced he got 96 on a test.
"I asked Mike how he did, and he said, 'I did okay.' Later at home I saw he got a 98 ... he didn't want to burst the other kid's bubble," she said.
At his typical suburban sprawling brick high school, Patchogue-Medford, Murphy was in the National Honor Society and played defensive back for the school's football team, the Raiders.
One teammate, Kieran Sweeney, now a phys-ed teacher at Patchogue-Medford, said Murphy was an unassuming guy but led by example. He never missed practice.
His guidance counselor, Patty Fucci, said Murphy wanted to be a lawyer like his dad. "He put 110% into everything he did here," she said, holding his transcripts with all As.
"I knew whatever goals he had, he would achieve them," she said. "He's everything you're hearing now."
Murphy graduated in 1994 and went to Penn State University.
Meanwhile, "Murph" became close friends with Owen O'Callaghan and his twin Jimmy, Jay Keenan and Jim Emmerich, the "Five-O crew" as his father called them.
They worked as lifeguards all through high school, at Holtsville pools, Corey Beach and Lake Ronkonkoma.
"Mike always pushed himself, but he was the biggest clown," said Jim O'Callaghan. "On rainy days at the pool, he'd make a slip-and-slide with a garbage bag."
They hung out every waking moment, listening to DMX, the Beastie Boys, Biggie Smalls, drinking "40s," O'Callaghan said.
Emmerich saw the fearless side of Murphy, who would climb to the top of the flagpole at Corey, and do heart-in-mouth high dives at Holtsville. "He adjusted the spring on the diving board to project him over next to the wall ... he'd do backflips, gainers, he'd go as close to the wall as possible.
"I had a minivan with a sliding door, he'd dive into it while it was moving. He was resilient, he had a ton of courage, he was considerate, compassionate," Emmerich said.
The Murphys' second child, John, came along when Mike was about 11, and he was thrilled.
"We were never the stereotypical fighters. I wasn't the annoying, embarrassing little brother," said John, 20, a junior at New York Institute of Technology who wants to become a cop.
"He'd include me in things."
Such as a keg party when their parents went away, and a visit to Penn State because the cute little boy was "chick bait." They rooted for the Islanders, the Yankees and the Jets.
"John was his world," Emmerich said. "One time we were firing a BB gun around, and I was trying to clear the air out of the gun and Mike really yelled at me about not being careful. 'My brother is here!' he yelled."
Murphy fell in love with another Penn State student from Long Island. He and Heather Duggan met at a firemen's carnival in Patchogue, Maureen Murphy said.
When Murphy graduated Penn State in 1998, he was accepted to three law schools.
"I told him to be a teacher, but he said he couldn't do that," said Daniel Murphy. "He said maybe later ... he didn't want to be behind a desk, he wanted to help people."
Emmerich said his friend was torn between law school and the military. "I think his 'Pop' had a lot to do with his decision to join."
So Murphy approached retired Navy SEAL Capt. Drew Bisset, director of the SEAL Recruiting District Assistance Council.
"Mike was definitely above and beyond just the normal guy," Bisset said. "He was very determined; he had a very strong inner focus. He never drew attention to himself; he was humble and patriotic."
Murphy took a screening test in January 1999, and then reported to Kings Point Merchant Marine Academy every month until September 1999 for scoring tests. Only about a dozen of several hundred hopefuls get into Officer Candidate School, so they strive to improve.
They must swim 500 yards in under nine minutes, do 100 pushups, 100 situps, 20 pullups and run a mile and a half in combat boots and long pants in under nine minutes.
"Every month he'd improve," said Bisset. "He had to work at it, it wasn't easy for him."
The 5-foot-10 Murphy had everybody on the beach at Lake Ronkonkoma training with him, said Jim O'Callaghan.
"He had a pullup bar set up. It was funny; we couldn't keep up."
Murphy swam across the vast, deep lake to train for the swim test, worrying his parents, who thought of the legend surrounding the lake: an Indian princess drowned herself there over an unrequited love, and each year her spirit pulls a young man down to his death.
Murphy aced his tests. He could swim the length of five football fields in seven minutes, 47 seconds. He did 102 pushups, 87 situps, 22 pullups and ran the course in eight minutes, 55 seconds.
"He was an outstanding leader. His actions spoke louder than his words," said Bisset.
In December 1999, Murphy's grandfather James died. Emmerich remembered the funeral at Calverton National Cemetery. "I'd never seen Mike cry, and he just stood there crying with his hand on the casket."
Within a few months Murphy would attend Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, Fla., then go on to Naval Amphibious Base Coronado in San Diego for intense tactical training.
He was on his way to being a Navy SEAL.