Thomas Murphy was born in New York City in 1926. His mother died during the birth and he was raised by guardians in Groton, Connecticut. He had a sister who suffered from polio. His father did not want the two children separated so he sent them to live with his sister and her husband. Murphy's father remained in New York and worked as the concierge at the Waldorf Hotel. Murphy learned to make money at 12 years old. During the depressions years he just did what he was told. He was the class president for all four years of high school. He was a sophomore when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He was playing basket ball in the yard when he heard about the attack. Growing up near the Groton, Connecticut submarine base, he knew where Pearl Harbor was. Many of his friends had been there before. After learning of the Pearl Harbor attack Murphy wondered how long the war would last. He had no idea that it would become a global conflict and so many would lose their lives. He never thought he would be a part of it.

Thomas Murphy graduated from high school on 6 June 1944 and was inducted into the military two days later. He took his basic training at Camp Blanding, Florida then took additional training in Arkansas. He was then sent to Massachusetts and shipped out of Boston Harbor on 24 December 1944. Murphy joined the 45th Infantry Division in January 1945 as a replacement. After moving through the Argonne Forest he took part in the fighting in the Colmar Pocket where he spent the winter living in a foxhole. One day Murphy and two others were sent out and take a prisoner. They had to be careful not to step on one of the German mines. They caught a German soldier who was relieving himself and brought him in. They thought they were heroes and later volunteered for more patrols.

Basic training was intense for Thomas Murphy. He was impressed by the fact that there were illiterate people in the country. He wrote letters for his fellow soldiers who were unable to do so. In his later years he tutored adult illiterates. He would test them with the Yellow Pages. He also taught them to write checks and money orders. Murphy's family was much improved by the GI Bill. He was the first in his family to go to college. His descendants are all college educated as well and it is all because of the benefits he received. Millions of other Americans were also able to go to school as well. He is saddened that the system is being abused now. People need to learn to support themselves. Harry Truman helped make the country what it became. Murphy would not have been able to go to college without the GI Bill. When he was young people became apprentices but there are no apprenticeships anymore.

Thomas Murphy was drafted into the Army on 8 June [Annotators Note: 8 June 1944]. His father had worked as the concierge at the Waldorf Hotel and knew many generals. The local draft board wanted him to go into the service in April but he wanted to finish his high school education. His father knew General Hershey [Annotators Note: General Lewis Blaine Hershey was the head of the Selective Service System] who contacted Murphy's draft board and made them wait until after he graduated. Only 36 hours after he graduated high school Murphy was in the Army. There were a lot of guys in Murphy's area who did not go and the draft boards had quotas to fill which is why they tried to draft him while he was still in high school. When Murphy went to Camp Blanding, Florida for basic training it was the first time he had ever been south of New York City. He was afraid but there were other guys with him who were in the same situation. Once they were in training there was a lot of camaraderie among them. Murphy was nice to the guys who were not able to read because they would bring food back when they were able to get off base. The guys all worked together and they had good non-coms [Annotator's Note: non-commissioned officers] and officers. After basic training they went to Camp Chaffee, Arkansas for additional weapons training. America was able to defeat the Germans because of material superiority and logistics. They encountered German jet fighter planes in Munich. When they flew over, they scared the hell out of the American soldiers.

Thomas Murphy boarded ship and left Boston Harbor on 24 December [Annotator's Note: 24 December 1944] to go overseas. The ship was a sister ship of the Titanic and owned by the White Star Lines. The trip was terrible. It took about eight days but seemed like an eternity. There were too many people aboard ship for the passengers to conduct any drills. Murphy did walk fire watch around the deck at night. That was nice because it got him out of the hold even though it was cold. They went ashore in Scotland then went to a replacement depot in France. A few days later he was assigned to the 45th Infantry Division which he joined in a desolate forest in Alsace-Lorraine. His first major engagement with the 45th Infantry Division was the push through the Maginot Line. Leaving the United States on Christmas Day to go overseas was tough on Murphy and the other soldiers. The ship played Christmas music to try to make things easier but that made things worse and the soldiers tore the speakers off the walls. On Christmas Day the men aboard ship were fed a soggy turkey sandwich.

Thomas Murphy was assigned to Company L, 3rd Battalion, 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division which was part of the U.S. 7th Army under General Patch [Annotators Note: General Alexander M. Patch] at the time. Murphy was initially an infantryman in the weapons platoon but was moved to a machine gun section after he went into combat. He started out as the gunner then by the end of the war he was the machine gun section leader and had three men working under him. The first night Murphy was on the line he met Al Bullard [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling] who taught him how to survive. Sergeant Toby [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling] taught them to keep their socks dry in order to avoid trench foot. Murphy listened to his sergeant and was able to avoid getting trench foot. The 45th Infantry Division had the most continuous days in active combat. Murphy was on the line for 68 days in contact with the enemy.

While moving through the Maginot Line a German soldier that had been bypassed took a shot at Thomas Murphy and hit his canteen. Murphy shot and killed the enemy soldier. The weather was very cold and living in the ground made it worse. Murphy had been trained in Florida then sent into the European winter. The Germans troops they faced in the Colmar pocket were very well trained and armed with 90 millimeter artillery which they could fire like a rifle. When the men wrote letters home, his platoon leader Lieutenant Whalen [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling] would pass the letters along without censoring them. On most of the patrols Murphy went on they were out looking to capture POWs [Annotator's Note: prisoner of war]. One time they brought in a prisoner who was covered with lice. On another patrol the corporal who was tasked with delivering the prisoners to battalion killed several of them on the way. He was diagnosed with combat fatigue and sent home soon after that. The German soldiers they initially faced were well trained and well equipped. Later in the war they faced younger soldiers who were not well trained or equipped. Some of the enemy troops they faced were 14 or 15. Murphy and his fellow soldiers did their best to capture them and not to kill them. The German civilians were glad to see them. Murphy's unit [Annotator's Note: Company L, 3rd Battalion, 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division] was the first to enter Dachau. The sight was unforgettable. None of the prisoners weighed more than 65 pounds. It still bothers Murphy when people claim that the holocaust never happened. That same type of ideological warfare is still being fought today.

On 18 April 1945 Thomas Murphy was shot. A few days before that happened they were attacked by German infantry supported by a tank. Murphy, Sergeant Toby [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling] and two others managed to get around the tank and blow the track off of it. They had set up machine guns off to the side which fired tracer rounds at the attacking Germans and drew their attention while Murphy and the others snuck around behind the enemy tank. By the end of the fight Murphy's small group had killed or wounded 137 Germans. Murphy was awarded the Bronze Star for the action. Two days later he was shot in the side. It happened at night and he never saw it coming. After he was hit, the medics forgot to tag him and he ended up receiving about eight shots of morphine. He was evacuated by air to France then by train to the 23rd General Hospital where he was treated. That was the end of Murphy's combat tour. The fight for which he received the Bronze Star took place in a town near Munich. Murphy believes that all of the American artillerymen were Christian beer drinkers because none of the breweries in any of the towns he passed through had been hit.

The fight had lasted a couple of hours during which Thomas Murphy killed or wounded 137 German soldiers with his machine gun. He still has nightmares about that action. About two years prior to this interview, a German lieutenant woke Murphy up and told him to bury his men. Murphy eventually got help. He quit drinking 44 years ago. His sponsors have been good to him. Life was difficult for some servicemen returning from combat overseas. The VA [Annotator's Note: Veterans Administration] helped Murphy a great deal. Had he not gotten help when he did he would not have known his children and grandchildren and would not have reached 90 years old. They have been fortunate in Murphy's state. Their representatives have done a lot for servicemen. [Annotator's Note: Murphy and the interviewer discuss the number of veterans living in Murphy's area and how the interviewer located Murphy.]

Thomas Murphy spent eight or ten weeks in the 23rd General Hospital [Annotators Note: after being wounded in the side by a rifle bullet during the third week of April 1945] then returned to his unit [Annotator's Note: Company L, 3rd Battalion, 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division]. By the time he rejoined his outfit the war was over. He learned that the war in Europe was over in the Stars and Stripes. When he rejoined his unit they were preparing to go to Japan. They were slated to land on D plus 72. If the invasion of the Japanese mainland had taken place the casualties would have been incredible. Murphy believes that the use of the atomic bombs was the right thing to do. The populations of France and Germany had been glad to see them when they fought through those countries but Japan would have been different. Around three months after the Japanese surrendered Murphy's unit returned to the United States. In 1946 Murphy was discharged from the Army at Fort Devens, Massachusetts as a corporal.

Thomas Murphy talks to high schools about the war. When a young girl asked him which of his medals he was the most proud of he replied that it was his European Theater of operations medal [Annotator's Note: the Europe-Africa-Middle East Theater Ribbon] and the battle stars on it. He also had the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. Murphy was privileged to have served with a group of wonderful men. It was an honor to serve with them. Murphy had no intention of remaining in the service after the war. Even so, he had a difficult job transitioning back to civilian life. He did not have any adult life. He had been drafted just 36 hours after he graduated high school, spent time in the service and was again a civilian shortly after returning to the United States. The women in his life made getting through life a little easier. He has lost two wives and two daughters-in-law to cancer. He had not been a civilian when he got out of the Army and had to learn how to be an adult. A lot of veterans had been civilians before they went in and had jobs and families but Murphy had not. But he got through it.

Thomas Murphy fought in World War 2 because he did not have a choice [Annotator's Note: Murphy was drafted into the Army on 8 June 1944]. He took a pledge and did not want to let down his country or his God. Before he was drafted he tried to enlist in the Navy to serve on submarines but was turned down when he was diagnosed as being claustrophobic. The war made Murphy appreciate life a little more. He is proud that he served and has become more politically conscience. Men fought and died to give people the right to vote. Today, people in America care very little about World War 2 and the treatment of veterans. When Murphy was in the service he never paid for a meal. Someone always picked up the tab. His son spent 26 years in the Marine Corps and did not want to wear his dress blues to dinner with his family because he believed that people would spit at him. This was during the Vietnam War. His son finally agreed and wore his dress uniform out to dinner. When they were leaving after the meal a patron at the bar made a comment about Murphy's son. His son had words with the man and it was settled without a fight. It saddens Murphy that a Marine could not wear his uniform because he did not want to embarrass his mother. Young people today learn nothing about American history. They do not have much to be proud of. They should know about the sacrifices made by those before them that give them the freedoms they have today. Murphy is upset that young people today have no respect for the armed forces.