CAPTAIN
RAYMOND GERALD MURPHY, USMCR (DECEASED) 
 

Medal of Honor Citation

Captain Raymond G. Murphy was the 39th Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism in Korea. He was decorated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in a White House ceremony on 27 October 1953. He earned the Nation's highest decoration for heroic action and leadership in the “Reno-Vegas” fighting of February 1953.

Raymond Gerald Murphy was born in Pueblo, Colorado, on 14 January 1930, and graduated from Pueblo Catholic High School in 1947. He attended Fort Lewis Junior College, Durango, Colorado, Colorado A&M, and graduated from Adams State College, Alamosa, Colorado, in 1951, where he majored in physical education. While in college, he played varsity football, basketball and baseball, and worked as a swimming instructor in Durango in the summer of 1950. He enrolled in the Marine Corps Reserve in May 1951 and entered Officers Candidate School at Parris Island, South Carolina, the following month.

Commissioned a second lieutenant in September 1951, he then was ordered to Officers Basic School at Quantico, Virginia. Completing the course the following February, he was transferred to Camp Pendleton, California, for advanced training before embarking for Korea in July 1952. In Korea, 2dLt Murphy served with the 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division until he was wounded. After treatment aboard the Danish hospital shipJutlandia, the American hospital ship Repose, and later in Japan, he was returned to the U. S. Naval Hospital, Mare Island, California, in March 1953. He was promoted to first lieutenant that same month.

He returned to Pueblo after his discharge from the hospital and was released from active duty 7 April 1953. He was promoted to captain on 31 December 1954. He was discharged from the Marine Corps Reserve on 28 December 1959.

After his discharge, Mr. Murphy operated a bowling alley for a time before going to work for the New Mexico Veterans Administration.  He retired as director of that agency in 1997 but continued to volunteer at a veterans hospital until 2005.  Mr. Murphy passed away on 6 April 2007 at a veterans nursing home in Pueblo at the age of 77.

In addition to the Medal of Honor, Capt Murphy was awarded the Silver Star Medal, Purple Heart Medal, Korean Service Medal with two bronze stars, the United Nations Service Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal.

Korean War Medal of Honor