Becoming Staff Sergeant
Murphy was in the September 1943 mainland Salerno landing at Battipaglia in Italy. While on a scouting party, Murphy and two other soldiers were ambushed and one was killed. Murphy and the other survivor retaliated by taking out five Germans with hand grenades and machine gunfire. After going on to perform well in other missions, Murphy was promoted to sergeant and then finally to staff sergeant in January 1944. After being hospitalized in Naples with malaria, he returned and was made a platoon sergeant in Company B following the battle.
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The Medal of Honor was awarded to him after he single-handedly held off an assembly of German soldiers at the Colmar Pocket on 14 January 1945. Even after being wounded, he even went on to lead a counterattack. The Germans landed a direct hit on an M10 tank destroyer, setting it on fire and forcing the crew to abandon it. Murphy ordered his men to take positions in the woods while he remained alone at his post, shooting his M1 carbine directing artillery fire at the Germans.