Publisher's Perspective
The day I met a true American hero
After reading the first issue of Iowa History Journal, a longtime friend of mine asked me when it was that I first met someone of historic importance. I didn't even have to ponder the question. I knew that it was in the winter of 1953, in my hometown of Waterloo, Iowa.
I was just ten years old when my father came into the house and told me and my older brother, Larry, to get ready to go downtown with him. There was someone he wanted us to meet.
My dad wasn't the type of person who became excited very often. He was pretty laid back about most things in life, I recall. But he was excited this particular day.
We piled into the bright new DeSoto car (if your remember this Chrysler product, you are probably in yours 60s) and we drove the ten minutes to the Paramount Theater. It was a majestic building located next to the Cedar River, which flowed through the center of the city.
The Paramount was a grand facility with a huge, sweeping lobby and the largest stairway heading up into the balcony that I can remember in any movie house, anywhere.
The lobby was full of people and my dad went to the back of a long line, motioning for us to join him. I could see three people sitting at a table at the far end of the lobby.
They were actors on tour with the movie, "Gunsmoke." Back in the Fifties, it as common for studios to send movie stars out on the road to promote their films.
"That's Audie Murphy," my dad said to me as we neared the table, a sense of awe in his voice. "Get his autograph."
When I reached the table, I set my autograph book down and asked the three stars for their signatures. The woman was a stunningly beautiful brunette named Susan Cabot. The next person to sign was Jesse White, who had a small part in the film but went on to greater fame many years later as "Old Lonesome," the Maytag repairman.
The last person at the table was so young looking that I found it hard to believe he was a movie actor. He was the star of the western film that was playing that night. I watched Audie Murphy sign my book and remember he flashed a quick smile at me, and said something like, "There you go, pardner."
On the way home, my dad told me the rest of the Audie Murphy story: He had entered the Army as a very skinny 18-yearold kid from a dirt-poor part of Texas and became a national hero of immense proportions. Seeing heavy battle action in Europe, he became the single most decorated soldier of World War II. He was awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest honor for valor, and 32 other medals, ribbons and citations.
At war's end, he was welcomed back home amid great fanfare from coast to coast. He was on the cover of LIFE, the nation's most popular magazine. Legendary movie star Jimmy Cagney, recognizing his good looks and All-American boy type charm, invited him out to Hollywood and he eventually starred in 33 films.
His biggest hit was the movie adapted from his autobiography, To Hell and Back. Though he did not want to play himself in the movie, Universal Studios insisted that he do so and the film became the highest grossing movie in the studio's 43-year history!
Despite his celebrity and movie career, Audie was plagued by post-traumatic stress disorder all of his life after returning from war. He may have suffered from survivor guilt syndrome as well, as he often said the real heroes were buried in Europe and that he didn't deserve any special treatment.
He died on May 28, 1971, when the small passenger plane he was traveling in slammed into the side of a mountain in Virginia. He was just 44 years of age.
Murphy's grave is the second most visited gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery, behind only the burial spot of President John F. Kennedy. My family and I have visited his grave several times.
I still have all three signatures I received that night. Susan Cabot's and Jesse White are still in the little autograph book, but many years ago I removed the page with the signature of Audie Murphy and had it framed, along with a photo of him. Today, it hangs on the wall in my den, where I am writing this column. Each time I walk past it, I remember Audie Murphy's incredible life...and the night my dad took me to the Paramount Theater to meet a true American hero!
(Mike Chapman is the publisher of Iowa History Journal. He was a newspaperman for 35 years, retiring as publisher of the Newton Daily News in 2002. He is the author of 21 books and is a public speaker. He and his wife, Bev, live in Newton.)
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