An open letter to the Texas House of Representatives

 

"Dear Sirs:

 

With Memorial Day having come and gone, there were a lot of war movies shown here in Austin, and I imagine around the Nation as well. One was titled “To Hell and Back”. This was basically the war history of one Pvt. E1 Audie Murphy. Somewhere in your past, you must have run across this name. Had it not been for the likes of Pvt. Murphy and the many soldiers around him, we would all be speaking German now.

 

He was a poor farm boy who was born in Kingston, Texas and enlisted in the Army when war broke out, and went on to become the MOST DECORATED COMBAT SOLDIER of WWII. Someone thought enough of him to hang his portrait somewhere in the Capitol Building. I was never able to find it though. On one of my last visits to the State Capitol, I stopped into the Office of Veterans Affairs to ask the staffer where I could find the portrait. “Who is this…Audie Murphy?” was her reply. True story.

 

The City has named or renamed several places and streets around town. Town Lake is now Lady Bird Lake, we now have the Ann Richards Bridge, Martin Luther King Blvd., Cesar Chavez Blvd, as well as the Cesar Chavez Bldg., just to name a few.  Recently, a big hullabaloo was made because of a new statue on the Capitol grounds honoring the Tex-Mex warriors of the Texas Independence war.

 

Although many communities and some federal buildings throughout the state have honored him, he has been virtually ignored at his state Capitol. How is it, that this great state of Texas does not have a statue to one of its finest? For whatever reason, we have overlooked properly honoring his memory and I am asking your help in rectifying this grievous oversight.

 

Audie certainly deserves a statue or some significant form of recognition, which would be placed outside of the building (Front Lawn) for his heroic deeds where school children, visitors and the general public could view it and remember the deeds of a great American hero; a great Texas hero."

 

Thank You.

Larry D. Garrett

U.S. Army veteran

 

 

 

Pending - The Audie L. Murphy Monument Committee is a non-profit  501(c)(3)  organization. Your donation is tax-deductible.