"Steve W." wrote in message
...
http://www.dailynews.com/portlet/art...shipId=2961390

Pam Murphy, the widow of Audie Murphy, was involved in the Sepulveda VA
hospital and care center over the course of 35 years, treating every
veteran who visited the facility as if they were a VIP. Pam Murphy died
last week at the age of 90.

After Audie died, they all became her boys. Every last one of them.

Any soldier or Marine who walked into the Sepulveda VA hospital and care
center in the last 35 years got the VIP treatment from Pam Murphy. The
widow of Audie Murphy – the most decorated soldier in World War II –
would walk the hallways with her clipboard in hand making sure her boys
got to see a specialist or doctor — STAT. If they didn't, watch out. Her
boys weren't Medal of Honor recipients or movie stars like Audie, but
that didn't matter to Pam. They had served their country. That was good
enough for her. She never called a veteran by his first name. It was
always "Mister." Respect came with the job. "Nobody could cut through VA
red tape faster than Mrs. Murphy," said veteran Stephen Sherman,
speaking for thousands of veterans she befriended over the years. "Many
times I watched her march a veteran who had been waiting more than an
hour right into the doctor's office. She was even reprimanded a few
times, but it didn't matter to Mrs. Murphy. "Only her boys mattered. She
was our angel."



Last week, Sepulveda VA's angel for the last 35 years died peacefully in
her sleep at age 90.

"She was in bed watching the Laker game, took one last breath, and that
was it," said Diane Ruiz, who also worked at the VA and cared for Pam in
the last years of her life in her Canoga Park apartment. It was the
same apartment Pam moved into soon after Audie died in a plane crash on
Memorial Day weekend in 1971.
Audie Murphy died broke, squandering million of dollars on gambling,
bad investments, and yes, other women. "Even with the adultery and
desertion at the end, he always remained my hero," Pam told me.

She went from a comfortable ranch-style home in Van Nuys where she
raised two sons to a small apartment - taking a clerk's job at the
nearby VA to support herself and start paying off her faded movie star
husband's debts.
At first, no one knew who she was. Soon, though, word spread through the
VA that the nice woman with the clipboard was Audie Murphy's widow. It
was like saying Patton had just walked in the front door. Men with tears
in their eyes walked up to her and gave her a hug. "Thank you," they
said, over and over.

The first couple of years, I think the hugs were more for Audie's memory
as a war hero. The last 30 years, they were for Pam.

She hated the spotlight. One year I asked her to be the focus of a
Veteran's Day column for all the work she had done. Pam just shook her
head no. "Honor them, not me," she said, pointing to a group of veterans
down the hallway. "They're the ones who deserve it."

The vets disagreed. Mrs. Murphy deserved the accolades, they said.
Incredibly, in 2002, Pam's job was going to be eliminated in budget cuts.
She was considered "excess staff." "I don't think helping cut down on
veterans' complaints and showing them the respect they deserve, should
be considered excess staff," she told me. Neither did the veterans.
They went ballistic, holding a rally for her outside the VA gates.
Pretty soon, word came down from the top of the VA. Pam Murphy was no
longer considered "excess staff." She remained working full time at the
VA until 2007 when she was 87. "The last time she was here was a couple
of years ago for the conference we had for homeless veterans," said
Becky James, coordinator of the VA's Veterans History Project. Pam
wanted to see if there was anything she could do to help some more of
her boys.


Funeral services for Pam Murphy held Friday at 2:30 p.m. in the chapel
at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills, 6300 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles.


--
Steve W.

A fine post for a fine life.

Too bad certain politicians were "too busy" to attend.

Steve