Robert Murphy, at 83; led paratroopers to D-day site
COL. ROBERT MURPHY COL. ROBERT MURPHY
By Gloria Negri
Globe Staff / October 9, 2008

In Sainte-Mère-Eglise, a small town in the Normandy region of France, is Rue Robert Murphy, a street named in honor of the Roslindale lad who joined the Army at 17, parachuted there on D-day, and dedicated part of his life to maintaining the memory of the civilians and soldiers who died there on June 6, 1944.

His mission was historic, said retired Army Colonel Keith Nightingale of Santa Barbara, Calif., who frequently accompanied Mr. Murphy when he revisited the town on D-day anniversaries.

"It has been confirmed by historians that Bob Murphy was the first guy out and on the ground on the 82d's lift into Normandy," Nightingale said by phone. "He landed about a quarter after midnight on the sixth of June and was a member of the original pathfinder platoon, the 505 Parachute Infantry Regiment. This was the only regiment to land intact on D-day and exactly where it was supposed to, on a high grassy meadow, 1-mile due west of Sainte-Mère-Eglise."

One pathfinder job was to mark the drop zones for the paratroopers to follow. "Bob was the first on the ground and the last to leave," Nightingale said.

Mr. Murphy's role as paratrooper in the Normandy landing is depicted in Cornelius Ryan's book "The Longest Day" and the film based on it, as well as in Mr. Murphy's own book, "No Better Place to Die."

Mr. Murphy, who retired from the Army as a highly decorated colonel and became a Boston lawyer and state assistant attorney general, died of cancer at Cape Cod Hospital on Oct. 3. He was 83 and had lived in South Dennis and Bonita Springs, Fla.

He began making annual visits on D-day to Sainte-Mère-Eglise in the early 1960s, his family said, and made his last trip there in June.

Until 10 years ago, he made parachute jumps into the town with other veterans, said Nightingale, who met him there in 1977 and frequently went back when he did.

The anniversary jumps he made were in HALO - "high altitude low opening" - mode, Nightingale said. "For example, you jump out at 10,000 feet and don't pull the rip cord until 2,000 feet." A Frenchman, Yves Tarriel, often jumped with Mr. Murphy, he said.

Tarriel and Mr. Murphy had spearheaded the campaign to raise funds for a C-47 aircraft, the type the paratroopers used on D-day. It is now located in front of the Airborne Troops Museum, which Mr. Murphy helped start in Sainte-Mère-Eglise.

"Sainte-Mère-Eglise was the first town liberated by the United States on D-day, and those who lived there never forgot what Bob and other veterans did for them," Nightingale said.

"Bob kept going back there to keep what happened alive, and he would talk about it to the town's schoolchildren."

On Sunday, Nightingale said, the town of about 2,000 turned out for a funeral Mass for Mr. Murphy. There, Nightingale said, "D-day is still a current event. Bob was an icon there, the keeper of the flame."

There are different published accounts of Mr. Murphy's D-day parachute jump into town. His sister, Virginia Healy of Roslindale, said one has him landing in a garden and surprising a woman who lived there. He shushed her "by pressing a finger to his lips."

The Globe in 1994, on the 50th anniversary of D-day, reported that Mr. Murphy had landed "into the rescuing limbs of a huge, sprawling chestnut tree within the walled courtyard "of schoolteacher Madame Angele Levrault."

Those stories were rejected by Nightingale. Whatever the story, there was no doubt of Mr. Murphy's heroism and the mutual love between him and Sainte-Mère-Eglise residents.

Robert M. Murphy was born in Boston. At Roslindale High School, he was a star athlete and "broke all track records," his sister said. He was always patriotic, she said. He left before graduating to join the Army in 1942.

Mr. Murphy was assigned to the 82d Airborne Division under the command of Major General James M. Gavin. Before D-day, Mr. Murphy had fought in Italy, Holland, and Africa.

His injuries and heroism earned him three Purple Hearts, the Bronze Star, and the Legion of Honor.

Robert Healy of Scituate, a former Globe political editor whose brother is married to Mr. Murphy's sister, Virginia, said Mr. Murphy was "very casual" about his experiences.

"He was always the sort of soldier portrayed by [World War II cartoonist] Bill Mauldin." Mauldin captured the tribulations of the grunts through his characters Willie and Joe.

"Bob was an extraordinary symbol for their sacrifices," Healy said.

After his return to civilian life, Mr. Murphy studied law at Suffolk University and graduated in 1950. He did postgraduate study at Harvard University. In Boston, he practiced law with the firm of Murphy and Murphy.

From 1980 to 1991, he was a state assistant attorney general.

Mr. Murphy's first wife, Joanne (Murray), died in 1962 after 16 years of marriage. His second, Barbara (Atwood), died in 2002 after 35 years of marriage.

Besides his sister, Mr. Murphy leaves a son, Dion of Bonita Springs, Fla., and a daughter, Christina Murphy Mazgelis of Barnstable; four stepchildren, Robert Wilkinson, Cheryl Ludwig, Helen Mazzoni, and Dana Lukens; his companion, Gloria O'Brien of Concord; numerous grandchildren, and several great-grandchildren.

An honor guard of the 82d Airborne Division was at Mr. Murphy's services yesterday.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.

Chuck Norris says it’s time to set a date to withdraw from Iraq.

You heard me.

Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell recently said any Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq would not have any "willy-nilly, arbitrary time lines" for withdrawing from Iraq.

But Oct. 20, Norris gave Morrell a roundhouse kick to the face — metaphorically speaking.

"I really believe we should have a time to leave, but let’s leave as winners, not losers," he said in an interview with Stripes.

Norris is a former airman, an honorary Marine, a champion martial artist and an actor — and if you believe the "Chuck Norris Facts" on the Internet, he also possesses superhuman powers.

"Chuck Norris played Russian Roulette with a fully loaded gun and won," according to one.

Norris talked to Stripes about his new book, "Black Belt Patriotism," in which he recalls the warm reception he got when he visited U.S. troops in Iraq.

"When I first arrived in Iraq, the troops held up a huge sign that said, ‘Chuck Norris is here, we can go home now!’ " Norris wrote."I wish that were true."

He told Stripes that while troops he spoke with were committed to the mission, they need to know when they will be leaving.

"Deep in their heart, they’d like to know an end is in sight," said Norris, who says he shook hands with 37,000 U.S. troops in 2006.

Norris struck a more Republican tone in his most recent book, in which he argues that fighting terrorists overseas is the best form of border control.

"We will either fight extremists overseas or we’ll fight them here," he wrote. "Two hundred years of our history proves that."

But he also wrote that he feels the United States has sometimes "stretched her boundaries too far into other countries’ business."

"I believe America overplays the role of world peace officer," he wrote.
Norris, who supported Mike Huckabee’s presidential bid, described himself as a political independent.

"I kind of vote for the guy rather than the party," he said.

Norris said he is concerned about the political system, which he called corrupted by greed and power. He criticized lawmakers for taking money from special interest groups and insurance giant AIG, which had to be bailed out by the federal government.

He also recalled visiting Congress with his wife and watching lawmakers screaming at each other like children instead of reasoning like adults.
"I’m thinking, how in the world do they get anything done around here by acting like that?" Norris said.

In his book, Norris argues that America must reconnect with the Christian values of the Founding Fathers, but in the interview with Stripes he said that he doesn’t know if President Bush — a born-again Christian — can "walk the walk."

"I don’t know him," Norris said. "I knew his father. His father walks the walk."

As the presidential election approaches, Norris said he has doubts about both candidates.

Norris said he disagrees with Sen. John McCain’s support for the Bush administration’s plan to buy bad debt from banks, and he said Sen. Barack Obama has not shown the type of decisive leadership under pressure that a president needs.

Whoever wins, Norris said it is time to bring the Iraq war to a conclusion. He suggested completing the process of Iraqi provincial control and then telling Iraqi security forces, "It’s your job now."

Norris said he wants to visit Iraq again early next year, and he’d also like to go to Afghanistan, from where he has been getting lots of mail from troops asking for a visit.

"They sent me a flag that was flown over there," he said.
The situation in Afghanistan has grown markedly worse this year with violence escalating and U.S. casualties mounting. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has even talked about the possibility of political reconciliation with elements of the Taliban.

But now Chuck Norris might be headed there.

Asked if his visit would signal the end of the Taliban, Norris replied, "I wish that was true, too."
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