MOH Navy SEALs Michael P. Murphy & Michael Monsoor Added To MacDill SOC Memorial

By KEITH MORELLI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 17, 2008

Save for a few relatives, probably no one at the commemoration ceremony at MacDill Air Force Base this morning really knew Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Monsoor or Lt. Michael Murphy.

The two Navy SEALs weren't from Tampa; they grew up on opposite sides of the country. They had different interests.

Murphy, of New York, loved to read and graduated with honors from Penn State with degrees in political science and psychology.

Monsoor, a California boy, relished riding around in his Corvette and snowboarding.

The two probably never met, but they are together now -- forever. Their names are etched in granite at a Special Operations Command memorial at MacDill Air Force Base. The two were remembered as true American heroes, each having earned, with his life, the Medal of Honor, the highest award for courage the military has to offer.

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Today's ceremony drew more than 1,000 people, including civilians and service personnel from every branch, even Gen. David Petraeus, head of Central Command, which has its headquarters at MacDill.

A slide-show montage was preceded by the landing of three paratroopers, each carrying U.S. flags that had flown over the Pentagon, two of which were presented to the families of the medal recipients.

It's been more than three years since Murphy was killed. Still, his father's eyes tear up with grief and pride when he talks about his son. As he set the wreath of yellow daisies and carnations in front of the granite tile, Dan Murphy, who was wounded in Vietnam 40 years ago, wiped his eyes with a white handkerchief. He kissed his fingertips before touching them to the etched stone bearing his son's name.

"What's significant," Murphy said after the ceremony, "is that Michael was true to himself right to the end. We've always taught him to protect others, and that was always his nature.

"So it didn't surprise us when we heard what he did."

Murphy, 29, was killed during a reconnaissance mission in Afghanistan on June 28, 2005. The Navy said that Murphy was leading a four-man team looking for a key Taliban leader in the mountainous terrain near Asadabad "when they came under fire from a much larger enemy force with superior tactical position," the official citation states.

"Mortally wounded while exposing himself to enemy fire, Murphy knowingly left his position of cover to get a clear signal in order to communicate with his headquarters. While being shot at repeatedly, Murphy calmly provided his unit's location and requested immediate support for his element. He returned to his cover position to continue the fight until finally succumbing to his wounds."

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Murphy was raised on Long Island, N.Y., and excelled at ice hockey. His Navy biography states that he was an avid reader, with tastes that ran from the Greek historian Herodotus to Tolstoy's "War and Peace." His favorite book, the biography says, was Steven Pressfield's "Gates of Fire," about the Spartan stand at Thermopylae.

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