Only NBC Reports Navy to Name Ship for Medal of Honor Recipient

Brent Baker
May 7th, 2008 9:15 PM
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Last October the NBC Nightly News was the first broadcast network evening newscast to highlight the first Medal of Honor award since Vietnam for a member of the Navy, Lieutenant Michael Murphy, a SEAL killed in combat in Afghanistan in June of 2005, and on Wednesday the newscast stood alone in highlighting the Navy's announcement that a guided-missile destroyer will be named the “USS Michael Murphy.” Anchor Brian Williams outlined what earned Murphy the Medal of Honor recognition:

During an intense firefight in Hindu Kush Mountains in Afghanistan back in '05, while pinned down under fire, he chose to stand up to get a signal on his satellite phone to communicate their location. He knew that standing up would expose him to withering fire. It did. He was hit several times and killed.

Williams also noted that a park in Patchogue, New York was dedicated Wednesday “in his name on what would have been his 32nd birthday.” Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter made the ship naming announcement during the dedication ceremony at the park along side Lake Ronkonkoma where Murphy had been a lifeguard.

Newsday story posted Wednesday night, "Navy to name ship after fallen Patchogue serviceman"

Navy Web site article, "SECNAV Names New Guided-Missile Destroyer USS Michael Murphy."

The MRC honored Murphy last month at our April 10 Gala & DisHonors Awards, with a special tribute as the evening's events ended on a somber note, with a video tribute to Murphy before MRC Trustee Boone Pickens came on stage to present Murphy’s father, Daniel, and brother, John, with a $1 million check in their name for the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. Daniel Murphy thanked Pickens and expressed gratitude for the 29 years he had with his son.

Check the MRC's tribute page for the video on Murphy's heroism, as well as the comments made by his father and the presentation of the check.

My October 16 NewsBusters item, “NBC First to Praise Medal of Honor Recipient Lt. Michael Murphy,” recounted:

The NBC Nightly News on Tuesday night became the first broadcast network evening newscast to highlight the first Medal of Honor award since Vietnam for a member of the Navy, announced last week, to Lieutenant Michael Murphy, a SEAL killed in combat in Afghanistan in June of 2005. "His story is already the stuff of legend," anchor Brian Williams related before Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski recounted Murphy's heroism: How during a battle with Taliban fighters "Murphy stepped out into the line of fire to make a satellite call for help." A survivor recalled that Murphy "took two rounds to the back and dropped down on that rock and sat back up, picked the phone back up and started talking again." Standing by a memorial in Brookhaven, New York, Miklaszewski explained that in addition to the memorial, "they've named a park and post office after him. Monuments not only to what he did as a Navy SEAL, but to who he was as a man."

Miklaszewski got out of the way and allowed his story to end with two moving tributes from Murphy's parents. Maureen, his mother, revealed: "I miss him. I'm glad that he got the medal because other people will know what a great guy that he was." Dan, Michael's father, got the last word, a desire for appreciation: "While I'm crying inside and my heart's breaking, my chest is puffed out and I'm saying, my son, this is what he did and I hope the country appreciates it and realizes it." To that, Williams certainly spoke for many viewers: "Here, here."...

The update from Williams on the Wednesday, May 7 NBC Nightly News:

The U.S. Navy announced today it's naming a ship after a Navy SEAL who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in Afghanistan. Lieutenant Michael Murphy was from Long Island, New York, where today they dedicated a park in his name on what would have been his 32nd birthday. During an intense firefight in Hindu Kush Mountains in Afghanistan back in '05, while pinned down under fire, he chose to stand up to get a signal on his satellite phone to communicate their location. He knew that standing up would expose him to withering fire. It did. He was hit several times and killed. The destroyer USS Michael Murphy will be built in the state of Maine.