War movie for the day

War History Online has an article about Audie Murphy:

To Hell and Back is a CinemaScope war film released in 1955, directed by Jesse Hibbs and starred Audie Murphy as himself:

Young Murphy (played by Gordon Gebert) grows up in a large, poor sharecropper family in Texas. His father deserts them around 1939 or 1940, leaving his mother (played by Mary Field) barely able to feed her nine children. As the eldest son, Murphy worked from an early age to help support his siblings and, when his mother dies in 1941, he becomes head of the family. His brothers and sisters are sent to an elder sister, Corrine, to whom Murphy sends his GI pay.
When America enters World War Two, Murphy is eager to enlist, but is rejected by the Marines, the Navy, and the paratroopers due to his small size and youthful appearance. Finally, the Army accepts him as an ordinary infantryman. After basic training and infantry training, Murphy is shipped to the 3rd Infantry Division in North Africa as a replacement. Because of his youthful looks, he endures jokes about “infants” being sent into combat.
Murphy soon proves himself in battle, however, and he is steadily promoted, first against his will, and eventually receives a battlefield commission with the rank of second lieutenant. During his many battles in Sicily, Italy, and France, he gains the respect of his men, and becomes especially close to fellow soldiers Johnson, a man who clams to be a womanizer, Brandon, a man whose wife left him for failing to support their daughter, Kerrigan, a man who jokes at unusual times, Kovak, a Polish immigrant who wants to become an American citizen, Swope, an native American who smoke cigars a lot, and Valentino, who has relatives in Naples, Italy.
The action for which Murphy was awarded the Medal of Honor is depicted near the end of the film. In January of 1945, near Holtzwihr, France, Murphy’s company is forced to retreat in the face of a fierce German attack. However, Murphy remains behind, at the edge of a forest, to direct artillery fire on the advancing enemy infantry and armor. As the Germans close on his position, Murphy jumps onto an abandoned Sherman tank (photo) (he actually performed this action atop a tank destroyer) and uses its .50-caliber machine gun to hold the enemy at bay, even though the vehicle is on fire and may explode at any moment. Although wounded and dangerously exposed to enemy fire, Murphy single-handedly turns back the German attack, thereby saving his company. While the film depicts this action as having taken place in balmy weather and good visibility in rolling terrain, it actually took place in the bitter winter of 1945, at the edge of a forest on the flat Alsatian Plain, in conditions of poor visibility. After a period of hospitalization, he is returned to duty. The film concludes with Murphy’s Medal of Honor ceremony shortly after the war ends.

Rico says some heroes are born that way, and then made...