This week we said our final goodbyes to my Great-Uncle Bud. My family asked if I would speak about his long military career. Fair winds and following seas, Marine. Semper fi.

Humble hero.

It is often said, “A veteran is someone who wrote a blank check made payable to the United States of America for an amount up to and including their life.”

Only the bravest men and women are willing to hand their government, and their fellow Americans, that blank check which could get cashed at any time.

I’m not sure what you call it when they do this for 3 different wars. But I’ll call it a Murray Move. Because the bravery and sacrifice that it embodies, and perhaps the stubbornness, describe my Uncle Bud.

As an Honor Flight cofounder and volunteer, I’ve had the honor of serving heroes from World War II, Korea and Viet Nam. But not many of them can say their service spanned all three wars. Russell “Bud” Murray could.

I’ll never forget the time when I was in 6th grade English and my teacher said to me, “Moyle? I knew some Moyles in my younger years. Is Bud Murray related to you?” I couldn’t believe this “grumpy old man” in Vicksburg, Michigan – 2,000 miles away from San Diego, California – knew my Uncle Bud. He would go on to tell me how he served in Korea in the Marines with him, and my family helped him when the boys shipped out to war.

In 1945, Bud joined the United States Marine Corps as a young man at the tail end of World War II. As soon as he enlisted, the war ended. The Nazis knew…

Because he was just 17, he needed signed permission from his parents. And once his time was up, he went to work for Kellogg Company in Battle Creek, Michigan. But when they wanted him – forced him, in his words – to join the union, he decided to go back to the Marines instead.

Then in 1950, Bud shipped off to fight in the faraway Korean War. His first stop? The Chosin Reservoir.

The battle of the Chosin Reservoir took place about a month after the People's Republic of China entered the war. On November 27, 1950, the Chinese force surprised the US X Corps at the Chosin Reservoir area. The extreme cold, lack of the right supplies and brutal fighting led to an enormously tough 17-day battle. Between November 27 and December 13, 30,000 US troops (later nicknamed "The Frozen Chosin" and including Bud) were encircled and attacked by about 120,000 Chinese troops. Our forces were able to break out of the encirclement and to make a fighting withdrawal to the port of Hungnam, inflicting heavy casualties on the Chinese. Of the 30,000 souls that went into battle, nearly 18,000 were killed, went missing or were wounded.

Bud survived and continued his service in Korea. He did suffer significant frostbite and was bothered by cold hands for the rest of his life.

Between the Korean and Viet Nam wars, his main MOS was Motor transport. He also served for about 7 years as a recruiter--both in Salinas for 5 years and then Indianapolis for almost 2 years. He hated it at the end because in addition to enlisting the young recruits he also had to notify family of wounded, missing, and killed in action Marines. He actually requested that he be transferred to Viet Nam instead of continuing recruiting duty.  This fact was not known to his kids until recent years.

He spent a little more than a year deployed to both Viet Nam and Okinawa. Letters took a week to arrive and a week to get back to him. The family also sent reel to reel tapes.

After a long career in the United States Marine Corps, Bud retired from active duty at Camp Pendleton in June 1971. Four years later, on October 1, 1975, Bud fully retired from the Marine Corps Reserves. He excelled in his service, retiring as an E9- Master Gunnery Sargent, often called Top. Fewer than two percent of enlisted Marines get to that level. A friend of Bud’s recently told his daughter, “Top was always good to me and to all of us.”

And he never forgot his service. To say Bud Murray was a Marine to his core is an understatement. In fact, when I visited my Uncle Bud and Aunt Lillian as a 10-year-old boy, I saw this first-hand. I can still remember visiting Camp Pendleton, Uncle Bud raising and lowering his US flag each day and his USMC demeanor. He was proud of his service, his Corps and his country. He was also quiet and humble about it, like so many veterans.

In Uncle Bud’s later years, I asked him if he’d allow me to take him on his Honor Flight, to see the memorials in DC his country built in his – and his fellow heroes – honor. The trip would never happen, I think in part due to that humility. But I had the immense honor and privilege to bring Honor Flight to him through virtual reality and in-person mail call. I’ll never forget the moment. He wasn’t an outwardly emotional man, but when he took off the headset that had transported him to our nation’s capital, I could see the pride of service and the gratitude in his teary eyes. He was deeply moved by our collective gratitude. I’ll treasure that moment the rest of my life.

Thankfully I was able to say this before he was gone. But I say it again now. From all of us here, to you Russel Murray, Master Gunnery Sargent, United States Marine… thank you for you service. Fair winds and following seas.

Dan Moyle
2019/10/14