Edward R. Murphy (naval officer) explained

Honorific Prefix:Lieutenant
Edward R. Murphy, Jr.
Birth Place:El Cajon, California
Allegiance:United States of America
Branch:Navy
Rank:Lieutenant
Known For:Executive officer, USS Pueblo, a spy ship captured by North Korea
Battles:Korean War Cold War
Spouse:Carol Murphy[1]
Laterwork:Author of Second in Command

Edward R. Murphy (born 1937) is a former United States Navy officer, best known as the executive officer aboard the, a spy ship captured by North Korea in 1968.

Personal life

Edward R. Murphy was born in Berkeley, California, and attended high school in St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated from Principia College in 1960 and joined the U.S. Navy. He resigned in 1969, after nine years of naval service.[2]

Following his military service, Murphy owned and operated an RV dealership, worked for an insurance company and as a bus driver, and became a published author. He has been married to his wife, Carol, for 50 years.[3]

USS Pueblo incident

Lieutenant Murphy played a crucial role during the USS Pueblo incident, in which a U.S. spy ship and its crew was seized by the North Korean military on January 23, 1968. As second in command on the ship and the officer in charge of navigation, his testimony helped to paint an accurate picture of what actually occurred.

Murphy's autobiography, Second in Command, details his experience aboard the USS Pueblo and the challenges he and his crew faced. He describes the tactics of the North Koreans who captured the ship and the experience of being held hostage for eleven months as a prisoner of war. Murphy and his crewmen were repeatedly tortured for information during their internment. As Murphy was held in Pyongyang, he provided a rare and valuable perspective of North Korea during the late 1960s, as one of the few Americans to have been inside the country and to have observed military operations.[4]

His appointment to the USS Pueblo was the first time Murphy served as executive officer. As a result of this fact, he adopted a "by-the-book" attitude that clashed with the mentality of the rest of the crew.[5] Murphy and the captain, Lieutenant Commander Lloyd M. Bucher, were at odds throughout nearly the entire incident. Murphy publicly noted his dislike of Captain Bucher, claiming among other things that Bucher gave up classified information to the North Korean army, thus abandoning his duty to the U.S. military.[6] While Murphy claimed Bucher was an incompetent drunkard and womanizer, Bucher describes Murphy as an incompetent coward. In fact, the men's account of the Pueblo incident differed greatly.[7]

At the time of the Pueblo incident, Murphy's wife, Carol, was seven months pregnant and the two also had a two-year-old son. The absence of his family was on Murphy's mind throughout the capture.[8]

When the crew finally returned to the U.S. in December 1968, the Navy held a court of inquiry for Murphy and four others. The men were accused of surrendering without a fight and failing to destroy classified material. The case was ultimately dismissed.[9]

Awards

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The 1968 Capture of USS Pueblo by North Korea. Pritzker Military Museum & Library. 30 September 2014.
  2. Web site: The 1968 Capture of USS Pueblo by North Korea. Pritzker Military Museum and Library. 13 October 2014.
  3. Web site: Former Lieutenant Edward R Murphy, Jr.. PuebloExec. 13 October 2014.
  4. Book: Murphy, Jr.. Edward R.. Gentry. Curt. Second in Command: The Uncensored Account of the Captain of the Spy Ship Pueblo, by its Executive Officer, Former Lieutenant Edward R. Murphy, Jr. with Curt Gentry. 1971. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Canada. 0030850754. 164. 1.
  5. Book: Lerner. Mitchell B.. The Pueblo Incident: A Spy Ship and the Failure of American Foreign Policy. 2002. University Press of Kansas. Kansas. 0700611711. 47.
  6. Book: Murphy, Jr.. Edward R.. Gentry. Curt. Second in Command: The Uncensored Account of the Captain of the Spy Ship Pueblo, by its Executive Officer, Former Lieutenant Edward R. Murphy, Jr. with Curt Gentry. 1971. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Canada. 0030850754. 161. 1.
  7. Book: Liston. Robert A.. The Pueblo Surrender: A Covert Action by the National Security Agency. 1988. M. Evans and Company, Inc.. New York. 0871315548. 35.
  8. Book: Murphy, Jr.. Edward R.. Gentry. Curt. Second in Command: The Uncensored Account of the Captain of the Spy Ship Pueblo, by its Executive Officer, Former Lieutenant Edward R. Murphy, Jr. with Curt Gentry. 1971. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Canada. 0030850754. 159. 1.
  9. Web site: Wilkens. John. Remembering the Pueblo and North Korea. UT San Diego. 13 October 2014.
  10. Web site: Bucher, 9 Pueblo Crewmen to Get Purple Heart Awards. Chicago Tribune. 13 October 2014.
  11. Web site: Edward R. Murphy, Jr.: Awards and Citations. Military Times. 13 October 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141018205910/http://projects.militarytimes.com/citations-medals-awards/recipient.php?recipientid=29672. 18 October 2014. live.

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