Fugitive from the law of averages

Imagine portraying yourself in a movie about your most traumatic experiences. Also, 7 other things worth your time—and trivia!

He’d been turned down before by the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps for being too young.

But, now, a few days after his 17th birthday, armed with a newly doctored birth certificate that suggested he was a year older, the son of a Texas sharecropper walked into a recruiting office and enlisted as a private.

Not long ago, I wrote in this newsletter about one of the most decorated soldiers in US history, Maurice “Footsie” Britt. Readers responded, and I knew I had to remember to write today’s story when the opportunity presented itself.

So now we give you Audie Murphy, who was introduced to America 76 years ago today, when his boyish face took up the full cover of the July 16, 1945, edition of LIFE magazine.

Of all the soldiers’ stories to come out of World War II, Murphy, who was awarded all of the US Army’s medals for valor, was the best-known for a very long time.

Maybe that’s because LIFE described him simply as “most-decorated” right on its cover. That led to his collaboration on a best-…