Amid grief, pride

By the time he had reached his mid-20s, Lt. Michael P.

Murphy, who grew up in Patchogue, had become a member of one of the most elite

fighting forces in the U.S. military.

On July Fourth, Murphy's body was recovered from a ravine in the mountains

along Afghanistan's border with Pakistan.

Murphy and three others had been doing reconnaissance as part of Operation

Red Wing, in search of al-Qaida and Taliban insurgents. Murphy and a second

SEAL were killed, one was rescued and one remains missing, a Navy spokesman

said.

Murphy's parents, Daniel and Maureen, of Patchogue, who were informed of

their son's death yesterday morning, left for the military morgue at Dover,

Del., to await the arrival of his body.

"We were just honored to have him as a son for 29 years," Daniel Murphy

told a Newsday reporter. The senior Murphy is an attorney and the law secretary

for State Supreme Court Justice Peter Fox Cohalan.

"We wanted to be here when he arrived on U.S. soil," he said.

Murphy and three other Navy SEAL commandos had been the target of an

intense search-and-rescue effort that resulted in a June 28 helicopter crash

that killed 16 Americans.

Murphy became the fifth current or former Long Island resident to have been

killed in the fighting in Afghanistan. Ten have been killed in Iraq.

Word that one of its own had fallen in Afghanistan stunned Patchogue, a

working-class community on the Great South Bay.

Neighbors two doors from the Murphy house said the death was very hard to

accept.

"You know it might happen, but you never expect it to happen to someone you

know," said the neighbor, Richard Bishop.

Bishop's wife, Babette Bishop, said she remembered Murphy as a child. She

was surprised to learn he had become a member of one of the world's elite

fighting forces.

"When he was growing up, he was such a little kid," she said. "I was kind

of surprised."

Murphy, 29, was a member of the Class of 1994 at Patchogue-Medford High

School, where he played varsity football. He graduated from Pennsylvania State

University in 1998. He toyed briefly with going to law school but instead

joined the SEALs on Dec. 13, 2000. He was promoted to lieutenant on Jan. 1,

2005. He served with SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team One, based at Pearl Harbor, in

Hawaii.

SEAL, which stands for sea, air, land, refers to the group's strategy of

using small, stealthy commando units to engage targets that larger forces could

not approach undetected.

"As to the fourth individual, we're conducting a very aggressive, 24-hours

round-the-clock search for this individual," a U.S. military spokesman, Col.

James Yonts, told reporters in Afghanistan. "We are very hopeful that we will

recover this individual back into our care very soon."

The other dead man was identified as Petty Officer 2nd Class Danny P.

Dietz, 25, of Littleton, Co.

The incident that led to their deaths began shortly after the four-man

commando team was dropped off in a forested area of Afghanistan's eastern

mountain range. Almost immediately, the group came under withering gunfire.

A call for help brought a pair of U.S. helicopters, which arrived at the

high-altitude battleground as night was falling. One of the helicopters

apparently was hit in the tail section by an explosive device. All aboard were

killed. Their bodies were recovered last Thursday and flown to Dover.

On Sunday, U.S. troops spotted the bodies of Murphy and Dietz at the bottom

of a deep ravine in rugged country. It took them 24 hours to reach their

fallen comrades.

The toll in Afghanistan

U.S. military fatalities since...

Jan. 1, 2005

56

Oct. 7, 2001*

210

Jan. 1, 2004

108

*Represents start of military operations.