Ellis Henican: Brave heart beneath his medals

He was Everyman and Superman rolled into one.

A kid from the suburbs with a dream of public service. The son of a wounded Vietnam vet, surprising his dad one day with talk of joining up. A college student, a lifeguard, a Navy SEAL unhesitantly showing the world what bravery and honor mean.

And now, too late for him to enjoy it, Lt. Michael Murphy of Patchogue is getting the recognition he so obviously deserves.

Whatever you think of the wars America's been fighting, you can't say the warriors lack heart.

"Michael believed in what he was doing over there," his father, Dan Murphy, was telling me yesterday after the news came from Washington about the medal.

"It wasn't political at all. It was personal to him. He was there fighting the people who'd attacked the city he loved."

Let others debate the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Let the polls assess the strategy and the results. Let the politicians explain if and when our troops are coming home.

"Michael and his team were where they wanted to be," his father said. "He felt what he was doing was important."

And yes, the policy questions keep coming. Dan Murphy heard them yesterday.

Important questions. Larger questions. Questions that people in Washington will have to answer soon.

What kind of progress are we making in Afghanistan? How long will American troops have to stay in Iraq? Is a war with Iran coming next? How much further can we keep stretching a military that has already been stretched so far? How many more dead soldiers and sailors and airmen and Marines?

And now comes word that the U.S. Marines want to leave Iraq.

But these Navy SEALs who took the oath and went to war and did the fighting and the dying, too - all they did was give their all and then some.

"You can't explain to someone what it's like to lose a child," Dan Murphy said. "But we are happy Michael's incredible bravery is being recognized. It brings to the forefront what Michael and his team did that day."

It's a story sure to be told around the world now. They'd better make room in the history books.

How on June 28, 2005, near Afghanistan's treacherous border with Pakistan, four Navy SEALs were on a scouting mission, looking for the fierce Taliban fighter Ahmad Shah. The air was cold and thin at 10,000 feet. The sympathies of the locals were anybody's guess.

Their cover was blown after a local goat herder wandered by. Soon enough, they were surrounded by 50 guerrilla fighters. Drastically outnumbered, fighting on impossible terrain, the four SEALs desperately tried to fend off a three-direction attack.

Lt. Murphy was the one who, already wounded and facing heavy fire, rushed into the open in a final attempt to summon help for his men.

And none of it was clouded by politics.

"Like the insignia Michael wore," a proud father said on a very special day. "He carried it on his uniform, the emblem of the New York City Fire Department. Engine 53, Ladder Company 43. El Barrio's Bravest. The firefighters have their own memorial to him. You can look it up on their Web site. There is a huge plaque of Michael in uniform in the firehouse. The SEALs presented it to them. The firefighters touch it every day for good luck before they go out on a call.

"It's all very personal."