Gary Williams - Seal of Honor: Operation Red Wings and the Life of Lt. Michael P. Murphy, USN

Lieutenant Murphy, the leader of a Navy SEAL squad, was killed during a fierce battle against the Taliban on a remote mountainside in the Kongeral Valley of Afghanistan on 28 June 2005. The first to receive the nation s highest military honor for service in Afghanistan, Lieutenant Murphy was also the first naval officer to earn the medal since the Vietnam War. Honored for his courage and leadership in the face of certain death, he is now the subject of Naval Special Warfare courses on leadership, and a guided-missile destroyer, naval base, school, post office, ball park, and hospital emergency room have all been named in his honor. SEAL of Honor tells the story of Lieutenant Murphy s life and how he came to be the man that Marcus Luttrell, the sole survivor of the mission, called the best officer I ever knew, an iron-souled warrior of colossal, almost unbelievable courage in the face of the enemy. In attempting to answer why Lieutenant Murphy readily sacrificed his life for his comrades, the author traces the SEAL s journey from a seemingly ordinary life on New York s Long Island to those extraordinary last moments half a world away. Lieutenant Murphy s story has captured the nation s attention, making him one of the most celebrated Medal of Honor recipients since World War II.