Rejected by the Marines, Navy, and Army for being too small, Audie Murphy lied about his age to enlist and went on to become the most decorated American combat soldier of World War II. From the grinding poverty of Depression-era Texas, where he learned to shoot to feed his orphaned siblings, he rose through battlefield commission to a single act of solo combat that defies belief.

At the Colmar Pocket in January 1945, a wounded Murphy mounted a burning tank destroyer and held off an entire German company for an hour before leading a counterattack. But the medals masked a darker reality. This episode traces the human cost behind the legend, from severe post-traumatic stress to addiction, and his rare courage in advocating for veterans long before PTSD was understood.

• How desperate survival in rural Texas, not patriotism, forged his ...