Murph: The Protector Page #9

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safe and sound," to Hawaii.

"Love, Mike."

But we get the message from Michael

after we leave the gravesite,

saying, "Mama,

home safe and sound."

And now of course Maureen says

that's Mike letting her know

that he's okay.

I don't know why...

why it chose

to come at that

particular point,

just after we've left

the gravesite

and before we get to our car,

where we've just said goodbye

to our son

and we're going back,

and Maureen gets this message.

I guess it was

about the last week in August, I think,

I get a call

from the White House

from President Bush's

military liaison

to indicate that Michael's being awarded

the Medal of Honor.

My dad came here

as, you know, an immigrant.

And he was just ready to burst,

'cause he was like,

"I'm here in the White House,

and my grandson is receiving

the Medal of Honor."

But it's typical that he gets

the Medal of Honor,

just 'cause he's

such an amazing person.

You know,

it's an outstanding feat

that he got that.

It's unbelievable.

President Bush was so gracious.

He let us come into the...

he wanted to meet us...

into the Oval Office.

We present him

with Michael's dog tags

and he says,

"Thank you very much."

Dan and I had given him,

like, gold-plated dog tags.

And he actually put them on, and

I'm looking, like, "What's he doing?"

And I can tell the same thoughts

going in both our heads...

"Why is the president getting

undressed in the Oval Office?"

He said that Mike

was "next to my heart."

I thought that was so nice.

And he gives Maureen

a hug and a kiss

and he gives me a hug.

And he says to us,

which was really cool...

he goes, "Murphs, you did good."

He said, "But you know what?"

He said, "I gotta tell you,

I did better."

He said...

"I had Michael

right next to my heart."

As soon as I was charged

with writing that speech,

Michael Murphy popped into my head.

He was still fresh in my mind.

And even in my dorm room,

I had a picture of him on my wall.

As I started to get to know and

research more about Michael Murphy,

I started to see a lot

of parallels in our lives.

I mean, we only grew up

15 minutes from each other.

His dad was a DA.

My father worked in law enforcement.

He was a lifeguard over the summers.

I was a camp counselor over the summers.

He had a heart

and a passion for people

that drove him into

the Navy SEALs.

And I have a similar heart

and passion for people

that has driven me

towards medicine.

That morning

one of the staff call us

and say, "We have a surprise.

Hector was selected."

And I... we were floored.

We were very proud to hear that.

And my husband and I decided that

we were not gonna share that with him.

And my parents said,

"Hey, I think there's something

that's gonna be going on."

And they gave me an inkling of it,

but I didn't really know

what was going on.

I just knew that something special

was gonna happen that night.

It was surreal.

It was just unbelievable

to see this big object.

And we saw how it was being built...

it was done in sections...

when we went up to Maine.

And just looking up

at this huge thing

and response for him.

There were, like,

15 or 16 family members and stuff.

We turn and we look up

and there's Michael's name

in huge block letters...

"Michael Murphy."

And it literally stopped me dead,

I mean just... whew.

They had to pick a warship,

to name it after Murphy, for sure.

I'm sure Michael...

I'm sure he's upstairs in heaven, going,

"Man, you guys are making...

this is way too big a deal for me."

And he's probably thinking,

"I'm a team guy."

One of the purposes,

the fact that's also a defense ship,

you know, for protecting the country

and its assets,

like, the idea that this is,

you know...

all the responsibilities

and all the things

that this ship represents,

and that it's named after him.

Our kids are gonna read about

and learn in history

that my cousin, or brother,

was... is part of history.

It's added

to the great Navy tradition

of naming our warships

after heroes.

And I couldn't think

of a better guy or a better candidate

for a warship to be named after

than Michael.

Mike would never want

a ship named after him.

If it was up to Mike,

he would have every name

that ever served in the military

on the side of a ship other than his.

If he could actually fit every name,

he would definitely do that.

It was important to us

as a family

that the ship,

while it's named after Michael,

embodies the spirit

of 19 really brave heroes.

That would have been

important to Michael,

that, you know,

"This is about my team.

I didn't operate in a vacuum,

and therefore

you remember me best

by remembering my men."

In thinking about all the things

that are being named after him,

on one hand, I'd say,

you know...

it's amazing,

but it's not enough.

I'm sure Mr. and Mrs. Murphy

would still rather have their son back.

I know I'd rather have

my friend back.

But it's nice

in this age

of the venerating of celebrities

and people that have contributed

nothing to this world,

the fact that someone

like Michael Murphy,

who is such

a ridiculously unbelievable

individual,

now has people looking up

to someone like him.

When I see the pictures of little boys

going to visit his gravesite,

whether it be his namesake

or things of that nature...

you know, hallelujah.

Because he's the type of person

that people should look up to,

that they should

name things after.

When I got to the awards dinner,

there were, I believe, four or five

other scholarship recipients

for the Suffolk Federal

Credit Union scholarship.

So we were all there.

We were all great.

I was just honored to be within...

to be chosen to be a part of it

and to be among these other top

high school seniors from Long Island.

One of Michael's

favorite sayings was,

"Education will set you free."

And I said, "I can't think

of any way better

to remember Michael's legacy,

or tribute"...

'cause remember, this is well...

long before the Medal of Honor...

is to have a scholarship

foundation

where we can offer scholarships

to deserving people.

And while we were there,

they started to announce

that there would be an inaugural

scholarship in Michael Murphy's honor.

There's a certain criteria.

They have to be team players.

They have to play in sports,

you know, keep their grades up.

The kid that is...

has his nose to the books,

that is working every day

to better himself,

that is a well-rounded kid,

not a kid who's solely focused

on academics,

because you have to be

well-rounded.

You have to have interests

in the arts or sports

or, you know, community events.

That's the kid that's gonna

get that award.

But when they announced

my name, I was...

I was shocked. I was floored.

I was proud. I was happy.

And then it all started to sink in.

When I started to realize

it was his name

and who it was for

and who it represented,

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