Our beautiful city of Menifee is growing rapidly and every day new businesses and new developments are wanting to be part of our growth. I am sure as you drive down Newport Road towards Canyon Lake you have seen the wonderful development of beautiful homes by a variety of developers.  

Brookfield Homes, Woodside Homes and Richmond American Homes are building magnificent homes on this large parcel of land where at one time Audie Murphy bred quarter horses. His horses ran and won at the Del Mar Racetrack.

 This master-planned community on the western edge of town is now called Audie Murphy Ranch, which was named after this war hero.  The community will ultimately feature nearly 2,200 homes, 17 miles of trails, several ball fields and courts, a skate park and swimming pools.

It came to my mind that many may not even remember or know who this person was so I thought that I would give you a little history about Audie Murphy - war hero, movie star, writer, father and husband.  Audie Leon Murphy was born June 20, 1925 in Texas and died May 28, 1971 in a plane crash in Virginia.   He became the most decorated U.S. soldier in World War II.

Though he was only 21 years old at the end of the war, he had killed 240 German soldiers, had been wounded three times, and had earned 33 awards and medals.  Here is a list of the medals he was presented:

· Medal of Honor,   Distinguished Service Cross,  Silver Star (2)

· Legion of Merit,  Bronze Star (2) (1 "V"),   Purple Heart (3)

· Good Conduct ,  Presidential Unit Citation (2),  American Campaign

· EAM,  WWII Victory,   Army of Occupation w/Germany clasp,

· French Legion of Honor,  French Croix de Guerre (3),

· Belgian Croix de Guerre,  Combat Infantryman Badge

· Marksman Badge with Rifle Component Bar  Texas Legislative Medal of Honor

· Expert Badge with Bayonet Component Bar ,  Outstanding Civilian Se vice Medal

His film career started in 1945 after actor and producer James Cagney saw the July 16th issue of Life Magazine cover depicting him as the most decorated soldier. In 1949, Murphy published his autobiography, To Hell and Back. The book quickly became a national bestseller, and in 1955, after much inner debate, he decided to portray himself in the film version of his book. The movie was a hit and held Universal Studio's record as its highest-grossing motion picture until 1975. Murphy would go on to make 44 feature films in all.

He loved horses; his favorite was Joe Queen,   Joe was one of the fastest horses in Hollywood. 

 There is much information about Audie Murphy on the internet and today a heavily supported petition is being circulated among fans, veterans, voters, decorated heroes, Hollywood movie stars, and elected leaders. The petition requests that the United States President award Audie Murphy the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The basis for the award is Murphy's outspoken and pioneering efforts to get the Federal Government to recognize and improve treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder for all military veterans. Something he suffered all his life after his military service. Stop by the Audie Murphy memorial website and sign the guestbook, http://www.audiemurphy.com/ there you will also find many photos and lots of great information.

How lucky we are to live in this wonderful city of  Menifee, CA and as this Audie Murphy Ranch continues to develop and the Park is launched we can all now know a little about how the name came to be…Also the developers of this great master planned community are also all members of our Menifee Valley Chamber of Commerce and totally support  so many projects in the City of Menifee, so if you know of someone looking for a home direct them to this beautiful development with all its open space and history.

We just learned that Brookfield Homes is now called Brookfield Residential and the Park they are building will be called Audie Murphy Memorial Park. They are collaborating with the City of Menifee to host a community wide event in the Spring of 2014.