Lt. Michael P. Murphy Navy SEALs Museum unveiled on Long Island

Michael P. Murphy graduated from Penn State College in 2000 with a double main in political science and psychology.

The 24-year-old Lengthy Island native was speaking about then heading off to regulation faculty subsequent.

As a substitute, Murphy stunned his household and girlfriend by following his dream of changing into a Navy SEAL.  

However then, Murphy’s navy profession took a flip when America was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001.

4 years later, Murphy was wrapping up his fourth deployment and was on the brink of wed his girlfriend of 5 years, Heather, in November. 

However that every one modified on June 28, 2005.

Murphy, together with three of his fellow teammates, Matthew G. Axelson, Danny Dietz, and Marcus Luttrell, had their place compromised within the rugged mountains of Afghanistan.

A battle ensued.

The SEAL group was pinned down by the heavy enemy hearth.

In a brave and selfless act of heroism, Murphy uncovered himself from cowl to realize radio communication with the group’s fast motion response drive. 

The message was despatched.

Murphy was killed on the age of 29, together with 18 different service members, throughout the tragic occasions of Operation Crimson Wing.

However his story could have by no means been correctly informed if it wasn’t for one man’s will to outlive towards the chances, Marcus Luttrell.

The e-book “Lone Survivor,” written by Luttrell in 2007 and later became a film in 2013, recounted Murphy’s heroic last-ditch effort to save lots of his group.

Now, almost 10 miles away from Murphy’s Lengthy Island hometown of Patchogue, The Lt. Michael P. Murphy Navy SEAL Museum opened in Sayville on June 28 – after 5 years within the making and 17 years to the day of Operation Crimson Wing.

The second Navy SEAL museum within the nation, the museum honors SEALs who’ve served and paid the final word sacrifice serving our nation. 

“It was by no means about Michael. As a household unit, it was a aware determination to not make this about Michael,” his father, Daniel Murphy, informed the Put up. “It’s in regards to the Navy Seals, the Navy Seal expertise, and the historical past of Naval Particular Warfare from the UDTs up by the current time.”

The Medal of Honor, the U.S. navy’s highest ornament awarded posthumously to Murphy’s mother and father, sits on show upon entry. Above it’s a portrait of Murphy with a quote his mother and father mentioned he lived by: “Schooling will set you free.”

Paying tribute to the various organizations that helped contribute to the museum’s creation is the “Coronary heart of the Museum” wall. 

Because of beneficiant donations of time, labor, and supplies, the museum, which ought to have price $5 million {dollars} to construct, was lower all the way down to $2 million, Daniel Murphy mentioned.

Reveals vary from the SEALs’ early roots in World Struggle II to the Underwater Demolition Groups throughout the Korean Struggle, to their official creation throughout the Vietnam Struggle, and to the killing of Osama Bin Laden by SEAL Staff Six.

The museum has an enormous show of weaponry and kit utilized by the groups, interactive reveals, and even SEAL Journey Journey.  

“It’s wonderful speaking with the youth of right now, the place they’re exhibiting pleasure and curiosity in historical past, the navy, and being a Seal,” mentioned Chris Willey, the museum’s director and retired Navy SEAL. 

Operation Redwing has its personal part within the museum. A terrain mannequin detailing the sequence of occasions of that tragic day sits within the middle of the room. Off to the facet, a small display screen performs the documentary “Murphy the Protector.” 

“It’s tales about Mike personally, and so they wanna know extra about him,” mentioned his mom, Maureen Murphy. “That’s the impression he had. They felt like Mike was their son. Their Lengthy Island son.”

Murphy’s image and 314 different Navy SEALs killed in motion or throughout coaching are unfold out on “The Value of Freedom” wall. 

The ability additionally features because the Lt. Michael Murphy Division of the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps. A company for teenagers ages 11 by 17 to be taught management values and provides again to the group by volunteering.

“I hope what visitors take away from it’s ‘I’m a part of a group of People who cherish and worth freedom,’” Daniel Murphy mentioned. “And ‘I’ve that due to the individuals which can be represented on these partitions.’”