"I got a phone call one day from the principal." "And he said, "Mrs. Murphy, I have to call you on this," he goes," ""but Mike's not really in trouble." "I have to tell you because we gotta report these things."" "He says, "Mike was in a fight."" "I know there was a kid in school at one point when he was younger that they were bullying, and he wouldn't put up with it." "Some of these kids were bullying a child who was in-- who had learning disabilities." "So they were trying to stuff him in a locker, you know, thinking it was funny." "And Mike came along and, you know, told them, "Let him go."" "A lot of people say things about people that passed away and they might rightfully be glorified, but anything that has ever been said about Mike is spot-on true." "The little kid was really scared." "He was like-- you know, he thanked Mike." "He was Michael the protector." "And that's what he was doing." "When we were lifeguards, we would have so-called "lifeguard parties."" "And, you know, every now and then someone would get out of control." "And if there was a mismatch in a fight with someone," "Mike would make sure that it "evened out," let's say." "And he would, you know, stand to that guy's guard." "He was always very protective of people." "He reflected that in his whole life." "It was always "please" and "thank you"" "and the protector image that he projected." "I said that, you know," ""You treat people the way you want to be treated."" "Which was, "It's not about me, it's about you."" "And he really was a protector." "This one person made such an impact on everything, you know." "But he was the protector." "Maureen Murphy:" "Well, we moved to Patchogue when Mike was about two and half." "And, you know, he was little." "And we had a house built." "And his room was up on the second floor." "And for a little man, I mean, he couldn't wait to get his own room." "He went up into that room, into his first captain's bed, 'cause he wasn't gonna get the crib, you know, and he went to bed, said good night, and that was it." "Never bothered for water or-- he was that kind of a kid." "He was very mature even for a little guy." "Mike wasn't afraid of anything." "He would just go and do it." "And once he got his mind set to it, he was doing it and nobody was stopping him." "We took him into my neighbor's pool." "We didn't have a pool back then." "And he was like-- loved the water." "He just loved it." "And one day he just walked over there and thought he could go in it and dove in." "And I got in the water, picked him up." "And, you know, I see this little face looking at me through the water." "And I picked him up and I put the towel around him and I said," ""Don't do that." "You can't go in there unless an adult goes in with you."" "And as I turned to put the towel, he dove in again." "So he just was like a little water bug." "Mike is my cousin." "We grew up together." "He lived five minutes from my house." "We went to middle school together." "We went to high school together." "And he always had kids to play with." "Even though he was an only child, he always had, you know, cousins and friends to play with." "So my back yard was like the back yard for all the kids." "We were just playing roller hockey and stuff in his driveway." "And even then he might not have been even the best skater at that time, but he was diving, blocking shots, poke-checking, in your way." "He was the guy that got the skinned knee and kept going." "He had a group of friends." "I wouldn't say that Mike was the guy that was jumping from friends to friends." "He had this core group of guys that were his buddies, guys that remained his friends for the rest of his life." "Micheal Mistretta:" "When we were kids, we were playing football across the street from his mother's house." "I launched a pass to him and it was so far to the right." "He actually dove and laid out like it was an ESPN commercial." "He disappeared into the hedges." "And I remember thinking to myself, "My God, what happened to Mike?"" "He came out." "He was full of blood, mud, his shirt ripped, a hole in his pants." "Walked out, he went, "Touchdown!" and dropped the ball and walked away." "Mike was an only child for a long time." "And 10 years later I had John." "And he never said he wanted a brother or a sister, but I think he really wanted a brother." "And I was in the hospital and I had John." "And that afternoon Mike comes walking in the hospital, and it was really cute-- he bounces up on the side of the bed and he says," ""Mom, you made me the happiest kid." "I have a brother."" "Brought tears to my eyes." "John:" "I remember going to the games a lot." "And I remember at the football games, of course football being in the fall and the winter, sitting on the bench, watching Michael play and also at the same time kind of feeling cold, like, "How much longer do I have to be here?" "I'd rather be home,"" "you know, play with toys or something and, you know, in the nice, warm weather." "But, I mean, still watching him play." "It was nice to watch him play." "Michael was such a good kid that he would go with his father on the slightest errands." "Dan would say, "Let's go across the street to 7-Eleven,"" "and Michael would say, "Okay, Pop." And off they would go to 7-Eleven." "As a real young boy, he was always in a good mood, always happy." "And he was-- he was up for everything." "His dogs Blackie and Charlie-- he would tell you what was going on with them." "And he'd always be devoted to them, making sure they had water and letting them out, making sure they were okay." "He was a great swimmer." "And they had a pool in the back yard." "And he would do silly dives, whether it was cannonballs or" "Dan used to do something called "pencil."" "And Mike would do that because he was-- he loved swimming." "He loved the water." "( woman over speakers ) Michael Murphy." "( children cheering, clapping )" "Man:" "Come on, Michael, you're the youngest one there." "Woman:" "Good." "Where is he?" "Daniel Murphy:" "It was chaotic and fun." "Typical Michael-- when the girls moved in, they were" " I mean, they were-- I think Cathy was nine," "Kelly was 11 and Colleen was 12." "My dad passed away when I was younger." "And Aunt Maureen had taken me and my sisters and gave us, you know, a family and a place to live." "Daniel:" "Their father had died of cancer." "Their mother had basically abandoned them." "And their grandmother literally wanted to move them along." "Michael and I laughed because she was so intent on getting them out of her house that she delivered them to us in the middle of a snowstorm." "Mike gave up his room and, you know, we became like brothers and sisters." "Daniel: "Mom, Dad, the girls have to stay somewhere." "I'll move out of the big room so they can go in that room."" "And always helped me, you know, study." "If I didn't know something, he would help me, teach me." "He actually taught me to drive." "( laughing )" "Scott Mactavish:" "Tell me more about that." "Yeah, my first car was his first car." "And he'd take me to a parking lot of an abandoned supermarket or empty supermarket, and he'd teach me to go in circles and then venture out onto the roads." "( crowd cheering )" " ( whistle tweets )" " Yes!" "Yes!" "Sports was his thing." "He loved it." "He played soccer." "He wasn't wild about soccer, but he loved baseball." "He loved football and hockey, yeah." "Anything kind of dangerous he liked." "And so he made the football team." "And Mike in high school was not the Mike you see in a SEAL uniform." "Mike was kind of a wiry guy." "He was fierce." "The hardest hitter." "Very small." "He was a small guy, you know." "He didn't weigh all that much." "But he played safety." "And he would just-- he would knock the crap out of people." "And he was fast too." "He was really fast." "He lost his spot to, actually, Kristin's boyfriend at the time." "And he actually worked with him to make him a better football player." "That's who he was, you know." "He knew this guy was taking his spot, but he was gonna help him get better." "He stepped aside to let this freshman come up, and willingly, and mentored him that entire season, because he knew that he would be a better fit for the team in how he played." "Bogenshutz:" "After the last game, which they lost, the coach came out and said to the team," ""You know what?" "You guys gave up." "Every one of you, leave your uniforms outside the door." "I don't even want to see you." "Except for Michael Murphy." "You can come in and you can hand your uniform in, 'cause you're the only guy that continued to give 100% out on that field all day long."" "So this is Lake Ronkonkoma." "This is where we worked." "The boys would swim out across the lake." "They would do it for their workouts." "They would run all the way around." "So the lifeguard stand was right there where that white stick is." "In my first year of lifeguard, he was the beach attendant." "And I didn't know any-- I was at Holtsville Pool." "I didn't know anybody." "You know, I got there." "They walked me in." "They sat me on a bench." "And I hear, "Keenan!" I'm like, "What?" "Where is this--?"" "He was like, "Yo, it's Murph." I was like, "Hey, man, what's going on?"" "Emmerich:" "He kind of liked the gig a little bit, how everybody was lifeguards." "And he just from there, I guess, what he thought was he just wanted to become a lifeguard." "And he worked out and he trained and the next year he joined the lifeguarding staff." "And that was my first year." "And we all just became friends from that point forward." "Jessica was, for Mike-  we started work here." " She was quiet." "There was a little quiet girl working at the beach who sat down under the shack reading a book." "Mike starts talking to Jess." "And he's like, "You're the beach attendant." "You're supposed to clean the bathrooms and put up the flag."" "He's like, "We can't be having a girl do that."" "So then, two minutes, he's got all of us running down the beach, the guys cleaning the beach, dumping the garbages." " The goose poop." " Yeah, pick up goose crap." "We're like, "Where did she go?" "She's gone."" "Like, "We just did this girl's job, and she's gone."" "She comes back." "She's got TCBY." "'Cause I went to my second job." "We didn't know, 'cause we didn't take the time to find out," " Jessica worked for TCBY." " James:" "At night." " At night." " And that day and many days after the whole beach won out." "So it was a spoiled crew, thanks to Mike, you know, finding that little girl sitting there reading a book." " Flower child." " Yeah, a hippie flower child." "He called her a "tree hugger."" "He always wanted to have fun." "And he always wanted to make people laugh." "And that was his goal, I felt like." "That's always what he wanted to do." "I had this minivan that-- it was my dad's family car." "It was our-- we had a GMC Safari that he passed down to me." "And Mike at one point wanted to reenact "The A-Team" scenes." "And we would slide the door open and glide down the road and he tried to dive in it while it was moving." "Corey Beach." "And he was so tired." "We had, like, a night of drinking night before." " And-- can I say that stuff?" " Yeah." "That's all right?" "So we had a night of drinking before, and he was passed out tired." "Michael liked to party too." "So, you know, he was not one to miss out on a party." "So I actually went up on a gazebo, climbed up on a gazebo, threw a football at him." "And he was like-- he was so pissed." "He wasn't pissed pissed, but he-- and he went looking for me." "I was on top of the gazebo." "And he actually found me and started throwing rocks at me." "And I couldn't get down unless he started-- you know, 'cause he was pelting me with rocks." "So my parents-- they're both different in their ways of parenting, but very much the same." "They were always focused on my well-being." "So whether or not that was getting me involved in sports to keep active or STEP program on Saturdays to keep my interest in the sciences fostered." "While other kids were going out and playing video games and playing basketball, they always wanted me to be involved in something, to have my own identity." "My husband and I have very different parenting styles." "And as a family, you need that." "You need to have that balance." "I was the disciplinarian." "A lot of it was left up to me, what I wanted to participate in, whether it was jujitsu or Boy Scouts." "But some of it was some gentle nudging and letting me know that I had to do something." "So I still appreciate that." "Now I appreciate that." "As a 13-year-old kid, knowing that I have to get up at 8:00 on a Saturday, that's another story." "I don't care what you choose to do." "It's your choosing." "We are here as parents to make sure that you accomplish that, to support you on that." "But the only bargaining chip that we have is that-- no question about it, that you have to be a college graduate." "Craig Palmer:" "The first time I ever saw Murph was day number one at Penn State." "It was 1994." "And here, a bunch of young kids, a mixture of being scared and as excited as hell to be on your own and out in a big school like Penn State." "And I'm moving my stuff into my dorm room and I notice this guy right across the hall." "He seemed like a good guy." "We started speaking." "And, I guess, 30 seconds into the conversation he mentioned he was from Patchogue, New York." "And I said, "You're not gonna believe this." "I'm from a little town called East Moriches, you know, a good 15 minutes away."" "And, you know, the connection was instant." "We formed a bond that first day that" "I mean, I thank God that it happened." "He's 10 years older than his brother John." "So when he went into college at 18 or 19," "John was eight or nine." "And he used to bring John up to school with him for about a week at a time." "And I would say to him," ""Why would you have an eight-year-old with you?"" "And he'd say, "Because he's a chick magnet."" "A lot of the times he was referred to as Murph and that was-- he even tried to get that to stick with us as his nickname." "Mike was very superstitious." "It was incredible." "Whenever it came to sport-- not so much in life, but in athletics." "And he would wear the same shirt to play football in without washing it." "That was him." "That's what he would do." "And he would say, "Well, if someone's gonna have to tackle me, they're gonna have to get through the stink."" "And so from that day forward, he was known as Stinky among our tight group of friends." "He really did love Penn State." "He had really good friends." "He had his home friends." "And everybody always kept up with each other." "What more could you ask for?" "He was happy." "I wasn't quite sure what his path was gonna be when he went to Penn State, but it was something that was in his heart and something that he wanted to pursue." "And, you know, I was very proud of him." "The kid was smarter and more well-read than anyone would ever know, because it's not something that he talked about or let on." "He was a prolific reader, you know." "He read everything that he could get his hands on." "But on his list of reading material he said," ""Look, if you want to get me something for Christmas, there's this great book I'd like called" ""The Bear On the Other Side of the Mountain,"" "or "The Bear Over the Mountain."" "We didn't put any stock-- it kind of-- whew-- over our heads." "Afterwards we find out, "The Bear Over the Mountain"" "was a story about the Russian invasion into Afghanistan." "And it was almost like a clue that we didn't pick up." "I thought he was gonna go to law school, just because." "As far as we knew, he was always gonna go to law school." "He had all these accolades, the grades." "His dad's a lawyer." "That's what his dad wanted him to do." "And Mike, he had the grades." "To my knowledge, got into U Penn Law School, Tennessee Law." "He didn't really, like, talk about it much." "He started taking it to the next level." "He started training, just because he wanted to be in top shape before he did it." "So clearly he was getting prepared for something." "The SEALs-- this is crazy, you know." "It's like the elite of the elite." "And I didn't really, truly believe that he was gonna do it." "Michael turns to me and says, "Dad,"" "he said, "you know, we've been talking about legal education and stuff, but I've been looking at the special operations branch, specifically the Navy SEALs."" "All of a sudden, he just said, "I want to do this."" "And I have to tell you, I tried to talk him out of it and said," ""But you're really good with people." "You could be a good teacher."" "And I looked at him and I told him," "I said I'd disown him if he joined the military." "And it was something like, "Oh, you know, it's really hard to get into," and all this." "And don't say that to Mike, because when you say he can't do something, he will just go for it." "Of course you don't wish that for your eldest son-- to be put in harm's way." "Captain Ryan McCombie:" "SEALs are about team." "They always are." "They're not about individual accomplishment." "They're not about who-- who can score the most points in a basketball game." "They're usually about the guy that made the best passes in a basketball game, not the guy that dunked it." "It must have been something he read about and he liked the idea of the work that they did and he got it in his head." "And then it was one of those-- again, Michael becomes focused and determined-- "Oh, this is my path."" "The first time I ever met Michael was by phone when he called me up and asked me if I would talk to him about becoming a Navy SEAL." "I told Michael to come by on-- I believe it was a Saturday-- and I'd be happy to talk to him about it." "When he met Mike, he said there's certain guys you tell right off the bat." "And he said, "I was out there chopping wood and Mike comes around the corner and introduces himself and says, 'Hi." "I'm Mike Murphy."'" "I was splitting wood and said, "Who are you?"" "And he said that, "I'm Michael Murphy."" "And I said, "Well, good for you." "I understand you'd like to talk about SEAL Team."" "And he looked at me and said, "No, sir, I want to be a SEAL."" "He says, "I'm interested in becoming a Navy SEAL."" "And with that, he's chopping wood, he didn't even say anything to Mike." "Mike took off his jacket, rolled up his sleeves and started helping him chop the wood without even asking." "We talked about SEAL Team for some period of time and my experiences in it and what I thought it would take for him to achieve that." "And he convinced me that he absolutely should have the opportunity to try, which was-- it's not often that that happens over a period of a singular-- single conversation." "If he hadn't come out and helped split the wood, our conversation would have been very brief after we got done." "But he didn't know that." "Men:" "Two, three, four..." "You know, Mike would go upstate to do fitness tests to qualify." "And every day at the beach was a chance to train." "So he'd be doing sit-ups, running, swimming, whether it would be leave here and go to the pool to drown-proof himself or to do sidestroke or do sit-ups till he yakked and then continued some more." "James:" "Oh, he literally would do sit-ups till he puked." "He'd come up, turn to his side, puke and get mad at himself." "I was like, "What's wrong with you?"" " Owen:" "Then continue doing sit-ups." " And then keep going, yeah." "And then he said something to me which made me just say," ""You know what, Mike?" "Go for it."" "He said, "Mom, would you like me to sit at a desk and not be happy for the next 30 years or do you really-- would you be happy, you know, that I'm doing something that I really want?"" "What can you say?" "You just want what your kids-- if they're happy, you're fine with it." "Even though it's dangerous work, he was happy with it." "He loved it." "He'd do it all over again." "I know him." "He would do it all over again." "( blades whirring )" "Jeff Widenhofer:" "I went to Naval Academy, graduated in 1997, went right to flight school from there." "I was down in Florida, San Diego, and Virginia, flying the H-46." "I got to my squadron right before September 11th, about a year before." "So I did a full deployment and then September 11th happened, and everybody was going out to sea and deploying and going to the Middle East and that part of the world." "And I went two more times during my tour, so I was going a lot." "So I was in Persian Gulf a whole lot during that time." "After my flying tour, I went to be stationed at Kings Point Merchant Marine Academy, which is there in Kings Point, New York, on Long Island." "So one of our extra duties is to be available to be casualty officers for any families in the local area." "Man:" "March!" "( band playing march music )" "Mike was from Long Island, then went to Penn State University and graduated there, right after that went to OCS." "Daniel:" "We go down to see him graduate from Pensacola." "And I don't see him." "You know, we get down there, we get down there late, and they're marching onto the field." "Dan and I were catching a plane to get down there, but there was a big windstorm, so Newark Airport, you know, closed down." "Dan and I had to take a car." "So Maureen, John and I, we drive there and they held us up because they were-- the graduating class was marching down the road." "Maureen:" "There was about 400 of them in, you know, uniform." "And Danny looks over at me." "And we're seeing them coming at us." "And Dan goes, "You're never gonna see him in this." "Everybody's all dressed alike." "It's like a sea of blue."" "I go and I turn to Maureen and I say," ""Maureen," I said, "there is no way we're gonna be" "I mean, how are we supposed to find Michael?"" "And as I turned, I said, "There he is right there."" "And I spotted him." "And Maureen goes, she said, "There he is."" "And Danny goes, "How did you do that?"" "I said, "I know that walk anywhere."" "And I said, "How can you tell?"" "And she said, "I'd know that walk anywhere." "It looks-- he walks just like you."" "Actually, when I heard him barking all these orders out," "I was like, "That's Mike?"" "He sounded like-- this really deep voice and everything." "I couldn't believe it was him." "He was very authoritative." "But she spotted him right away, which was amazing." "They get a certain amount of coins." "And they give it to the first person that salutes them." "And you're supposed to give it to the people that influenced you the most." "And he gave one to his dad, one to me and his brother." "I have that coin." "I will never let that go." "And I thought that-- it was a beautiful thing." " ( double whistle )" " Men:" "Crawl." " ( double whistle )" " Crawl." " ( whistling repeats )" " Crawl." "Crawl." "( rapid gunfire rattles )" " Trainer:" "Hold up boat." " Men:" "Up boat." " Trainer:" "Down boat." " Down boat." " Trainer:" "Up boat." " Up boat." " Down boat." " Down boat." " Hold up boat." " Up boat." " Down boat." " Trainer:" "Down" "( commands repeat )" "Daniel:" "When he goes to BUD/S, I was concerned because I knew how demanding the program was." "I also knew how people fail." "You know, you read about less than 15%, 20% graduate." "And I know Michael had a class of about 200." "And he was relaying to me how one of the first initiations was," ""Look to the guy to the left of you and look to the guy to the right of you." "They won't make it through the program."" "That's how difficult it is." "Oftentimes the best athlete in the class doesn't make it." "I know in my class, the best athlete in our class quit." "It's very difficult to look at somebody and say that he is a SEAL or he's going to be a SEAL." "I mean, today they're 6'6", 260 pounds, down to 5' 5", 130 pounds." "Because it's all in your heart and it's all in your head." "It's really not about your physical abilities." "They'll give you the physical abilities." "One thing about training in the SEALs is they'll ensure that you have the physical abilities." "What they can't give people, and sometimes have difficulty recognizing it and defining it prior to the beginning, is the mental and the heart." "( blades whirring )" "Announcer:" "Meanwhile, the division's 3rd Brigade had begun arriving from Hawaii by airlift." "Their destination was Pleiku in the central highlands of Vietnam." "This was to be the 25th Infantry Division's forward base." "Daniel:" "When I was injured in Vietnam, I was in a hospital." "And I had-- an RPG landed at my left ankle." "And I was wrapped around a rock." "And so I was peppered from the waist down." "So I survived." "I wouldn't have survived if I hadn't." "But because I was wrapped around a large rock and I was shooting uphill, it landed at my left ankle, fractured my left ankle and peppered me from the waist down." "Because we were in the middle of a major fight," "I was laying on that mountain for about seven hours till I finally got dusted off." "As I was being dusted off," "I got shot in a leg by a sniper." "And I looked and I said, "I just got shot."" "And I said, "What a day."" "What happened in the hospital" " I was in the 3rd Field Hospital in Saigon and the general came in and was pinning this Purple Heart on me." "And he took a picture." "I wasn't aware of it at the time, that they take that picture and they send it to my parents." "Maureen:" "It was St. Patrick's Day." "Michael liked St. Patrick's Day." "And I was in Manhattan." "And I was watching the parade." "And I went to give him a call." "And the phone-- there was no answer." "So I called later on during the day and later on, and I said, "Something's up," because he would have called me back." "So he doesn't call." "Maureen realizes that there's something wrong right away." "So she calls me and she says," ""Dan, you know, I didn't hear from Michael on St. Patrick's Day." "I think there's some-- there's a problem."" "I wanted to wish him a happy St. Patrick's Day." "So I didn't hear from him." "And about 10 days later, I get a phone call and I pick up and it's Mike." "And the first thing I say is," ""What happened to you?" "You were in the hospital."" "As usual, Michael is so focused and determined, he ignores the initial signs of there being a problem, because he's so focused on completing BUD/S and getting through that it gets worse until eventually he can't walk" "and they have to cut him out of his boots and his clothing." "Michael's thought wasn't about worrying about losing a leg." "It was, "Oh, I'm gonna be rolled to the next BUD/S class."" "Yeah, Murphy during training-- it happens quite frequently-- ended up getting a pretty severe case of cellulitis, which, you know, I've had it." "I've had it before." "And it's extraordinarily painful." "It's a pretty serious bacteria-- staph infection." "Maureen:" "Apparently he got-- I think it's called cellulitis." "And he almost lost his legs because of it." "And Michael got it so severe in his legs that he ended up having to roll back in training." "He goes, "Mama, I was rolled." And "rolled" means that he couldn't go back to his original SEAL class." "When you get rolled out of your BUD/S class, you-- a lot of guys just lose heart." "We have a saying in the teams, you know," ""Everyone wants to be a frogman on a sunny day."" "But, you know, most of your days are gonna be cold, wet and sandy, especially in BUD/S." "And sometimes one more injury on top of that like cellulitis, and you get rolled back, it can be that one thing that pushes you over the edge to say," ""You know what?" "I don't want it that much."" "He never spoke about how difficult it was or the different things he had to endure to get through what he did." "He calls me up, I guess, about the week before he starts Hell Week, and he says to me, "Dad," he said," ""do you remember that picture that Grandma had of you, you know, from Vietnam when you were in the hospital bed?"" "And I said, "Yes." And he said, "Could you do me a favor?"" "He said, "Do you have any extras?" And I said, "Yeah."" "And he said, "Could you send me one?"" "And I said to him, I said, "Michael, why do you want that picture?"" "And he says to me, he says, "Dad..."" "He said, "If you could get through that,"" "he said, "then I can get through Hell Week."" "And I just thought to myself... if a son could give a father a compliment," "( stammering ) You-- you prob-- you probably couldn't get a better compliment, that he not only recognized my service, but he understood the difficulties that I went through and recognizing, "Dad, if you could get through that," "and-- and I was so proud of what you did, then I should be able to get through Hell Week, which is nowhere near what you had to deal with."" "For Michael, it was just-- it was just one more obstacle he had to overcome." "And he didn't look back." "And, you know, it's a testament to his character and a testament to, you know, his quiet passion and commitment to making it on the team." "He went to SEAL training to become a SEAL." "That was-- and nothing was gonna stop it." "Maureen:" "I sent him a card." "When he was little, he used to like the story about the train." "I go to the card store and I see this card." "And it's a little train." "And it says, "I think I can, I think I can."" "And when you open the card, it said, "I knew you could." "Love, Mom."" "He called me when he got it and he said," ""Mom," he said, "that was the best present I ever got,"" "he says, "that you knew that I could do it."" "Velez:" "These are just tons of memories-- memories from high school, junior high, all the way up until now even." "Over here, these are some of my jujitsu medals, some of my science medals." "This medical shadow box-- my dad gave this one to me." "It was for one of my birthdays." "And I remember he gave it to me and I'm looking at it and in my mind I'm thinking," ""This is probably a hundred years old." ( laughs )" "I'm looking at it now and realizing, most likely not." "But realizing how the medical profession was back then and how it is now, and, you know, despite all the advances in technology and medicine and science, it's still helping somebody." "I'm very proud, very proud of Hector as-- as the person that he is developing into, very proud that he's choosing-- and I want to be very clear-- not medicine or what it is." "I'm very proud that he's choosing to give of himself and to help others." "Leaving high school, I knew," "I knew, I knew, I knew that I was gonna be a doctor." "So, through college, that was the unifying thread in all my internships, all my research experience." "I wanted that passion, that contact with people, where I could relate to them and I could try to help them out in any way possible." "Obviously, as an undergrad," "I don't have all the skills where I could be treating patients, but in any way that I could, that's what I was willing to do." "Widenhofer:" "Mike and Heather went to Penn State together." "They knew each other there, but they didn't start dating till he had graduated and he'd gone off to OCS and was now in the Navy." "And once he was-- once he moved to Hawaii and was stationed with his SEAL team out there, then that's when they got engaged." "He lost touch with all of us." "We didn't know that he had circled back with Heather." "None of us knew that." "And when I heard that they were actually engaged and she was his fiancée, it made me feel a little bit better, because knowing how much he loved her all through college" "I mean, he was-- she was his Everest." "I mean, he adored her." "A year before she went to Penn State, someone introduced them because she was gonna go." "And he, being Mike, you know" ""I'll show her around." "I'll take care of her."" "Evidently he decided he was gonna take care of her for a lot longer than the four years." "You talk about sticking to goals or having mental toughness" "I mean, he always knew that she was the girl for him." "Yeah, he was crazy about Heather." "That was-- we all knew that." "Mike was pretty quiet." "He was-- again, he was a junior guy out of-- he was an L2, or a Lieutenant Junior Grade." "And I was, like, Lieutenant Commander at the time." "When you're forward deployed, every day is Groundhog Day." "It's always the same and it's got plenty of work." "And again, I will tell you, Mike was-- he was just a very conscientious, dedicated young guy." "You know, he understood the big picture." "It may not be what he wanted to do or where he wanted to be, but he knew that was the best way he could support us, the command, at the time." "And so, he rucked up and did the job." "And as I talked to him off-line one time," "I said, "There'll come a day when you're gonna get tested, so, you know, just be patient."" "And Michael was tested." "He rarely spoke of the SEALs." "He would answer our questions very vaguely, I would have to say." "You know, "Oh, it's tough." ( chuckles )" ""Oh, yeah, I've gone a couple of places."" "Daniel:" "And he gave us some instructions, he said," ""I can't tell you where I am," he said," ""but I will keep in touch by e-mail." "Please do me a favor, do not talk about time differentials, because time differentials deal with the location."" "Maureen:" "He didn't really talk much about it because a lot of things that he had to do, you know, they're very tight-lipped about it, most of them are." "Michael would relate funny stories." "He said, "Oh, it was funny." "I was out." And he said, "I was running."" "He was jogging one time, and he saw these green eyes on the side." "And then he saw another pair." "So all they had was shorts and boots, that's it." "He didn't have anything else with him." "He said, "And I didn't carry my weapon."" "And he said, "And I got attacked by a bunch of hyenas."" "Maureen:" "One of the hyenas went to go lunge at him." "And he just jammed it right in the face with his fist." "He yelped like a little dog." "Scurried away, because they travel in packs." "He said, "I'm kicking him and trying to run at the same time."" "The reason why I know is because" "I found out about it and then I questioned him." "And Maureen said, "Michael, there's no hyenas in Iraq."" "And he said, "Oh, Mom, you caught me."" "And he said, "Yeah, I was in Africa."" "And that's when he said, "Mom, I nearly lost my life."" "He says, "It was kind of scary."" "When he would come home, no, he would never talk about work." "It was just, "Hey, how are you doing?" And everything was about-- never about him." "It was about, "How are you?"" "You know?" "That's just-- no, I never heard" "I would try to pull stuff out of him, but never-- he would never talk about work." "We all stayed in touch with Michael through e-mails and kept up with what's going on." "When he could tell us where he was, he did." "You know, that wasn't very often." "But, you know, he e-mails me one day and he's like, "Hey, Owen, can I get a firehouse patch?"" "So I said, "No problem, Mike." "I'll get you a patch."" "Then in the next e-mail he says," ""Well, actually, I need 30 patches." "30 patches?"" "Now to be honest, that's more guys than we had in the firehouse." "And he told me that basically he wanted a reason..." "James:" "The guys know why they're there." "Owen: ...the guys could think about while they're away, something from home, to remind them why they're there and what they were doing and who they were there for." "So the minute he got the patches," "Mike sewed it onto his uniform." "And his teammates told me he wore it every day, every mission, just to constantly remind himself and the guys he worked with that there was a bigger picture, the people back home who they were fighting for," "and the people that suffered after 9/11, not to forget." "Widenhofer:" "Operation Red Wings was a mission to get some real bad guys out in the Hindu Kush." "Those guys were remote." "They were far away." "It was enemy territory." "And we sent in" "Mike, Axe," "Marcus and Danny to go get their eyes on the bad guys as close as possible." "And they-- they went out there and were out there for several days." "They were compromised." "The enemy found them, was tracking them down." "And in a real short amount of time, probably just minutes and hours maybe, they were in a huge firefight." "( gunfire crackling )" "O'Shea:" "I was in Iraq serving when the call came in-- came in to MNFI," "Multinational Forces Iraq, at about midnight that four troops were in contact, or troops in contact." "And I was told, "Hey, Dan, those are four seals."" "I said, "What do you have?"" "And he said, "Well, I'll get you more information." "We don't have any names yet, but they're in the firefight of their life."" "And I went back in, you know, first thing the next morning." "And sure enough, by that point the battle had been going on, raging for hours, and still not a whole lot of detail." "I was watching television, the news." "And on the news it had this picture of, like, fake mountains." "It was almost like, drawn on there, like, you know, like mountains." "But they said that they were outnumbered and there's just four men trapped on the ground and these guys are under heavy fire." "And I thought, "Oh, my God."" "And then I went, "Oh, no." I said, "What's the shot of that?"" "At the operations center, they were following the beacons and they knew the guys were there, but they had no idea what was actually unfolding." "So I went to work the next day and somebody came in and said," ""Oh, my God, did you know there was a helicopter that went down with Navy SEALs?"" "And I said, "Well, that happened yesterday."" "And she goes, "No, I heard it today on the news."" "And I said, "Oh." And then I started to get a little bit nervous, 'cause it was like, "Well, that was two stories I heard."" "That Chinook that went in to get those guys, the Quick Reaction Force, was a helo aircraft full of real American heroes, real dedicated, talented, tough people." "People that you want to be out doing that type of work." "So by the time I got home, actually, Heather had called and said," ""Did you hear anything?" And I said, "No."" "So, you know, I was starting to get a little bit more worried about it and everything." "And she said that-- she said, "Well, there's a number, but I'm not married to him, so I can't get through."" "So I said, "Well, give me the number."" "As an aviator, as a helicopter pilot," "I know how badly you want to get in and help." "They wanted to start saving lives." "And they were just totally focused on-- on getting in there despite what was being shot at them, despite what was around them or who was in front of them or to the side of them." "They go and they do the work." "And I knew something was up because when I called California, all I said was, "My name is Maureen Murphy." "I'm calling about my son Mike." And I kept getting pushed." "And then it was like-- you know, like put onto somebody else." "Then I knew-- "Oh, my God, I didn't even give any other identification other than my name and Mike's first name."" "And then I had a feeling, "Oh, my God, he's involved in this," you know?" "Heather came down and asked, you know." "And I said, "Look, he's in Iraq."" "I said, "He just sent me a picture for Father's Day of him and his team."" "I said, "And there were mountains in the background,"" "I said, you know, so-- but it looked like desert." "I said, "They're in desert fatigues." I said, "He's in Iraq."" "And she said, "Yeah, but what about those mountains there?"" "Dan got an e-mail on Father's Day from Mike." "And I got an e-mail from him and I said, "Well, thank God."" "Because he said, "Mama, I'm back, but I've been away for a while." "I'm sorry I didn't keep in contact, but everything's okay." "I really like it here." "And I got some really funny stories to tell you and some sad ones too."" "One of my friends is a county attorney." "His name" " Tony." "And he's a reserve lieutenant colonel in the Army." "And he's been to Iraq and a bunch of places." "And so he says, "Oh, how's Mike doing?"" "I said, "Oh, he's deployed." "I think he's in--"" "I said, "I believe he's in Iraq." "He sent me this great picture of him and his SEAL team."" "And he looks at it and he said, "He's in Afghanistan."" "I said, "No, he's not." I said, "He's in Iraq."" "'Cause I had known he went to Qatar." "We were like-- we didn't really know what was going on." "But it was getting kind of like a little bit tense." "And, you know, I said, "Oh, my God, this is literally kind of getting me scared," you know?" "When Heather comes down and Maureen," "I'm trying to reassure them, "No, he's in Iraq." "Everything's okay."" "But in the back of my head, you know, that little birdie sits there and says," ""Oh, boy," you know, "Tony told me that's Afghanistan." "Maybe this isn't so good."" "Anyway, that night" "I went to bed and I just said, "You know what?" "I'm just gonna say my prayers before I go to bed."" "it was almost 12:00." "And I remember saying to John," ""You know what, John?" I said, "I called about six, seven hours ago."" "I said, "We haven't heard anything." "That's probably a good sign."" "So I got through saying my prayers and as I put out the light," "I heard a car pull up and I heard four doors closing." "So we parked the car across the street in a little parking lot right outside the house." "And the first thing I notice is all the lights are on." "And it's pretty late." "It's almost midnight." "But they're awake." "And I thought that was a good thing, but it also meant we had to get to work right away." "And the doorbell rang." "And I told John, so naive," "I said, "John, don't answer it," 'cause I figured they'd go away." "John answered and said, "Mom, you probably want to come down here." "There's some guys in uniform outside."" "Took their hats off and stood back for a minute, asked me who I was." "And I just said, "No." "No."" "And I just did not want to hear it." "We told her right away that Mike was missing." "We made sure to not say that he was deceased." "We didn't know what was going on out in Afghanistan." "We just got word that he and the three other guys were missing and they weren't in communication." "And Father Coyle-- he was really good." "He stepped forward and he said, "I'm a chaplain."" "He goes, "Mike wasn't in the helicopter,"" "which" " I had, like, temporary relief." "And he said, "He wasn't in the helicopter." "He was on the ground."" "And he says, "He's just missing."" "She wasn't falling apart or anything, because we weren't giving her much information." "She was trying to get more from us." "But Father Coyle was there, kind of settled us all down." "And he said a prayer." "And we all joined in." "Maureen calls me right away." "I live just down the block." "So she calls me and she says," ""The Navy is here, Dan." "Michael is missing."" "You're creating these images of, you know, if he's alive now, where is he?" "Is he captured?" "Is he on the run?" "It's like really painful when you don't know what happened to your child." "Even though he's a grown man, but he's still your child." "And you don't know if he's maybe hiding behind a rock and bleeding to death or maybe they're torturing him or doing something, you know, horrible, or maybe just dying there by himself, you know, maybe in a cave or something," "if he was lucky enough to get away." "And so I started asking, you know, questions about, what do we know, like, what happened, et cetera, et cetera." "And they didn't have a lot of information there." "He's missing?" "What are you talking about?" "So I leave work." "I go." "It was right around the corner from his house." "And everybody's, you know-- and it wasn't confirmed yet." "But I just figured there's no way he's gonna-- you know, the team is missing." "He's gonna pop up somewhere." "It's just how he was." "He's gonna find a way to get out." "We try to reassure each other that everything's gonna work out, and these are the most elite, trained military persons we have in the country." " Retreated to Maureen's house." " We retreated to Maureen's house" " to see how she was doing and try" " To do anything for her." "Provide any comfort and help we could to her." "And Maureen said, "Let's get these uniforms off." "It's stressing me out too much."" "So we came over in regular clothes the next day." "It starts off small and ends up to be like-- like a lot more." "There was probably 30, 40 people at-- you know, at some points just waiting for news." "There were points during those four days that we were able to laugh and we shared margaritas and we had some beers." "And we held onto some hope that we got, that sprinkled in from some of the reports." "My house was filled with, like, a hundred people at a clip, between people coming and going." "And they were really kind." "They brought all kinds of food." "Even neighbors I didn't even really know had brought all kinds of food and everything, 'cause there was just so much going on." "And so for six days he was missing." "But the rest of the time was difficult, you know." "We passed the time with small talk." "And the news was on constantly in the background." "And anytime anything would come up, we'd stop what we were doing and listen." "And it was excruciating." "You know, I said, "Maureen, he knows what he's doing." "He's great at this." "He's a smart guy," you know." "She said, "But he's not gonna get hurt on his own." "He's gonna get hurt trying to protect somebody."" "Maureen:" "It was a couple of minutes just before the end of the Fourth of July." "And we got the news that Michael didn't make it." "And I went into total shock, 'cause I was, like, looking, and everybody's crying." "And my body just shut down." "I just was like-- all I could think of is, he's not in pain anymore and that he's in heaven and... all the pain that he probably did suffer is gone." "And I don't know, I just got this numb feeling." "And I just was telling people he's okay, you know, and not to be upset." "I don't know." "Well, when he showed up that night in his whites, because this was formal, Dan was walking around his back yard." "And I saw him turn to Jeff and say," ""I don't want to talk to you."" "And I heard Mr. Murphy," "I heard him yell a few times he didn't want to talk to Jeff." ""Keep Jeff away." "I don't want to see him."" "Dan had rosaries that he held for five days while Mike was missing." "And I had come to find out during the course of those five days that those rosaries had belonged to my mother." "And when my brother Dan was hurt in Vietnam, my mother held onto those rosaries until she knew he was okay." "So for five days Dan held those rosaries." "He started to walk into his house, and there was a garbage can to his right." "And he took the rosary beads and he just threw them in the garbage and kept walking." "While conducting surveillance on a mountain ridge in Afghanistan, he and three fellow SEALs were surrounded by a much larger enemy force." "Their only escape was down the side of a mountain." "And the SEALs launched a valiant counterattack while cascading from cliff to cliff." "But as the enemy closed in," "Michael recognized that the survival of his men depended on calling back to the base for reinforcements." "With complete disregard for his own life, he moved into a clearing where his phone would get reception." "He made the call, and Michael then fell under heavy fire." "Yet his grace and upbringing never deserted him." "Though severely wounded, he said, "Thank you," before hanging up and returned to the fight before losing his life." "Unfortunately, the helicopter carrying the reinforcements never reached the scene." "It crashed after being struck by a rocket-propelled grenade." "And in the end more Americans died in Afghanistan on June 28th, 2005, than on any other day since the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom." "This day of tragedy also has the sad distinction of being the deadliest for Navy Special Warfare Forces since World War ll." "One of Michael's fellow SEALs did make it off the mountain ridge." "He was one of Michael's closest friends," "Petty Officer Marcus Luttrell of Texas, author of a riveting book called "Lone Survivor."" ""Put it this way-- Mikey was the best officer I ever knew." "An iron-souled warrior of colossal and almost unbelievable courage in the face of the enemy."" "Daniel:" "When I was told about it, that Michael's final words were, "Thank you, sir,"" "or, "Roger that." "Thank you, sir,"" "Maureen and I looked at each other, we were not surprised." "Everything about Mike, his whole life led up to that." "He, you know, led his whole life with honor, so..." "Yeah, I'm not surprised." "I mean, we knew it." "It was his sacrifice." "Velez:" "Leaving high school, I knew that college was gonna be a big issue financially." "I knew that if I wanted to go, I would have to apply myself." "And wanting, you know-- having the desire to go and having the grades to go are one thing, but there are very tangible things that you must have in order to continue that goal." "So in my senior year of high school, I actually applied to 49 scholarships." "Yes." "Knowing that, I only received eight." "However, those eight have been a blessing." "And those eight have been able to sustain my entire college career." "The last time I saw Michael was on Easter Sunday that year, 2005." "And, you know, we were all set to say goodbye." "And I said to him, "Bye, Mike."" "And he said, "Mama, you never say goodbye to me."" "And I said, "I don't know why I said that."" "I said, "Oh, don't pay attention to me."" "But then he said goodbye to everybody else and he told Kelly and John, he said, "Oh, I'll see you." And they said, "Yeah, we'll see you," like that." "So I didn't think anything more about it." "I pick him up and I take him to the airport." "And we're driving to the airport." "We're talking about a hundred different things." "And I said, "Oh, God," I said, "Michael, please do me a favor, call and let us know that you got home to Hawaii safe."" "Maureen:" "And I said, "Hey, Mike, do me a favor, when you get out to Hawaii, make sure you give me a call back."" "You know, 'cause we" " I just want to make sure that he gets home okay." "So in the meantime, he never did call." "(thumps, whirrs)" "Maureen:" "We were told when he was gonna come to the United States." "And Danny and I decided to go down to Dover." "Maureen and I wanted to meet Michael when he returned to US soil." "They took him out of the plane." "And they took him down on this big-- it was almost like a carrier that comes up to the height of the plane to take the casket." "As the casket came down and it went down-- all the way down to the ground," "I could picture Michael coming in his white uniform towards us." "I could just picture him, 'cause he was-- one foot turned in a little bit." "And I could picture him walking over to us." "When it hit the ground at about the length of the time that it could have taken him to walk over to us, there was this warmth, honest to God." "And it was almost like a hug from him." "And I looked down and I looked and everybody felt the same reaction." "And we all-- it was, like, calm." "And I remember we all looked at each other and I said, "Did you feel that?"" "And everybody-- my brother-in-law, my sister-in-law, Dan, John-- we all felt it." "It was like this warm, like, calm that came over." "All the way home, we were just calm." "I wanted to ride with my son." "It was his last trip home." "So I told Maureen that I would ride in the hearse with Michael." "And she rode in-- her uncle provided a limousine." "She rode with the family right behind us." "And we drove." "Maryland, we had, like, a two-police-car escort." "And then New Jersey, the New Jersey troopers met us and they were a two-car escort." "And we get to the Verrazano Bridge." "And at the Verrazano Bridge-- only Commissioner Kelly of New York City, you know?" "New York City always seems to do it bigger and better than everybody else." "Every town stopped traffic, had police standing on the corner saluting him." "When we came over the bridges coming back, the Belt Parkway was completely shut down." "Every stop, those officers would be there blocking the traffic so they couldn't get through and saluting his casket coming past." "I will never forget that as long as I live." "Remember, this is before we knew anything about the battle, anything of his courage or what he did." "He was just a Navy SEAL being returned home." "They close down the Belt Parkway and there is a New York City police officer who salutes Michael as he goes by." "And I turned, I put my hand on the casket and I just said, "Michael," I said, "this is all for you." "And you deserve it."" "One of the things I'm proud of is, as first responders, we take care of each other as best we can." "And it was nice to know that they accepted Mike and his sacrifice as one of the local guys." "And they went out of their way" "The police department, the fire department-- everybody turned out." "Owen:" "Volunteer or paid, everybody came together and did everything they could to try to make the situation as easy or as bearable for Dan and Maureen as possible." "Daniel:" "At the funeral, they filled the church." "The church holds, like, I think, 2000-2500 people." "The church was filled." "And they were outside." "It was raining too, so everybody was standing out in the rain." "Maureen:" "It was pouring rain." "And I remember getting into the limousine and looking out, and I saw these men that obviously served in World War ll or Korea-- old men-- standing at attention and saluting him all the way down the street out of Kings Park." "You know, everybody is still in a kind of shock at the same time." "You know, you're going through the motions and you're, you know, realizing, but yet not realizing what's going on, because you just don't want to believe that it's happened." "I'll never forget them wheeling the casket down the middle of the church." "And it came time to go right past me, and that was-- that was the hardest I've cried in my life." "I'd never felt that before, because it wasn't a sadness for me." "It wasn't a pity thing." "It was" " I-- my heart was broken for another being and another family." "And I didn't know what to do with myself." "The fact that he-- that he wasn't there anymore, that he paid the ultimate sacrifice, just killed me, absolutely killed me." "When we left the funeral home, the Suffolk Police Department provided" " a motorcycle escort in the rain..." " An escort in the rain." "...with a couple other departments as well." "When they approached the entrance to Calverton, the local fire departments got together and set up ladder trucks and hung tremendous..." " Huge American flags." " ..." "American flags from the top of the ladder trucks over the roadway." "Keenan:" "Brings back memories now." "You know, I can kind of picture the flags waving." "The engine trucks-- the fire engine trucks-- it was-- it was-- it was awesome, really." "Daniel:" "We all park and there's a private service-- the O'Callaghans and Michael's friends and really tight Navy-- an aide had come." "They lift out Michael and they bring him over to his gravesite and put him down." "And there's a short service by Father Coyle there." "And we-- the service ends, and Maureen and I and John, we turn and we are heading back to the car, which is literally 50 feet away." "And we just leave Mike." "We were the last two to leave." "We turn around and we head back." "And Maureen's phone goes off." "And I remember it so vividly." "She says, "Who would be calling me now?" "They all know we're at a funeral."" "I look down and my cell phone's going off." "And so I look at my cell, I open it up." "And then I see tears welling up in her eyes." "And my first thought was, "Oh, she got more bad news." "What?"" "And I said, "Maureen, are you okay?"" "And she can't speak." "And she just hands me the phone." "And I look at the phone and it's a message from Michael that says," ""Mama, home safe and sound." "Love, Mike."" "And in it, it says," ""Mama, home safe and sound."" "And I thought, "Oh, my God," you know, that's a gift, knowing that your child-- temporarily you won't see him, but he's okay." "Now remember, we're in July-- July 13th now, he's being buried." "The message on March 31st was," ""Mama, got home 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." "Daniel:" "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?"" "Maureen:" "He said that Mike was "next to my heart."" "I thought that was so nice." "Daniel:" "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..." "( quavers )" ""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." " ( cheering, applause ) -( band playing march music )" "Linda:" "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." "Daniel:" "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." "O'Shea:" "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."" "( Silent )" "Palmer:" "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." "Velez:" "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," "I realized it was more than just a check and a pat on the back, but it was an honor." "It was a legacy that I was given." "Daniel:" "You look at a man who has probably dove to depths that are classified and nobody knows, jumped out of planes at heights on oxygen, you know, doing HALOs or whatever-- you know, so he did it all, you know." "And I think in my mind and my heart at least I know that he lived a really full life." "People should remember him just" "I know everybody knows as a great guy, but Mike would have done anything for anybody." "He would have been there for you no matter what, any type of weather." "He" " I don't know." "It's kind of hard to put into words why people should remember Mike, but Mike is just the greatest guy I've ever met in my whole life." "I guess what I would tell him is that, knowing him so much as a child," "I regret that I didn't get to spend more time with him as an adult." "Giving myself over to others is something that from my parents has been ingrained, from my family it's been ingrained, and from Michael Murphy, it just solidified it even more." "He gave me that opportunity, and it's my chance and my opportunity to go forth with it." "So, I mean, it had to be when Michael was, I guess, about 12 and we were down two runs." "It was the ninth inning." "And he hits a home run." "And he wins the game." "And comes around the bases... and all those boys literally surround him, you know, the way they normally do, because they won the game." "It was important." "And they're jumping around and telling Michael," ""Michael, you won the game." "You won the game."" "( quavering ) And it was funny" "Michael turns around to them and says," ""I didn't win the game." "This was a team sport."" "And he said, "if you hadn't got on base, if you hadn't got on base for me to hit the hit that scored the runs, we wouldn't have won the game."" "That particular game was so like him, you know." "And it was just a microcosm of his life." "It was always-- it was never about him." "It was always about his teammates, his men." "And so that's why when things happened like they happened on that mountain, it didn't surprise Maureen and I at all." "I'd say thank you." " I'm a better person for knowing Mike." " Absolutely." "I think all of us, you know, were blessed to have him in our lives." "I'd thank him for every day," " every second I had with him." " We're gonna miss him." " Owen:" "Definitely." " Jessica:" "Absolutely." "Owen:" "I'd give anything to have him back, but I wouldn't trade anything for what we had." "♪ All the money ♪" "♪ That e'er I had ♪" "♪ I spent it in good company ♪" "♪ And all the harm I've ever done ♪" "♪ Alas, it was ♪" "♪ To none but me ♪" "♪ And all I've done ♪" "♪ For want of wit... ♪" "( crowd chattering )" " There's no need to tape." " Daniel:" "No?" " No." " I have to." "Just a little bit." "( chuckles ) Are you blushing?" "♪ Good night, and joy be to you all ♪" "♪ Fill to me the parting glass ♪" "♪ And drink a health whate'er befalls ♪" "♪ Then gently rise ♪" "♪ And softly call ♪" "♪ Good night and joy ♪" "♪ Be to you all... ♪" "♪ All the comrades that e'er I had ♪" "♪ They're sorry for my going away ♪" "♪ And, oh, the sweetheart fore'er I had ♪" "♪ She wished me one more day to stay... ♪" "He kind of just-- he was okay with-- not that he never feared the consequences." "He was okay with the consequences." "You know, this is the guy that-- that driving back to Penn State, and instead of figuring out a way for another ride, he just wanted to go with me, even though I already had someone going with me." "And he just decided to lie down in the bed of my pickup truck for the entire trip back to Penn State." "Now, I mean, if anything goes wrong, he's in trouble." "And that was clearly spelled out to him." "He said, "Don't worry about it." "I'll be fine."" "And that was just-- that was just how he was." "( laughs ) I mean" " Mactavish:" "I never heard that." " Yeah, just lying" "I mean, that's a 300-mile trip." "And it's not from San Diego to Los Angeles." "We're talking in the dead of winter, going to Penn State, he's just lying down in the bed of a pickup truck." "And I don't know if his mom knows that story, so... ( laughs )" "Man:" "CrossFit gyms recently participated in a nationwide workout to honor fallen heroes and raise money for military charities such as the Navy SEAL Foundation." "The annual event honored fallen Navy SEAL Lieutenant Michael Murphy." "It was just a good cause." "It just brought a lot of camaraderie with just the military and just kind of really honoring the fallen heroes that died for our country." "Our owners Jake and John are former Navy SEALs, and so they're very big on giving back to the Navy SEAL Foundation." "Man:" "The workout was one of many events that are put on by the CrossFit community each year to support the military." "CrossFit East Village is a huge military community." "A lot of our members are actually part of the military." "Murph, you're a stud." "A huge inspiration for all of us in the CrossFit community." "A hero, a real hero for everybody that knows your story." "♪ They paved a trail ♪" "♪ Pointed to a path that's less ♪" "♪ Pulled the breath ♪" "♪ That blew your sails ♪" "♪ Taking your heart ♪" "♪ From your chest ♪" "♪ Oh, but time ♪" "♪ ls sometimes too late ♪" "♪ To find out what you think you might ♪" "♪ You decide ♪" "♪ If it all comes down to fate ♪" "♪ Is this sacrifice ♪" "♪ The one thing right?" "♪" "♪ Oh, 'cause I am here ♪" "♪ Tonight. ♪"