MURDY, Michael Stephen
Michael Stephen Murdy age 54 of Carpinteria passed away March 28, 2002.
Mike was a devoted husband, loving son, beloved brother and uncle who will be greatly missed by his family and friends.
Visitation/Viewing will be Friday April 5 at Welch-Ryce-Haider Funeral Chapel, 15 East Sola Street Santa Barbara from 10:00 am to 8:00 PM.
Funeral service will take place Saturday April 6 at Christ The King Episcopal Church, 5073 Hollister Avenue, Santa Barbara at 11:00 am with Reception immediately following .
Interment with Military Honor Guard will take place Monday, April 8, 2002, 10:00 am at the Carpinteria Cemetery, 1501 Cravens Lane, Carpinteria.
Mike was born in Orange California July 7, 1947 to Charles and Barbara Murdy. He grew up in Long Beach, California and moved to Lompoc, California in 1963. He graduated from Lompoc High School in 1965. Mike was a soldier in the US Army from 1968-1971 serving in the Central Highlands of Vietnam as a combat tank driver 1969-1970. Upon discharge from the service, Mike attended Santa Barbara City College and Cal Poly State University San Luis Obispo graduating in 1975 with high honors.
Mike has worked as a Veterans Representative for the State of California Employment Development Department for 27 years. He garnered much recognition for his outstanding career and dedication to helping veterans. He received many commendations for high job-placement rates of veterans and was recognized for organizing programs and events to benefit veterans. He was named Local Hero in 1987 by the Santa Barbara Independent and in 1990 was named Local Veterans Employment Representative of the Year by the State of California. In August 2001 he was awarded a commendation from the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors in recognition of his 20 years of dedication and outstanding service to the veterans and citizens of Santa Barbara County. He was actively involved with several veterans and community organizations including Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 218 and a Lifetime Member of the Disabled American Veterans.
In addition to his exemplary work with the Employment Development Department, Mike was an accomplished writer contributing many interesting articles, stories, opinions to local newspapers and publications. His family and friends always looked forward to Mike's analysis and predictions of the annual Super Bowl game.
He is survived by his wife Patricia Ayn Murdy of Carpinteria; his mother Barbara Murdy, Morro Bay, three sisters: Anne Russell (Rex) of Vista, CA; Kathleen Ragusa, New York, NY; Charlene Moss (Richard) of Visalia, CA; two brothers: Lawrence Koppl (Kay) of Stamford, CT; Woody Koppl (Nancy) of Morro Bay CA. Nephews: Tony Ragusa (Beth) of Baton Rouge, LA; Richard 'Skip" Moss, Santa Barbara, CA; Michael Moss, Visalia, CA; Christopher Koppl, and Benjamin Koppl of Morro Bay, CA. Nieces: Jennifer Corddry (Michael) Greenwich, CT., Corrine Ragusa, New York, NY and Lauren Moss of Visalia, CA. Great-nephew, Chad Ragusa, Baton Rouge La.
Other survivors include his mother-in-law, Mary Cummings, Rochester, NY; brother in law, Richard Cummings (Christine) Raleigh, NC; sisters-in-law, Johanna Cummings, Rochester, NY; Christine Magliocco (Gabriel), Rochester, NY; Catherine O'Connor (Mark) Rochester, NY. Nephews: Seann Cummings, Raleigh, NC; Gabriel Magliocco Rochester, NY; Nieces: Stephanie Magliocco, Shannon O'Connor, and Kelly O'Connor all of Rochester, NY
Friends, family, co-workers will remember him as a man of outstanding character, great wit and loving kindness. Mike will be greatly missed by the VGBs: Pancho, Cisco, and Nacho.
Michael would want any contributions to be made to the Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 218; PO Box 2241, Santa Barbara, CA 93120.
Your beautiful soul taught us your simple truth of love. You will forever live in our hearts.
Mike Murdy survived Vietnam but he didn't survive the war.
It lived in his head for 33 years.
Last Thursday, he jumped from the Micheltorena Street freeway bridge.
"He had demons left over from Vietnam," said fellow vet Dennis Hartman. "He could help everyone else but he couldn't help himself."
I've known Mike for many years, waving as he made his daily coffee run, walking over from his job working with veterans at the state employment office.
Mike was a cheerful guy, dedicated to helping fellow vets because he shared the hell they went through.
"Mike's name won't get on the Vietnam Wall in Washington," another vet told me, "but if every Vietnam-related suicide was, the Wall would be three times as long."
In Mike's op-ed pieces and News-Press interviews over the years, he told of recurring nightmares from his days as an Army tank driver in the highlands of Vietnam.
"I'll never forget Vietnam," he once wrote. "Faces and names of young American men I fought with, but who didn't make it back, flash through my mind as I physically react to the sounds of helicopters flying or cars backfiring.
"Yes, 15 years later my body still jerks when I hear a loud or sudden noise. Yes, I think about Vietnam every day. Yes, I have nightmares about machine gun fire, screams and blood.
"No, I'll never forget Vietnam and the tragedy of war."
A young man from Lompoc and a Cal Poly grad, Mike found himself assigned to drive a tank, "sitting in the blood of the last driver."
He told of trudging through waist-deep monsoon water, fighting off leeches, snakes, "rats as big as cats," and beetle-size ants.
"The rats would try to get to the bodies faster than the medics," he said. He told of "a very racist, destructive and ignorant tank commander from the South who loved to mess with the natives in Vietnam. Well, he never made it (home)."
"When we came home ... they treated us like bleep. The right wing called us losers, pansies and worse. The left wing called us baby-killers. The media said we were ticking time bombs. And they wondered why we got so angry."
Mike was infuriated when Vietnam-era Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara wrote that he and other White House officials knew the war was unwinnable and a mistake back in the mid-1960s but pressed on, sending thousands more to their deaths.
"Over a half-million returned from the war severely disabled in mind, body and spirit," Mike wrote. "For what? A mistake?"
Services will be held 11 a.m. Saturday at Christ the King Church. Graveside services will be 10 a.m. Monday at Carpinteria Cemetery. Donations can be sent to Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 218, P.O. Box 2241, Santa Barbara 93120.
I grieve for my friend Mike Murdy and all the other Mike Murdys.
Barney Brantingham's column runs Wednesdays through Sundays. You can reach Barney at 564-5105 or by e-mail at bbrantingham@newspress.com.
Losing war only error U.S. made in Vietnam
Voice from Vandenberg Village / Matt Reeves
4/16/02
Barney Brantingham's April 2 column, "Vietnam War veteran wrestled with demons," gives one picture of the oft-maligned Vietnam veteran. I'd like to give another view.
Mr. Brantingham's story on Mike Murdy is interesting but not diagnostic. It seems to suggest that Mr. Murdy committed suicide as a result of combat experiences in Vietnam and attendant feelings of guilt and remorse. Stories like this, long on melodramatic appeal, perpetuate a two-part myth.
First, Vietnam veterans are haunted by demons and are unable to cope with life. Second, this psychological trauma was induced by participation in an unjust, immoral war.
With regard to the latter, Mr. Murdy and former Secretary of State Robert McNamara assert the Vietnam War was a mistake.
For those who think our role in Vietnam was a mistake, I have one word for you -- Korea.
Is there a person on the planet who believes the people of South Korea would be better off today under the communist north?
Thank God the American Marxists and liberals, who supported a communist victory in Vietnam, were less effective during the Korean War.
Did I say one word? Well, perhaps a few more.
Does the term Khmer Rouge mean anything to you? The Communist Cambodians, supported and directed by China, slaughtered 2 million to 3 million of their own countrymen. This modern holocaust occurred when the Khmer Rouge, emboldened by the withdrawal of U.S. forces, sought to destroy any vestige of a free and democratic Cambodia. The communists also committed numerous atrocities in Vietnam and Laos in the years following the U.S. pullout.
With all due respect to Mr. Murdy and Secretary McNamara, the only mistake we made was not winning the war. Oh yes, had our efforts not been sabotaged on the home-front, we would have won the war. As a minimum, we could have constructed a Korea-like stalemate. In either case, we would have saved millions of lives. As icing on the cake, South Vietnam and Cambodia would now be more like Thailand than Afghanistan.
With regard to the second erroneous implication of the column, i.e., the Vietnam experiences left many veterans unable to cope.
For every Mike Murdy you can name, I can name 10 like Sen. John McCain, Sen. Jeremiah Denton and Max Cleland. Mr. Cleland returned from Vietnam minus both legs and one arm. He didn't dwell on his injuries or personal war stories, nor did he condemn his country. He became a role model and now serves in the U.S. Congress.
Most Vietnam vets are not as distinguished as these gentlemen, but neither are we misfits. Most, like our dads from World War II, returned home to be solid, productive citizens, proud for serving when our country called.
Mr. Murdy's death is tragic, and anything but painless for his friends and family. However, I doubt it had anything to do with Vietnam. We compound the tragedy in using such events to diminish America's fight against communism, the most oppressive form of government of the 20th century.
Matt Reeves of Vandenberg Village was stationed at Da Nang Air Base, 1969-1970.
Comments from the site author on the above article
Mike Murdy suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
The writer of the above article obviously does not, and this applies to the majority of Vietnam veterans.
Perhaps his counselling veterans for most of his productive working career contributed to the depression which resulted in his tragic death.
Reprinted with permission from the
Santa Barbara News-Press
MILITARY HONORS
Vietnam veteran Michael Murdy was laid to rest in Carpinteria Cemetery with Military Honors on Monday.
Reprinted with permission from the
Coastal View
COMMENTS FROM THE SITE AUTHOR
I barely knew Mike, but I saw him every day.
Some days I saw him three or four times as he made his ritual trips from the employment office to the coffee house.
I especially remember running into him after reading one of his many editorials in the News-Press.
We laughed and joked about his "rats as big as cats" statement. I had no idea that those rats haunted his mind.
My only regret is that I never said to him, "Welcome Home, Brother!"
REST IN PEACE, BROTHER
PLEASE, SIGN THE GUEST BOOK!
MIKE WOULD APPRECIATE IT ,
AND SO WOULD HIS FAMILY, FRIENDS AND BROTHER VETERANS.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
View the Mike Murdy Memorial Guestbook
Sign the Mike Murdy Memorial Guestbook
This site is operated and maintained by
Howard A. Drozd
Webmaster
Veterans Links
Santa Barbara, CA
Created with the CoffeeCup HTML Editor
