L.I. Medal of Honor recipient’s final battle being made into major motion picture
The heroic story showing how one Wading River man’s son received the military’s highest honor will soon be told at a theater near you.
“The Lone Survivor” will recount the battle with Taliban forces that claimed the life of Lieutenant Michael Murphy of Patchogue and three of his fellow Navy SEALs on June 28, 2005 in the mountains of Afghanistan.
Only one of Lt. Murphy’s SEAL Team 10 members, then-Navy Hospital Corpsman Second Class Marcus Luttrell, survived the ambush.
Lt. Murphy’s father, Daniel Murphy of Wading River, told the News-Review this week that “The Lone Survivor” is currently being filmed in Vancouver.
The Universal Pictures film will be directed by Peter Berg (“Friday Night Lights,” “Hancock”) and reportedly stars Mark Wahlberg as Officer Luttrell, Taylor Kitsch (“John Carter”) and Ben Foster (“Six Feet Under”). Various online reports over who plays Lt. Murphy conflict.
The film is based on the book, “Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL team 10,” co-written by Marcus Luttrell and Patrick Robinson.
The SEAL team became the most decorated in history with Lt. Murphy posthumously receiving the Medal of Honor and three others being awarded the Navy Cross, the branch’s second highest honor.
Lt. Murphy was the first to receive the medal for service in Afghanistan and the first member of the U.S. Navy to receive the award since the Vietnam War.
Daniel Murphy said not only will the film be released next year, but a guided missile destroyer christened in his son’s name will be commissioned on Saturday, Oct. 6 in New York City.
“They christened [the destroyer] they named after Michael on his 35th birthday last year,” his father said.
Lt. Murphy’s biography, “Seal of Honor: Operation Red Wings and the Life of Lt. Michael P. Murphy” was written by Gary Williams and published in 2010. A film telling that story is also in the works, according to reports.
Read more in Thursday’s News-Review.
