November 10, 2025 • 46 mins
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The jaw-dropping saga of Operation Red Wing comes alive as we dive into the heart-stopping story of Lieutenant Michael Murphy and his SEAL team.
Picture this: a mountain erupting with chaos as they face an onslaught from 30 to 40 heavily armed Taliban fighters. It's a tale of bravery and sacrifice, with Murphy making the ultimate call for help, stepping into the open despite the deadly fire. Spoiler alert: only one of the SEALs, Marcus Luttrell, made it out alive, and the heart-wrenching aftermath changed military history forever.
Join us as we chat with Chris Wyllie, the executive director of the Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy Navy SEAL Museum, who shares how they keep this incredible legacy alive. From artifacts to inspiring stories, it’s a wild ride through honor, duty, and the spirit of heroism!
📍 Google Maps to the LT Michael Murphy Navy SEAL Museum
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:08):
The mountain erupted.Operation Red Wing had just gone
seriously awry. The firstvolley was deafening, delivered by
an overwhelming force of anestimated 30 to 40 Taliban fighters,
all heavily armed with machineguns and RPGs. They were led, ironically,
by the target himself, AhmadShah. Lieutenant Michael Murphy and
(00:30):
his team of SEALs wereimmediately pinned down on the steep,
exposed ridge in the HinduKush Mountains. Danny Dietz was hit
almost instantly, takingshrapnel and bullet wounds as he
tried to establish radiocontact. Axelson and Luttrell fought
back, ferociously expandingmagazine after magazine. Murphy,
despite the chaos andimpossible odds, coordinated their
(00:54):
defense, constantly moving anddirecting fire. They were falling,
tumbling down themountainside, their bodies bruised
and bloody from the violentimpacts as they desperately sought
cover. Axelson was shot in thechest and Littrell suffered a deep
groin wound. Dietz, shotseveral more times, kept fighting
until he was physically unableto hold his rifle. With his men badly
(01:16):
wounded and the enemy closingin, Murphy knew they needed help
now. But the mission criticalsatellite phone wouldn't connect
in the rocky terrain. Knowingexactly what about to do, Murphy
scrambled out of the smalldepression that offered their only
protection. Moving into theopen, enemy fire zeroing in on him.
He calmly dialed the distresssignal, reciting their position and
(01:40):
the size of the attackingforce. He was hit in the back, a
bullet exiting his chest. Heclutched the phone, finished the
call with the chilling signoff of thank you and then returned
fire with his M4 until hecollapsed. Lieutenant Murphy had
been killed in action. Thefight raged on. Two of the remaining
three SEALs, Danny Dietz andMatthew Axelson, died fighting back.
(02:04):
The last member of the team,Marcus Luttrell, was blasted down
a cliff by an rpg, losingconsciousness. Meanwhile, back at
the base, a massive quickreaction force had scrambled. An
MH47 Chinook helicoptercarrying eight additional SEALs and
eight Army Night Stalkers spedtowards the team's location. Before
they could even deploy, an RPGslammed into the rear rotor. The
(02:26):
helicopter spiraled down themountain, killing all 16 men on board
in one devastating instant,making it the single deadliest day
in naval special warfarehistory. Of the original four man
team, only Marco Satrellsurvived. Found days later by local
villagers and.
Sheltered in their home, hewas eventually rescued. Lieutenant
(02:47):
Michael Murphy wasposthumously awarded the.
Medal of Honor for his actions that.
Day from moving into the open and.
Taking a bullet to ensure histeammates had a chance to survive.
Welcome to Talk with History.
I am your host Scott and mywife and historian Jen recently visited
(03:08):
the.
Lt. Michael Murphy Navy SEALMuseum in.
Long Island, New York.
Longtime listeners of the showknow that Jen is a Penn State graduate,
class of 1999. And as fatewould have it, Lt. Michael Murphy
is a Penn State graduate,class of 1998. Jen was honored to
tell the story of Lt. Murphy,whom you may know.
From the popular movie LoneSurvivor that recounts the events
(03:31):
of Operation Red Wing and theheroic actions of all the.
Seals there that day.
Or you may be more familiarwith the popular workout many know
as the Murph, named in honorof this fallen hero.
Today, we are lucky enough tohave Mr. Chris Wiley join us. Chris
is the current executivedirector of.
The Lieutenant Michael P.Murphy Navy SEAL Museum.
(03:52):
As a Long island native andformer Navy SEAL himself, Chris is
in charge of the dailyoperations of the museum.
And actively drives the visionof the museum forward.
He helps represent the museumthrough public engagement by participating
in events like swimming.
In the annual SEALS Swim in the.
Hudson river and otheractivities with his fellow brothers
in arms. I hope you enjoy ourconversation with Chris.
(04:21):
Thanks for joining us. So ifyou could, for our audience who doesn't
know where you are and whatyou do, could you just give us a
brief? This is who I am andhow you became the director of the
Lieutenant.
Murphy Navy SEAL Museum.
So, okay. My name is ChrisWiley. I the executive director of
the Lieutenant Michael MurphyNavy SEAL Museum. I grew up on Long
(04:42):
island and became a seal, gotmedically retired after seven years
and came back home to raise myfamily. So when I started working
back as a civilian on LongIsland, I created a business for
myself. And as that businessgrew was in electronics. So I was
(05:05):
doing a lot of home theatersand home automation and things of
that nature. And when I hadheard of the potential that there
was a Navy SEAL museum going,planned on being created in Long
Island, I really felt like Ineeded to get involved. I didn't
know what that involvementwould be, but that was my initial
(05:27):
reaction. I have to getinvolved. This is something near
and dear to me. And so Istarted reaching out to the museum.
It took me quite a long timeto make a connection where I could
get in front of somebody justbecause everything was such in its
infancy. So about two years ofme figuring out how do I get in touch
(05:47):
with him. Some friend of mineinvited me to a Rotary Club meeting,
which I've never been to.
Yeah.
And didn't understand why theyinvited me to this meeting. And they
said, well, Mr. Murphy's goingto be there and he's going to be
talking about the museum. So Ithought it would be a really good
way to get in front of Them.So when I attended that meeting,
(06:10):
met with them, and they werethere asking for help from all the
different contractors thatwere part of that Rotary Club and
donors and things of thatnature. So met with the family, and
one of the board membersexplained who I was, explained what
I wanted to do, and a fewweeks later, they reached out to
me and asked me to come ontothe board. Now, this is way back
(06:34):
before we even broke ground.So for quite a few years, I was the
only SEAL on the board and washelping navigate some of the choices
and how to properly rememberand display the history as a seal.
I was that kind of insight.That's what I was providing.
Absolutely.
And, and my original idea wasto take the relationships that I
(07:00):
had with my company, withdifferent manufacturers and potential
donors, help the museum bebuilt, created, and that would have
been my contribution. So thatwas my original plan. Okay. And then
as, as the museum grew and aswe were building the museum, we got
(07:24):
closer and closer to opening.And then the family came to me just
before reopened and said, wewould love for you to run the museum.
What, you know, what are yourthoughts? And I was in a position
in my life where I said, well,maybe this would be another. A nice
way to, to take that next stepin my career. So that's how I got
(07:47):
involved. I never expected tobe running a museum dressing mannequins,
as I was joking when we, whenwe were walking through. Never thought
I would be doing that. Andit's very therapeutic for me. So
that, that is definitely abenefit of being at the museum and
being involved with, with this.
(08:08):
No, I think, I think that'samazing. And it's, it's. It's not
too surprising to me, right,that as you got involved early, you're
going through that the familywould come to someone who was in
the military, was in the same,the same part of the Navy. And military
folks typically are goodbusiness owners, like, as you've
(08:29):
proven with your own business,and be like, okay, I know what we
need to do. I know what weneed to. I know what we need to get
there. And I'm going to walkus from A to Z. And all of a sudden
they find someone that,that's, that's that driver that's,
that's seeing the vision anddriving the vision of the museum.
So that's pretty cool.
Yeah. And like I said, it wasan honor actually to one that was
the first board I was ever apart of. I was unlisted guy, so I
(08:51):
wasn't an officer, so didn'treally have a lot of that white glove.
I mean, they didn't. RotaryClub wasn't part of Navy SEAL training.
I mean, come on.
No, no. They left that part out.
They left that part out.
Yeah. So.
So one of the things that Iwas curious about, and I know Jen
has all. All her questions,but she got to go to the museum.
I didn't get to go. So one ofthe things. And if folks are watching
(09:14):
this podcast or listening tothis podcast, I encourage.
You guys to go watch the video.
That Jen was able to makewhile she visited, because you do
an amazing job of telling thestory of not just Lieutenant Michael
Murphy, but the Navy SEALs.Like, how did you go about getting
all of the equipment? And, Imean, there's a lot of Navy SEAL
(09:34):
equipment, Navy Navy gear. Allthat stuff. Was that from donors?
Was that you reaching out topeople you still knew in the service?
Is that some of your gear?Like, how did you get all of that?
There's a. There's a quite afew displays that are my gear.
Okay.
But they're. So that's a greatquestion. And what I try to explain
to people is that we're notfederally, state, or locally supported.
(09:59):
There's no funding. Yeah. Thisis a private museum. We're trying
to work with the county andthe local government right now to
get some help in that sense.But. Great question. We have a few
items that came from the Navy.So we have a sdv, the SEAL delivery
vehicle outside, like a minisubmarine that actually did come
(10:21):
from the Navy that was in use.So that was an artifact that the
Navy provided. But I would say90% of the equipment and things have
been private donors. Peoplethat I've asked, friends of mine,
where I call up saying, hey,what do you have laying around? I
don't care if it's broken orout of date, because we're trying
(10:42):
to tell the entire story. Sosome of the gear. And you both know
in the military, they'll justthrow things out to them. It's useless.
So they would rather throw itout than deal with donating it and
that logistics, because ifthey donate to one entity, then they
have to donate to all theentities. So that's where I see it
(11:04):
sounds wasteful, but Iunderstand the logistics of, well,
hey, you donated something tothem. Why aren't you donating to
me? So I get it, but that'swhat we're doing. I'm beg, borrowing,
and pleading with peoplesaying, hey, you have old. Old pants,
boots, whatever. And then wego out and we find stuff there's
displays that I would. Why? Sowe had. One of the newer displays
(11:28):
is our winter warfare seal.Everybody sees soldiers in desert
or camo, like that type ofimagery. And one of the driving forces
for me being from New York, Idon't like being hot.
Yeah.
So, so when I went throughSEAL training, I picked SEAL Team
(11:48):
2 because we were the winterwarfare experts. So we were skiing
in Arctic warfare and havingthe white kind of camo and gear and
it was just different. Butnobody really remembers that. Hey,
if it's snowing out, you'renot walking around in dark green
clothing. So we had to go outand find. And I had to buy and searching
(12:09):
on ebay and all these otherdifferent marketplaces to try to
find used equipment. Yeah, butthat's, that's where we're. I'm always
looking for stuff.
Yeah, no, I, I, I just thoughtthat was so amazing when I, I was
watching the footage and I wasediting it up and, and all that stuff
and I was just like, oh mygosh. There is. For folks that are
at, are listening to thispodcast because we encourage people
(12:31):
to travel and to go seehistoric sites. If you are in the
Long island area, this isabsolutely worth, worth it because
it's an amazing, it's amazing.
Well, you're not going to haveexperience to see those things. I,
I especially like the logthat's used during buns and I'm sure
you didn't, did you go out toCoronado and get that? Like I'm sure
you made it.
No. That is a, I don't knowhow much time we have, but that was
(12:53):
probably one of the harderthings to get.
Really.
A, A log doesn't make anysense. Why would it be so difficult
to get.
What was the story behind that?
Because most pieces of woodthat are shaped like that are telephone
poles.
Yeah.
Right. All of those telephonepoles are treated so they don't rot
or decay with chemicals. Wedidn't want one of those logs there
(13:18):
because if somebodyaccidentally got a splinter then
that actually because it's areally nasty chemical that they use
to pressure treat those piecesof wood. So you could actually get
sick or really?
And you got kids touching it.
Exactly. So. And Mr. Murphy isa lawyer, so he was, he, he constantly
is worried about people beinglitigious. Right. So finding a non
(13:42):
pressure treated straightpiece of wood that size, trust me,
it took me probably a year toget somebody to have that available.
It was, it was unbelievablydifficult to find a lock. I wish
I could have Went to SanDiego. But that would have been just
transporting.
It back, just drive across.Honestly, I think that's a great
artifact because unless, Imean, we are so used to it. If you're
(14:05):
on Coronado and you see theguys doing bud. So used to them with
the logs. But it's such anovice thing for people who have
never seen that or not closeto Coronado. Don't see the guys,
right?
No. And so I wanted to put thelog. You, you saw how it is. And
in the video you see how thelog is. I wanted to put it on to
like a pivot. Yeah. So oneside would be fixed, the other side
(14:26):
it would pivot. You could tryto lift.
That's a cool idea.
And then it was, well,somebody's going to get their finger
pinched or somebody's goingto. And because it, it's, it looks
like it's hard, but until youactually try to pick it up, then
you can really understand whatwe got. Have gone through or went
through during training. Soit's just, it was a great, it's a
great photo op for the kidsand everybody that visits. So people
(14:50):
love that display. I just wishit was a little more interactive.
Yeah, yeah, I love thatdisplay too. So I had a question
about the camel pack that youhave. Murphy's actual camel pack.
Now we, we know from hiscitation that he was shot in the
back. And someone had askedme, why is there no bullet holes
in the camel pack? And myresponse was, I don't think it's
(15:13):
thin enough and I don't thinkit was in the right area. But I don't
think you would wear yourbulletproof vest first and then camel
pack over the vest. It's notunderneath your vest, is it?
It usually is not underneathyour vest. But the. It could, it
could have been. I wasn'tthere. I don't know how he liked
wearing his gear because youhave your mag pouches and everything
(15:35):
else on front of the bodyarmor. So there's a lot of layers.
So sometimes having somethingeven further on on your back is not
correct or it feels off. Sosome. So sometimes you would put
your. Like when I had acamelback, we would put it on and
then I would have my H gearand stuff on top of it.
Gotcha.
So it just depends on how youlike wearing your. Your gear.
(15:57):
Okay.
So I'm not sure for that. It'slike how you like that's individual.
Yeah.
Yeah. So with the SEAL stuff,where a lot of the other units are
a lot more uniform with howyou wear things, how you have things
laid out on your gear. Andthat's just because if you're. If
you go down, somebody can runover and grab stuff, and they know
(16:19):
where it is in the dark. So wehave a lot more where it's customized
to what we would like, so weknow where it is, and it works for
me. My arms and hands arebigger than some other people's body
shapes, so sometimes it'sharder for me to get in a certain
direction. So I would lay outmy stuff differently. We would universally
put our med packs and thingsalways on the same matching side.
(16:43):
So if you went down, everybodyknew exactly where the med. Something
very important would be inthose universally. But the rest of
our gear would be different.Yeah, they have to match.
Yeah. That's the same foraviators, too.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which isgreat. That makes sense. I understand
being uniform, that. Thatmakes sense too. But at a certain
(17:03):
level, you need to be allowed.Allow people to customize it where
it works better.
Absolutely. Life and death, right?
Yeah. So I'm not sure why.Yeah, we thought at one point it
had blood on the bottom, but,you know, when the person that we
received it from described it,that's what the family thought. And
when I received the item, Irealized it was more of a hydration
(17:25):
stain from Gatorade or somesort of powder or mix, because blood
will turn black, dark overtime. And that was still a red.
Yeah.
So now for.
For those who. Who aren'tfamiliar with. Especially for our
listeners or. Somebody'sfinding this podcast and they're.
They're driving to LongIsland. They're driving potentially
to the museum, and they want alittle preview. Can you just give
(17:48):
us a brief overview of whatyou guys cover through the museum?
Because I know you tell hisstory and the story of the seals,
so can you talk briefly about that?
Absolutely. And I. I love thattopic because it is a Naval Special
Warfare museum that hasMichael's name on it. So I do have
the confusion from people thatit's a Michael Murphy museum, where
(18:11):
it would just be his story.And that is not the case. It is a
full timeline from 1942, WorldWar II, all the way to present day
of Naval Special Warfare. Sogoing from back in 1942, before D
Day, during World War II, wewere the Scouts and Raiders and the
Navy Combat demolition units,the NCDUs. Those guys were the actual
(18:36):
people who went on the shoresduring D Day. Okay. Mid World War
II, we get renamed into theUDTs, Underwater Demolition Teams.
And then when we See thatwe're moving into Vietnam. Then we're
renamed the Seals and the UDTFrogmen and all of the World War
(18:56):
II, Korea, the training, thehistory, the legacy, all of that
comes with it. And we to thisday continue to use the same Hell
Week training, all of thatthat they created 83 years ago. So
it's a pretty amazing originstory, but then you get rebranded
from the seals and, and goforward. So, yes, we do cover Michael's
(19:19):
story. We do cover. We do haveartifacts that are directly Michael,
like the camelback. We havehis trident, we have his helmets
from training. But that'sreally, really it. We're not centralized
on Michael. Granted, this isthe museum named after him, but we
do want to make sure thateveryone understands that we are
(19:40):
covering all of those amazingmen that have gone before him and
after him that have giventheir ultimate, you know, the ultimate
sacrifice and did all thesedifferent missions. So it is a full
museum of Naval Special warfare.
So not only that, you honorevery Medal of Honor recipient from
Special Warfare, and you honoreveryone who has paid the ultimate
(20:04):
cost of freedom in specialwarfare, in training and in actual
duty. You have the wall of thecost of freedom. And we talked you.
That's your favorite artifact.And I'm putting a card.
It's my most, it's my mostimpactful artifact. It definitely,
we could use the wordfavorite. It's. But it's the, it's
the one where I feel, I getthe most feeling from is looking
(20:27):
at the wall. And I had myfriend Drago, that he just visited
the other day, and we pricestood in front of that wall for 10
minutes almost in silence andjust looking at the faces and remembering
because there's so many peoplethat it's such a small community
that it's unfortunate that weknow a lot of people that were killed.
(20:48):
So reflecting back and thenyou see somebody you may not have
thought of in a while. Sothat's, that's why that's one of
my more special displays. I'msorry for cutting you off.
No, no, I, I, I love it. Andwhat I, what I'm putting the call
out if anyone's listening tothis or watches the video. Your mission
with that wall is to have aphotograph of every man who paid
(21:13):
the ultimate cost of freedom.And right now, you don't have a photograph
for every man. Some of themare just shadow silhouettes until
you can find thosephotographs. So if anybody wants
to watch this, I love amateurhistorians. And you want to look
at that wall. Chris has donehis best to go on, find a grave or
(21:33):
contact their high schools andsee where they went to school to
get an actual photograph ofthese men to put on that wall. Instead
of. Right now, it's the shadowsilhouette. I would say you have
about maybe.
10, a little more than that.We. We started a little over three
years ago with 90. About 90 to89 or 90 silhouettes. And that was
(21:54):
because the VA in St. Louis,back in the 70s burned down where
all the records were held. Sothey were able to recreate the. The
actual records due tomicrofiche and that stuff, but they
were. You couldn't get a.Another photo from 1944. So we have
about 30 guys in the maybehigh 20s, low 30s. So we've done
(22:16):
a ton of work over the pastthree years trying to find a face.
And it doesn't have to be anindividual photo. It doesn't. Just
that headshot. We found schoolpictures or class pictures and zoomed
in on people. So the photosmay not be great of the people that
we had to find, but it wasvery important for us to actually
(22:36):
have a photo of thatindividual, because even if it was
a blurry photo or a grainyphoto, it just was them, not just
this universal silhouette.And. And. And it's definitely. If
somebody could find it. I'm.I'll give you something out of the.
Out of the store. I promiseyou, you'll get a reward. So we'll
put that call out to people.You find. You find a picture that's
(22:58):
actually that person. I willgive you a list. And then if you
find one person on there andyou able to provide a picture for
us, I'll give you a hat or ashirt or something, whatever of your
choice. Out of the museum, the store.
Yeah, I think. I mean, we'retalking about Veterans Day. We're
talking about honoringveterans. I think the Cost of Freedom
wall, saying their name,looking at their pictures, remembering
(23:20):
their lives. I think that is away that those of us who live can
honor those who gave it all.And that's why so important to do
the video. I think it was soimportant for me as a Penn Stater
to be there. But to meet youand to see that wall, it was just.
It really is an amazing,amazing artifact. It's a great part
(23:40):
of your museum. It tells agreat, tremendous story and honors
these men. And I really. Ilove that you guys do that well.
And it's. It's sad that I knowI'll probably have to put more photos
up and that. And that's what'spart of the, I don't call it a negative,
but part of the, part of thejob running the museum and having
(24:01):
space because we have a lot ofkids that are. Don't understand why
the, the wall is laid out. Andwhen you watch the video, you'll
understand what I'm talkingabout. But the wall has depth and
the wall has spacing and blankspots. And that was just because
we know it's a dangerous joband we know that there'll be people
in the future that willunfortunately have to go on the wall.
(24:24):
But we have a lot of youngpeople that, they're 8, 9, 10 year
old kids that ask thatquestion, why does the wall look
like this? Or why is it likethat? And one, I love getting questions
from, from young kids, period,just because I like them interacting
with adults and askingquestions. But two, it just being
able to lay it out for peopleand have them understand that yet
(24:46):
this isn't just a, this isn'tfinished. The wall's not. It's a
living monument.
Yes. Now, how many visitors ayear do you usually get to the museum?
Well, I would love to increasethat, but I think we're probably
around 8 to 10,000 peopleright now. We have a lot of school
trips that come local. We havea lot of visitors that travel all
(25:08):
over the country that come to.To see the museum. And I think we're
at like 13 or 15 foreigncountries and almost a visitor from
every state in the past threeyears. So we, we keep track of that.
We have a guest book andDonna, who runs a museum with me,
she, she is diligent. She'llgo up every day and look through
the guest book and see wherethese people are coming from and
(25:32):
mark it off on. She has alittle map. So she, she gets really
excited when we get a new, newarea covered. So for a while we,
we had some. Two states in theMidwest that you're like, come on,
something come. I almostwanted to like raffle off an airline
ticket.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So. So sinceagain, you came into being the executive
director of the museum semiunexpectedly, it's not something.
(25:56):
No, absolutely not.
Yeah.
Since you've been the directorand kind of running the museum for
a few years and stuff likethat, what's one of the standout
moments for you as thedirector? Since over your time as
the director, either just likea super cool moment like you met
a person, or just a momentthat really stands out to you since
(26:17):
you've been in this role?
Okay, I'm getting chills sothere has been a tremendous amount
of those moments, varying indifferent capacities. I've had. I've
had the moments where I haveveterans, young veterans that come
(26:38):
from different states and popin that I don't know that aren't
seals and they just neededsomebody to talk to.
Yeah, cool.
Have emotional tears and needhelp. So I had a lot of interactions
where that was very surprisingfor me, just because I'm out on the
(26:58):
floor talking to people andthey're there with their girlfriends,
and then all of a sudden, weare in a different area, different
things. So that has been verytouching. I feel like I'm there for
a reason, to be able to bethere and make sure those people
know that they're not aloneand that we were here to help. So
(27:21):
that is a very special momentthat I've had numerous times. I've
had moments where I've hadguys that I haven't seen in 30 years
walk through the door withtheir families. That's been a very
happy moment. And then amoment like where I am right now,
I'm down at the AmericanVeterans Conference and being the
director here at the museum.The museum and Michaels foundation
(27:42):
gives back and donates to theVeterans center. And I'm meeting
all of these World War IIveterans. Rosie the Riveter yesterday.
Oh, cool.
Tuskegee Airmen, all of thesedifferent people. So I get the chance
to speak. I speak on a panel.I moderate a panel of seals for these
(28:04):
kids and for the veterans. Sothat's what we did yesterday. And
so there's been so many good,positive things that have come out
of this position that I didn'texpect, and I feel very blessed for
it. It's really helped mespeak in public, too. Another thing.
No other. But yeah, so I'mhaving a. I'm having a very good
(28:25):
experience as a director atthe museum. It's something like you
brought up that I didn't lookat these things impacting me the
way they have. It was justmore, oh, I'm going to run a museum.
Didn't think of all the otherareas that would be affecting my
life.
Well, and that's what I tell.I mean, it's such a gift to someone,
(28:45):
like, to you, to be able tocontinue to have an impact on people's
lives. That's one of thethings. Like, I'm still serving.
I was a former surface guy,and now I'm an HR guy. So I'm driving
a desk. It's not sexy, it'snot super fun, but it's Important
for larger Navy back endstuff. Make sure people get paid.
Right. If people aren't goingdoing stuff, you got to make sure
they get paid, things likethat. But the thing that, you know
(29:09):
that I've is my favorite partof serving is having that impact
on a sailor that works for me,a junior officer that works for me
or whatever. It's the impacton people's lives. And it's cool
to hear you get to continue tohave that opportunity through being
the executive director of theMuseum of Hey, here's a young veteran
who's come in and just needsto talk to someone else who served
(29:31):
or young kids who havequestions about the service or whatever
that is, is you continue tohave impact on, on people's lives.
And that's just such anabsolute gift that I'm so happy that,
that you get as, as a museumdirector because that's probably
not something a lot of peoplewould, would think about when you're
running a museum.
No, you don't think aboutthat. And I'm trying to make that
(29:54):
more a talking point,especially with other veterans, because
having purpose after theservice is a lot of times a very
difficult transition.
Yes.
And when I got out, a longtime ago, when I got out, there was
no transitional programs theway we have now. You had tap, you
had the basic two days ofhere, how do you, how do you tie
(30:16):
your tie? And yeah, yeah,everyone, everyone's going to love
you.
Here's how you write a resume.
Exactly. And that, that'sliterally what they, what they do.
They pump you up and off yougo. And then there's, then it's like
silent. There's. There was nosupport and it was very difficult
to transition, very difficultto find purpose, very difficult to
(30:36):
deal with things that I didn'tknow I was dealing with. Yeah. So
over time, and it took me along time, over time I figured it
out that when I was aroundother veterans didn't have to be
just seals. When I was aroundother veterans and I felt a little
more calm, a little morepeaceful and having to lead by example.
(30:57):
Maybe I was older guy, maybe,maybe I had different experiences,
but then I got to meet theseMarines that a lot of these guys
would come home and they'rethe only person that's alive from
their whole battalion thatgoes over there because IEDs and
all of this horrific thingsthat you don't have to, most people
don't have to deal with and,and just talking to them and so my
(31:18):
interactions with veterans hasreally changed my life. So that,
that has been a big key focusand I'm glad you brought that up.
It's like service after service.
Yeah.
So to me, I'm still serving ina different role or different capacity,
trying to give back. And a lotof times you don't get paid for this
and I don't want to get paidfor it. It's more of somebody needs
(31:39):
a call, somebody needs totalk. I'm going to pick up the phone
because it's just, I don'tneed to know you, but I, I'll be
the guy who tells you, hey,you're not alone. I'm, I'm here,
I'm on the other side of the phone.
Yeah.
So it's an important thing.And I, and I hope and wish and challenge
all these, all the, all theseother veterans that are sitting out
there and you don't understandor you're frustrated. You get involved.
(32:03):
You know that, that's it, Justget involved. Help another veteran
get, go to a meeting, dosomething. You'll feel better. I
pretty much can guarantee you that.
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah. I always, I agreewith that. And I think in the military
you lead a very purpose drivenlife and it's difficult when you
get out to find. To lead apurpose driven life. You need to
(32:23):
find that purpose again. You,you never knew Michael Murphy. You
never met him, right?
No, no. I was older, just,just a little bit older than Michael.
But making choices anddecisions as you're younger. I went
in as an enlisted pretty muchout of high school, so he went to
college and so his entry intothe military was delayed a little
(32:45):
bit. He went to Penn State. Hewent to Penn State. And then after
he graduated Penn State, hewould not take a commission yet until
he had a guaranteed spot in aBUDS class because he knew that if
he took a commission, if theycould kind of mess with him and put
him wherever they wanted. Sohe waited, I think 18 months before
(33:06):
he would actually get acontract. So his entry into the,
into the military was delayeda little bit in, in that sense. So
I jumped in early going intothe military and got my degrees afterwards.
But that was, that's why I didnot know Michael. I feel like I know
Michael now because I've metevery family member, every friend
(33:28):
of his and people that justwent to school with him. Maybe they
weren't even friends with him.And I bring this up and I don't know
if I brought this up with you,Jen, when you're at the news at the
museum, but you hear all ofthese stories about somebody's character
after they're gone.
Yeah.
Right. You hear all of theseamazing stories of who they were.
(33:51):
And not to be a skeptic, but,you know, when I didn't know Michael,
you hear all of these things.All of these from when he was young,
and this is what I'm saying.From when he was like, nine or ten
all the way to what he did tosacrifice his life, there was all
these different things thatpeople were brought up. And you're
(34:12):
thinking, is this all true? Ididn't want to be skeptical, but
it's just. It was just alltrue. And this is. When I've said
this in front of the familyand when I got involved, I still
had that. Let me. Let me seewhat's going on in the back of my
head. And I met and have metso many people that have validated
that from every differentangle of who that man was and his
(34:36):
character that I now know,even though I never met him, who
he was and the. The caliber ofman that he was. I'm getting upset
right now, but it just was anamazing individual. I wish I got
to meet him.
Yeah.
I guarantee you what you hearthe stories and those things that
(35:00):
you hear, they're. They'revalidated, and I validated them myself
through every differentchannel I could, just meeting different
people. And I'm. I don't. Idon't feel like I'd done enough yet.
Let me say that, like, I. Iwake up in the morning and I'm like,
what else can I do for this world?
(35:22):
Yeah.
And it's his story, and himmakes me want to do more.
And I. I never met MichaelMurphy. And so it. It was. So when
I heard his story and waslike, how did I not meet this guy?
We're at Penn State at thesame time. Where it. Pensacola at
(35:42):
the same time. Ocs. I'm atAPI. We're in North Island. Exactly.
At the same time. I'm goingthrough Cyr. He's going through buds.
Like, oh, he just finishedHell Week. Like, I was like. And
then we're both deployed, andthen I only learned about him after
his death. And like you said,I. And I feel like his life still
makes a huge impact.
(36:04):
And well. Well, it's 20 yearslater, and we're still talking about
him. Isn't that amazing?
Yeah.
20 years later, we're stilltalking about him. People are still
inspired by him. And thereason why you didn't meet him is
because he was a quiet person.So while he had a tremendous character,
(36:27):
he wasn't a character. Hewasn't somebody that would make themselves
stand out. He was somebodythat just did the right thing. Okay.
So after the fact, peoplerealize what they're missing when
that's no longer around.
Yeah.
So, like, last night, Maureen,Michael's mother's here, and his
brother John and his wifeLauren here, also with me down in
(36:49):
D.C. and we had all of thesecadets. West Point, Annapolis. I'm
learning all these differentother ROTC programs. Miami, Ohio.
Yeah.
Which, like, all this stuff,right? Yep. A lot of Miami, Ohio,
yesterday.
Yeah.
And these. I brought them overto introduce themselves to Michael's
(37:09):
mother, and they went right upto her and said, we just wanted to
meet you. Wanted to get apicture with you, because we're.
We're learning about your son.He is, like, part of their curriculum
in the. In the ROTC program.
That's cool.
And I was so happy to hearthat, because you could see her just
light up.
Yes.
(37:30):
So I explained that. And we dothe Murph Challenge every year at
the museum, and it's all overthe place. It's an international
kind of a thing, too. But, youknow, this was the 20th anniversary
of Operation Red Wings thispast June, and when I had 320 people
standing in front of megetting ready to enjoy the Murph
(37:50):
workout.
So funny. And honestly, Chris,that became my mission, too, because
we. Scott's a big crossfitter.We would do the Murph every year,
and anytime I'd go to the gymwith him to do the Murph, I'd be
like, do you know who MichaelMurphy is? And hardly anyone would
know him. They know the Murph.Everyone who's a crossfitter knows
the Murph. Hardly anyone knowsMichael Murphy. And so I was like,
(38:15):
this is my mission. Right?He's a Penn Stater. I'm a Penn Stater.
I always wear a Penn Stateshirt when I do the mrf. And I'm
like, people need to know theman, the man behind the workout.
And that was the whole pointof the video. It's the whole point
of I wanted all of people toknow why this. This honor wad is
for a man who. So honorableand what he did. I want people to
(38:39):
know more about him. So I justthank. Meeting you was a gift within
a gift. And so. So thank you.It was a great. That interact. We
had a great conversation evenbefore I made the video. It was so
great to meet you. I love.
Yeah. I was shocked when yousent me the video because I'm like,
We just talked for, I don'tknow, hours, so. And then I didn't
really see that you took thatmuch video. All of a sudden you send
(39:02):
me the video. I'm like, wow,that's awesome.
Well, he's the magic maker.I'm not great at it. He, he edits
it very well.
She's.
She's the talent, the face oncamera and the researcher. Everything
else is this guy.
Yeah.
And so the museum is. Is thisthe city he grew up in? Was that
where he grew up?
It's. It's close to that. Sohe grew up in Patchogue. So he went
(39:26):
to Patchog Medford School.
Okay.
So we're in West Sayville,which is about eight minutes away.
Okay.
And the reason being is thatwhen the family was looking for location
to build the museum, they wereconcerned that if they built a museum
on a private piece of propertywith a mortgage, that if something
happened to them in 10, 15years, that maybe somebody wouldn't
(39:49):
pay the mortgage and themuseum would get shuttered and closed.
So when we. I guess I wasn'tinvolved at this point. But when
they went and they reached outand tried to get county parkland.
So this was the closest pieceof county parkland that was free
that the county wouldultimately give us 100 year lease
on. So this museum will be inperpetuity for 97 more years. So
(40:17):
long, long after I'm gone andhe and the family's gone, the. The
museum will be there.
Yeah.
And that was very importantfor the family. So that's why they
weren't so focused on makingsure it was right in the hometown.
Sure.
Yeah.
His story will live on.
Only I don't, I don't see howthey, how it couldn't. Yeah, it's.
(40:37):
It's quite, quite amazing.Penn State right now, I think this.
Tonight, they're honoring him.
They're honoring him today.
That's cool. Yeah. And I thinkthe Islanders are honoring him also
tonight or yesterday.
Nice.
I. I don't follow sports that well.
I don't follow hockey that well.
I'd rather follow veteransthan sports.
Yeah.
Now and then he's buried inCalverton National Cemetery, which
(40:59):
is not about. I think it waslike a 15 minute drive for me to
get there and not too far. 20minute drive. It's kind of across.
Yeah, it's about, it's about20 minutes or so. Depends on New
York traffic. Three hours. Butit's only about 10 or 15 miles away.
So it could be 20, 30 minutes.Depends on your route. And yeah.
(41:19):
But, yes, it's fairly close.And he is the only Medal of Honor
recipient or the closest Medalof Honor recipient in that area of
the war on terror section.
And then. And then that. It'salso for his to be close to home.
That's why he was. He's buriedin that national cemetery. To be
close.
Absolutely. They wanted tobury him in Arlington. The parents
(41:40):
said no, they brought himhome. And then Mr. Murphy actually
moved from Patchogue to Wadingriver, which is. I. I think Mr. Murphy's
about three minutes away fromMichael's grave. So he pretty much
stops by daily or as manytimes as he can per week. So when
people leave things at themuseum or bring things to the museum
(42:03):
to. As a token or have servedwith Michael and just haven't made
it out to the grave, Danusually will bring it out and place
it on the. On the grave for them.
That's awesome.
That's great.
Yeah. No, it's. It's. It's impactful.
Yes.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah. I was so proud. Go there.
Yeah. And. And just kind of the.
(42:24):
The.
The picture that I have in mymind. And I think you did a good
job of describing Michaelearlier is he was this light. And
you don't notice what thelight touches when it's lighting
up a room or lighting up aspace until that light is removed.
But I think you. And whatyou're doing with the museum and
what everybody's done with themuseum is doing a great job of bringing
(42:46):
that light back to life andcontinuing to shine that. That light
of Lieutenant Michael Murphyon everybody around, everybody who
visits and continuing to tellthat story. So thank you so much
for joining us on Talk withHistory and for talking about the
museum and telling somepersonal stories. I absolutely love
it. You get tingles. I gettingles. I'm sure there's people
listening in the car. They'regetting tingles.
(43:07):
Give me a hug.
Appreciate it.
You're upset. I want to hug you.
We'll try to visit againsometime so that I get to come.
Absolutely. And thank you forhaving us. My hardest part of my
job is getting the word outthat we're here. We're a museum.
A lot of people forgethistory. They can go on their phones
and scroll. And granted,that's great. You have quick access
(43:30):
to information, but until yougo and visit a place and what you
guys are doing is absolutelyamazing. I never thought I would
be a historian or into thisthe way I am now. Now I visit museums
all the time. It's. It'sreally changed my life. But I really
appreciate everything you twoare doing, trying to capture history
(43:51):
and promote history and tomake sure people go and visit these
areas. There's so much historyeverywhere, everywhere you go. It
just, it's all around us. It'sjust if you just took the time to
stop, breathe and look, getoff your phone and look, you'll learn
so much and you'll probablywalk away with a whole different
outlook on things. So thankyou for what you're doing and I,
(44:14):
I really, really am honored tohave meet met you both now.
So thank you so much again,Christopher, and for our listeners,
for our watchers, please takea look in the video description or
the podcast show notes. I'llput links directly to the museum.
I always put a Google Mapslink. You can just click on that.
It'll open up Google Maps andyou can start driving. So thank you
again, Chris, for for joiningus and for our listeners. We'll talk
to you guys next time.
(44:35):
Thank you guys. Take care.
That brings us to the close ofone of the most powerful stories
in.
Modern military history,Operation Red Wing. It's impossible
to recount the events of thatday. The sacrifice of Lieutenant
Michael Murphy, Danny Dietz,and Matthew Axelson, and the bravery
(44:59):
of the 16 men of that quickreaction force coming to rescue them
without feeling the immenseweight of their courage. We were
honored to speak with ChrisWiley who shared how Lieutenant Michael
Murphy Navy SEAL Museumensures that his legacy of honor,
duty and sacrifice is neverforgotten. The museum is a living
(45:19):
tribute and we encourageeveryone to learn more about its
mission. You can find links tothe Lieutenant Murphy Navy SEAL Museum
and all the resourcesmentioned in today's episode in the
show notes or videodescription. A huge thank you to
all the veterans out there whohave served this great country.
Jen and I are truly honored tocall you brothers and sisters.
Happy Veterans Day. We'll talkto you next time. This has been a
(45:43):
Walk with History production.Talk with History is created and
hosted by me, Scott Benny.Episode researched by Jennifer Benny.
Check out the show notes forlinks and references mentioned in
this episode. Talk withHistory is super supported by our
fans@thehistoryroadtrip.comour eternal thanks go out to those
providing funding to help keepus going. Thank you to Doug McLiberty,
(46:04):
Larry Myers, Patrick Benny,Gail Cooper, Christy Coates and Calvin
Gifford. Make sure you hitthat follow button in that podcast
player and we'll talk to younext time.
The mountain erupted.Operation Red Wing had just gone
seriously awry. The firstvolley was deafening, delivered by
an overwhelming force of anestimated 30 to 40 Taliban fighters,
all heavily armed with machineguns and RPGs. They were led, ironically,
by the target himself, AhmadShah. Lieutenant Michael Murphy and
(00:30):
his team of SEALs wereimmediately pinned down on the steep,
exposed ridge in the HinduKush Mountains. Danny Dietz was hit
almost instantly, takingshrapnel and bullet wounds as he
tried to establish radiocontact. Axelson and Luttrell fought
back, ferociously expandingmagazine after magazine. Murphy,
despite the chaos andimpossible odds, coordinated their
(00:54):
defense, constantly moving anddirecting fire. They were falling,
tumbling down themountainside, their bodies bruised
and bloody from the violentimpacts as they desperately sought
cover. Axelson was shot in thechest and Littrell suffered a deep
groin wound. Dietz, shotseveral more times, kept fighting
until he was physically unableto hold his rifle. With his men badly
(01:16):
wounded and the enemy closingin, Murphy knew they needed help
now. But the mission criticalsatellite phone wouldn't connect
in the rocky terrain. Knowingexactly what about to do, Murphy
scrambled out of the smalldepression that offered their only
protection. Moving into theopen, enemy fire zeroing in on him.
He calmly dialed the distresssignal, reciting their position and
(01:40):
the size of the attackingforce. He was hit in the back, a
bullet exiting his chest. Heclutched the phone, finished the
call with the chilling signoff of thank you and then returned
fire with his M4 until hecollapsed. Lieutenant Murphy had
been killed in action. Thefight raged on. Two of the remaining
three SEALs, Danny Dietz andMatthew Axelson, died fighting back.
(02:04):
The last member of the team,Marcus Luttrell, was blasted down
a cliff by an rpg, losingconsciousness. Meanwhile, back at
the base, a massive quickreaction force had scrambled. An
MH47 Chinook helicoptercarrying eight additional SEALs and
eight Army Night Stalkers spedtowards the team's location. Before
they could even deploy, an RPGslammed into the rear rotor. The
(02:26):
helicopter spiraled down themountain, killing all 16 men on board
in one devastating instant,making it the single deadliest day
in naval special warfarehistory. Of the original four man
team, only Marco Satrellsurvived. Found days later by local
villagers and.
Sheltered in their home, hewas eventually rescued. Lieutenant
(02:47):
Michael Murphy wasposthumously awarded the.
Medal of Honor for his actions that.
Day from moving into the open and.
Taking a bullet to ensure histeammates had a chance to survive.
Welcome to Talk with History.
I am your host Scott and mywife and historian Jen recently visited
(03:08):
the.
Lt. Michael Murphy Navy SEALMuseum in.
Long Island, New York.
Longtime listeners of the showknow that Jen is a Penn State graduate,
class of 1999. And as fatewould have it, Lt. Michael Murphy
is a Penn State graduate,class of 1998. Jen was honored to
tell the story of Lt. Murphy,whom you may know.
From the popular movie LoneSurvivor that recounts the events
(03:31):
of Operation Red Wing and theheroic actions of all the.
Seals there that day.
Or you may be more familiarwith the popular workout many know
as the Murph, named in honorof this fallen hero.
Today, we are lucky enough tohave Mr. Chris Wiley join us. Chris
is the current executivedirector of.
The Lieutenant Michael P.Murphy Navy SEAL Museum.
(03:52):
As a Long island native andformer Navy SEAL himself, Chris is
in charge of the dailyoperations of the museum.
And actively drives the visionof the museum forward.
He helps represent the museumthrough public engagement by participating
in events like swimming.
In the annual SEALS Swim in the.
Hudson river and otheractivities with his fellow brothers
in arms. I hope you enjoy ourconversation with Chris.
(04:21):
Thanks for joining us. So ifyou could, for our audience who doesn't
know where you are and whatyou do, could you just give us a
brief? This is who I am andhow you became the director of the
Lieutenant.
Murphy Navy SEAL Museum.
So, okay. My name is ChrisWiley. I the executive director of
the Lieutenant Michael MurphyNavy SEAL Museum. I grew up on Long
(04:42):
island and became a seal, gotmedically retired after seven years
and came back home to raise myfamily. So when I started working
back as a civilian on LongIsland, I created a business for
myself. And as that businessgrew was in electronics. So I was
(05:05):
doing a lot of home theatersand home automation and things of
that nature. And when I hadheard of the potential that there
was a Navy SEAL museum going,planned on being created in Long
Island, I really felt like Ineeded to get involved. I didn't
know what that involvementwould be, but that was my initial
(05:27):
reaction. I have to getinvolved. This is something near
and dear to me. And so Istarted reaching out to the museum.
It took me quite a long timeto make a connection where I could
get in front of somebody justbecause everything was such in its
infancy. So about two years ofme figuring out how do I get in touch
(05:47):
with him. Some friend of mineinvited me to a Rotary Club meeting,
which I've never been to.
Yeah.
And didn't understand why theyinvited me to this meeting. And they
said, well, Mr. Murphy's goingto be there and he's going to be
talking about the museum. So Ithought it would be a really good
way to get in front of Them.So when I attended that meeting,
(06:10):
met with them, and they werethere asking for help from all the
different contractors thatwere part of that Rotary Club and
donors and things of thatnature. So met with the family, and
one of the board membersexplained who I was, explained what
I wanted to do, and a fewweeks later, they reached out to
me and asked me to come ontothe board. Now, this is way back
(06:34):
before we even broke ground.So for quite a few years, I was the
only SEAL on the board and washelping navigate some of the choices
and how to properly rememberand display the history as a seal.
I was that kind of insight.That's what I was providing.
Absolutely.
And, and my original idea wasto take the relationships that I
(07:00):
had with my company, withdifferent manufacturers and potential
donors, help the museum bebuilt, created, and that would have
been my contribution. So thatwas my original plan. Okay. And then
as, as the museum grew and aswe were building the museum, we got
(07:24):
closer and closer to opening.And then the family came to me just
before reopened and said, wewould love for you to run the museum.
What, you know, what are yourthoughts? And I was in a position
in my life where I said, well,maybe this would be another. A nice
way to, to take that next stepin my career. So that's how I got
(07:47):
involved. I never expected tobe running a museum dressing mannequins,
as I was joking when we, whenwe were walking through. Never thought
I would be doing that. Andit's very therapeutic for me. So
that, that is definitely abenefit of being at the museum and
being involved with, with this.
(08:08):
No, I think, I think that'samazing. And it's, it's. It's not
too surprising to me, right,that as you got involved early, you're
going through that the familywould come to someone who was in
the military, was in the same,the same part of the Navy. And military
folks typically are goodbusiness owners, like, as you've
(08:29):
proven with your own business,and be like, okay, I know what we
need to do. I know what weneed to. I know what we need to get
there. And I'm going to walkus from A to Z. And all of a sudden
they find someone that,that's, that's that driver that's,
that's seeing the vision anddriving the vision of the museum.
So that's pretty cool.
Yeah. And like I said, it wasan honor actually to one that was
the first board I was ever apart of. I was unlisted guy, so I
(08:51):
wasn't an officer, so didn'treally have a lot of that white glove.
I mean, they didn't. RotaryClub wasn't part of Navy SEAL training.
I mean, come on.
No, no. They left that part out.
They left that part out.
Yeah. So.
So one of the things that Iwas curious about, and I know Jen
has all. All her questions,but she got to go to the museum.
I didn't get to go. So one ofthe things. And if folks are watching
(09:14):
this podcast or listening tothis podcast, I encourage.
You guys to go watch the video.
That Jen was able to makewhile she visited, because you do
an amazing job of telling thestory of not just Lieutenant Michael
Murphy, but the Navy SEALs.Like, how did you go about getting
all of the equipment? And, Imean, there's a lot of Navy SEAL
(09:34):
equipment, Navy Navy gear. Allthat stuff. Was that from donors?
Was that you reaching out topeople you still knew in the service?
Is that some of your gear?Like, how did you get all of that?
There's a. There's a quite afew displays that are my gear.
Okay.
But they're. So that's a greatquestion. And what I try to explain
to people is that we're notfederally, state, or locally supported.
(09:59):
There's no funding. Yeah. Thisis a private museum. We're trying
to work with the county andthe local government right now to
get some help in that sense.But. Great question. We have a few
items that came from the Navy.So we have a sdv, the SEAL delivery
vehicle outside, like a minisubmarine that actually did come
(10:21):
from the Navy that was in use.So that was an artifact that the
Navy provided. But I would say90% of the equipment and things have
been private donors. Peoplethat I've asked, friends of mine,
where I call up saying, hey,what do you have laying around? I
don't care if it's broken orout of date, because we're trying
(10:42):
to tell the entire story. Sosome of the gear. And you both know
in the military, they'll justthrow things out to them. It's useless.
So they would rather throw itout than deal with donating it and
that logistics, because ifthey donate to one entity, then they
have to donate to all theentities. So that's where I see it
(11:04):
sounds wasteful, but Iunderstand the logistics of, well,
hey, you donated something tothem. Why aren't you donating to
me? So I get it, but that'swhat we're doing. I'm beg, borrowing,
and pleading with peoplesaying, hey, you have old. Old pants,
boots, whatever. And then wego out and we find stuff there's
displays that I would. Why? Sowe had. One of the newer displays
(11:28):
is our winter warfare seal.Everybody sees soldiers in desert
or camo, like that type ofimagery. And one of the driving forces
for me being from New York, Idon't like being hot.
Yeah.
So, so when I went throughSEAL training, I picked SEAL Team
(11:48):
2 because we were the winterwarfare experts. So we were skiing
in Arctic warfare and havingthe white kind of camo and gear and
it was just different. Butnobody really remembers that. Hey,
if it's snowing out, you'renot walking around in dark green
clothing. So we had to go outand find. And I had to buy and searching
(12:09):
on ebay and all these otherdifferent marketplaces to try to
find used equipment. Yeah, butthat's, that's where we're. I'm always
looking for stuff.
Yeah, no, I, I, I just thoughtthat was so amazing when I, I was
watching the footage and I wasediting it up and, and all that stuff
and I was just like, oh mygosh. There is. For folks that are
at, are listening to thispodcast because we encourage people
(12:31):
to travel and to go seehistoric sites. If you are in the
Long island area, this isabsolutely worth, worth it because
it's an amazing, it's amazing.
Well, you're not going to haveexperience to see those things. I,
I especially like the logthat's used during buns and I'm sure
you didn't, did you go out toCoronado and get that? Like I'm sure
you made it.
No. That is a, I don't knowhow much time we have, but that was
(12:53):
probably one of the harderthings to get.
Really.
A, A log doesn't make anysense. Why would it be so difficult
to get.
What was the story behind that?
Because most pieces of woodthat are shaped like that are telephone
poles.
Yeah.
Right. All of those telephonepoles are treated so they don't rot
or decay with chemicals. Wedidn't want one of those logs there
(13:18):
because if somebodyaccidentally got a splinter then
that actually because it's areally nasty chemical that they use
to pressure treat those piecesof wood. So you could actually get
sick or really?
And you got kids touching it.
Exactly. So. And Mr. Murphy isa lawyer, so he was, he, he constantly
is worried about people beinglitigious. Right. So finding a non
(13:42):
pressure treated straightpiece of wood that size, trust me,
it took me probably a year toget somebody to have that available.
It was, it was unbelievablydifficult to find a lock. I wish
I could have Went to SanDiego. But that would have been just
transporting.
It back, just drive across.Honestly, I think that's a great
artifact because unless, Imean, we are so used to it. If you're
(14:05):
on Coronado and you see theguys doing bud. So used to them with
the logs. But it's such anovice thing for people who have
never seen that or not closeto Coronado. Don't see the guys,
right?
No. And so I wanted to put thelog. You, you saw how it is. And
in the video you see how thelog is. I wanted to put it on to
like a pivot. Yeah. So oneside would be fixed, the other side
(14:26):
it would pivot. You could tryto lift.
That's a cool idea.
And then it was, well,somebody's going to get their finger
pinched or somebody's goingto. And because it, it's, it looks
like it's hard, but until youactually try to pick it up, then
you can really understand whatwe got. Have gone through or went
through during training. Soit's just, it was a great, it's a
great photo op for the kidsand everybody that visits. So people
(14:50):
love that display. I just wishit was a little more interactive.
Yeah, yeah, I love thatdisplay too. So I had a question
about the camel pack that youhave. Murphy's actual camel pack.
Now we, we know from hiscitation that he was shot in the
back. And someone had askedme, why is there no bullet holes
in the camel pack? And myresponse was, I don't think it's
(15:13):
thin enough and I don't thinkit was in the right area. But I don't
think you would wear yourbulletproof vest first and then camel
pack over the vest. It's notunderneath your vest, is it?
It usually is not underneathyour vest. But the. It could, it
could have been. I wasn'tthere. I don't know how he liked
wearing his gear because youhave your mag pouches and everything
(15:35):
else on front of the bodyarmor. So there's a lot of layers.
So sometimes having somethingeven further on on your back is not
correct or it feels off. Sosome. So sometimes you would put
your. Like when I had acamelback, we would put it on and
then I would have my H gearand stuff on top of it.
Gotcha.
So it just depends on how youlike wearing your. Your gear.
(15:57):
Okay.
So I'm not sure for that. It'slike how you like that's individual.
Yeah.
Yeah. So with the SEAL stuff,where a lot of the other units are
a lot more uniform with howyou wear things, how you have things
laid out on your gear. Andthat's just because if you're. If
you go down, somebody can runover and grab stuff, and they know
(16:19):
where it is in the dark. So wehave a lot more where it's customized
to what we would like, so weknow where it is, and it works for
me. My arms and hands arebigger than some other people's body
shapes, so sometimes it'sharder for me to get in a certain
direction. So I would lay outmy stuff differently. We would universally
put our med packs and thingsalways on the same matching side.
(16:43):
So if you went down, everybodyknew exactly where the med. Something
very important would be inthose universally. But the rest of
our gear would be different.Yeah, they have to match.
Yeah. That's the same foraviators, too.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which isgreat. That makes sense. I understand
being uniform, that. Thatmakes sense too. But at a certain
(17:03):
level, you need to be allowed.Allow people to customize it where
it works better.
Absolutely. Life and death, right?
Yeah. So I'm not sure why.Yeah, we thought at one point it
had blood on the bottom, but,you know, when the person that we
received it from described it,that's what the family thought. And
when I received the item, Irealized it was more of a hydration
(17:25):
stain from Gatorade or somesort of powder or mix, because blood
will turn black, dark overtime. And that was still a red.
Yeah.
So now for.
For those who. Who aren'tfamiliar with. Especially for our
listeners or. Somebody'sfinding this podcast and they're.
They're driving to LongIsland. They're driving potentially
to the museum, and they want alittle preview. Can you just give
(17:48):
us a brief overview of whatyou guys cover through the museum?
Because I know you tell hisstory and the story of the seals,
so can you talk briefly about that?
Absolutely. And I. I love thattopic because it is a Naval Special
Warfare museum that hasMichael's name on it. So I do have
the confusion from people thatit's a Michael Murphy museum, where
(18:11):
it would just be his story.And that is not the case. It is a
full timeline from 1942, WorldWar II, all the way to present day
of Naval Special Warfare. Sogoing from back in 1942, before D
Day, during World War II, wewere the Scouts and Raiders and the
Navy Combat demolition units,the NCDUs. Those guys were the actual
(18:36):
people who went on the shoresduring D Day. Okay. Mid World War
II, we get renamed into theUDTs, Underwater Demolition Teams.
And then when we See thatwe're moving into Vietnam. Then we're
renamed the Seals and the UDTFrogmen and all of the World War
(18:56):
II, Korea, the training, thehistory, the legacy, all of that
comes with it. And we to thisday continue to use the same Hell
Week training, all of thatthat they created 83 years ago. So
it's a pretty amazing originstory, but then you get rebranded
from the seals and, and goforward. So, yes, we do cover Michael's
(19:19):
story. We do cover. We do haveartifacts that are directly Michael,
like the camelback. We havehis trident, we have his helmets
from training. But that'sreally, really it. We're not centralized
on Michael. Granted, this isthe museum named after him, but we
do want to make sure thateveryone understands that we are
(19:40):
covering all of those amazingmen that have gone before him and
after him that have giventheir ultimate, you know, the ultimate
sacrifice and did all thesedifferent missions. So it is a full
museum of Naval Special warfare.
So not only that, you honorevery Medal of Honor recipient from
Special Warfare, and you honoreveryone who has paid the ultimate
(20:04):
cost of freedom in specialwarfare, in training and in actual
duty. You have the wall of thecost of freedom. And we talked you.
That's your favorite artifact.And I'm putting a card.
It's my most, it's my mostimpactful artifact. It definitely,
we could use the wordfavorite. It's. But it's the, it's
the one where I feel, I getthe most feeling from is looking
(20:27):
at the wall. And I had myfriend Drago, that he just visited
the other day, and we pricestood in front of that wall for 10
minutes almost in silence andjust looking at the faces and remembering
because there's so many peoplethat it's such a small community
that it's unfortunate that weknow a lot of people that were killed.
(20:48):
So reflecting back and thenyou see somebody you may not have
thought of in a while. Sothat's, that's why that's one of
my more special displays. I'msorry for cutting you off.
No, no, I, I, I love it. Andwhat I, what I'm putting the call
out if anyone's listening tothis or watches the video. Your mission
with that wall is to have aphotograph of every man who paid
(21:13):
the ultimate cost of freedom.And right now, you don't have a photograph
for every man. Some of themare just shadow silhouettes until
you can find thosephotographs. So if anybody wants
to watch this, I love amateurhistorians. And you want to look
at that wall. Chris has donehis best to go on, find a grave or
(21:33):
contact their high schools andsee where they went to school to
get an actual photograph ofthese men to put on that wall. Instead
of. Right now, it's the shadowsilhouette. I would say you have
about maybe.
10, a little more than that.We. We started a little over three
years ago with 90. About 90 to89 or 90 silhouettes. And that was
(21:54):
because the VA in St. Louis,back in the 70s burned down where
all the records were held. Sothey were able to recreate the. The
actual records due tomicrofiche and that stuff, but they
were. You couldn't get a.Another photo from 1944. So we have
about 30 guys in the maybehigh 20s, low 30s. So we've done
(22:16):
a ton of work over the pastthree years trying to find a face.
And it doesn't have to be anindividual photo. It doesn't. Just
that headshot. We found schoolpictures or class pictures and zoomed
in on people. So the photosmay not be great of the people that
we had to find, but it wasvery important for us to actually
(22:36):
have a photo of thatindividual, because even if it was
a blurry photo or a grainyphoto, it just was them, not just
this universal silhouette.And. And. And it's definitely. If
somebody could find it. I'm.I'll give you something out of the.
Out of the store. I promiseyou, you'll get a reward. So we'll
put that call out to people.You find. You find a picture that's
(22:58):
actually that person. I willgive you a list. And then if you
find one person on there andyou able to provide a picture for
us, I'll give you a hat or ashirt or something, whatever of your
choice. Out of the museum, the store.
Yeah, I think. I mean, we'retalking about Veterans Day. We're
talking about honoringveterans. I think the Cost of Freedom
wall, saying their name,looking at their pictures, remembering
(23:20):
their lives. I think that is away that those of us who live can
honor those who gave it all.And that's why so important to do
the video. I think it was soimportant for me as a Penn Stater
to be there. But to meet youand to see that wall, it was just.
It really is an amazing,amazing artifact. It's a great part
(23:40):
of your museum. It tells agreat, tremendous story and honors
these men. And I really. Ilove that you guys do that well.
And it's. It's sad that I knowI'll probably have to put more photos
up and that. And that's what'spart of the, I don't call it a negative,
but part of the, part of thejob running the museum and having
(24:01):
space because we have a lot ofkids that are. Don't understand why
the, the wall is laid out. Andwhen you watch the video, you'll
understand what I'm talkingabout. But the wall has depth and
the wall has spacing and blankspots. And that was just because
we know it's a dangerous joband we know that there'll be people
in the future that willunfortunately have to go on the wall.
(24:24):
But we have a lot of youngpeople that, they're 8, 9, 10 year
old kids that ask thatquestion, why does the wall look
like this? Or why is it likethat? And one, I love getting questions
from, from young kids, period,just because I like them interacting
with adults and askingquestions. But two, it just being
able to lay it out for peopleand have them understand that yet
(24:46):
this isn't just a, this isn'tfinished. The wall's not. It's a
living monument.
Yes. Now, how many visitors ayear do you usually get to the museum?
Well, I would love to increasethat, but I think we're probably
around 8 to 10,000 peopleright now. We have a lot of school
trips that come local. We havea lot of visitors that travel all
(25:08):
over the country that come to.To see the museum. And I think we're
at like 13 or 15 foreigncountries and almost a visitor from
every state in the past threeyears. So we, we keep track of that.
We have a guest book andDonna, who runs a museum with me,
she, she is diligent. She'llgo up every day and look through
the guest book and see wherethese people are coming from and
(25:32):
mark it off on. She has alittle map. So she, she gets really
excited when we get a new, newarea covered. So for a while we,
we had some. Two states in theMidwest that you're like, come on,
something come. I almostwanted to like raffle off an airline
ticket.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So. So sinceagain, you came into being the executive
director of the museum semiunexpectedly, it's not something.
(25:56):
No, absolutely not.
Yeah.
Since you've been the directorand kind of running the museum for
a few years and stuff likethat, what's one of the standout
moments for you as thedirector? Since over your time as
the director, either just likea super cool moment like you met
a person, or just a momentthat really stands out to you since
(26:17):
you've been in this role?
Okay, I'm getting chills sothere has been a tremendous amount
of those moments, varying indifferent capacities. I've had. I've
had the moments where I haveveterans, young veterans that come
(26:38):
from different states and popin that I don't know that aren't
seals and they just neededsomebody to talk to.
Yeah, cool.
Have emotional tears and needhelp. So I had a lot of interactions
where that was very surprisingfor me, just because I'm out on the
(26:58):
floor talking to people andthey're there with their girlfriends,
and then all of a sudden, weare in a different area, different
things. So that has been verytouching. I feel like I'm there for
a reason, to be able to bethere and make sure those people
know that they're not aloneand that we were here to help. So
(27:21):
that is a very special momentthat I've had numerous times. I've
had moments where I've hadguys that I haven't seen in 30 years
walk through the door withtheir families. That's been a very
happy moment. And then amoment like where I am right now,
I'm down at the AmericanVeterans Conference and being the
director here at the museum.The museum and Michaels foundation
(27:42):
gives back and donates to theVeterans center. And I'm meeting
all of these World War IIveterans. Rosie the Riveter yesterday.
Oh, cool.
Tuskegee Airmen, all of thesedifferent people. So I get the chance
to speak. I speak on a panel.I moderate a panel of seals for these
(28:04):
kids and for the veterans. Sothat's what we did yesterday. And
so there's been so many good,positive things that have come out
of this position that I didn'texpect, and I feel very blessed for
it. It's really helped mespeak in public, too. Another thing.
No other. But yeah, so I'mhaving a. I'm having a very good
(28:25):
experience as a director atthe museum. It's something like you
brought up that I didn't lookat these things impacting me the
way they have. It was justmore, oh, I'm going to run a museum.
Didn't think of all the otherareas that would be affecting my
life.
Well, and that's what I tell.I mean, it's such a gift to someone,
(28:45):
like, to you, to be able tocontinue to have an impact on people's
lives. That's one of thethings. Like, I'm still serving.
I was a former surface guy,and now I'm an HR guy. So I'm driving
a desk. It's not sexy, it'snot super fun, but it's Important
for larger Navy back endstuff. Make sure people get paid.
Right. If people aren't goingdoing stuff, you got to make sure
they get paid, things likethat. But the thing that, you know
(29:09):
that I've is my favorite partof serving is having that impact
on a sailor that works for me,a junior officer that works for me
or whatever. It's the impacton people's lives. And it's cool
to hear you get to continue tohave that opportunity through being
the executive director of theMuseum of Hey, here's a young veteran
who's come in and just needsto talk to someone else who served
(29:31):
or young kids who havequestions about the service or whatever
that is, is you continue tohave impact on, on people's lives.
And that's just such anabsolute gift that I'm so happy that,
that you get as, as a museumdirector because that's probably
not something a lot of peoplewould, would think about when you're
running a museum.
No, you don't think aboutthat. And I'm trying to make that
(29:54):
more a talking point,especially with other veterans, because
having purpose after theservice is a lot of times a very
difficult transition.
Yes.
And when I got out, a longtime ago, when I got out, there was
no transitional programs theway we have now. You had tap, you
had the basic two days ofhere, how do you, how do you tie
(30:16):
your tie? And yeah, yeah,everyone, everyone's going to love
you.
Here's how you write a resume.
Exactly. And that, that'sliterally what they, what they do.
They pump you up and off yougo. And then there's, then it's like
silent. There's. There was nosupport and it was very difficult
to transition, very difficultto find purpose, very difficult to
(30:36):
deal with things that I didn'tknow I was dealing with. Yeah. So
over time, and it took me along time, over time I figured it
out that when I was aroundother veterans didn't have to be
just seals. When I was aroundother veterans and I felt a little
more calm, a little morepeaceful and having to lead by example.
(30:57):
Maybe I was older guy, maybe,maybe I had different experiences,
but then I got to meet theseMarines that a lot of these guys
would come home and they'rethe only person that's alive from
their whole battalion thatgoes over there because IEDs and
all of this horrific thingsthat you don't have to, most people
don't have to deal with and,and just talking to them and so my
(31:18):
interactions with veterans hasreally changed my life. So that,
that has been a big key focusand I'm glad you brought that up.
It's like service after service.
Yeah.
So to me, I'm still serving ina different role or different capacity,
trying to give back. And a lotof times you don't get paid for this
and I don't want to get paidfor it. It's more of somebody needs
(31:39):
a call, somebody needs totalk. I'm going to pick up the phone
because it's just, I don'tneed to know you, but I, I'll be
the guy who tells you, hey,you're not alone. I'm, I'm here,
I'm on the other side of the phone.
Yeah.
So it's an important thing.And I, and I hope and wish and challenge
all these, all the, all theseother veterans that are sitting out
there and you don't understandor you're frustrated. You get involved.
(32:03):
You know that, that's it, Justget involved. Help another veteran
get, go to a meeting, dosomething. You'll feel better. I
pretty much can guarantee you that.
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah. I always, I agreewith that. And I think in the military
you lead a very purpose drivenlife and it's difficult when you
get out to find. To lead apurpose driven life. You need to
(32:23):
find that purpose again. You,you never knew Michael Murphy. You
never met him, right?
No, no. I was older, just,just a little bit older than Michael.
But making choices anddecisions as you're younger. I went
in as an enlisted pretty muchout of high school, so he went to
college and so his entry intothe military was delayed a little
(32:45):
bit. He went to Penn State. Hewent to Penn State. And then after
he graduated Penn State, hewould not take a commission yet until
he had a guaranteed spot in aBUDS class because he knew that if
he took a commission, if theycould kind of mess with him and put
him wherever they wanted. Sohe waited, I think 18 months before
(33:06):
he would actually get acontract. So his entry into the,
into the military was delayeda little bit in, in that sense. So
I jumped in early going intothe military and got my degrees afterwards.
But that was, that's why I didnot know Michael. I feel like I know
Michael now because I've metevery family member, every friend
(33:28):
of his and people that justwent to school with him. Maybe they
weren't even friends with him.And I bring this up and I don't know
if I brought this up with you,Jen, when you're at the news at the
museum, but you hear all ofthese stories about somebody's character
after they're gone.
Yeah.
Right. You hear all of theseamazing stories of who they were.
(33:51):
And not to be a skeptic, but,you know, when I didn't know Michael,
you hear all of these things.All of these from when he was young,
and this is what I'm saying.From when he was like, nine or ten
all the way to what he did tosacrifice his life, there was all
these different things thatpeople were brought up. And you're
(34:12):
thinking, is this all true? Ididn't want to be skeptical, but
it's just. It was just alltrue. And this is. When I've said
this in front of the familyand when I got involved, I still
had that. Let me. Let me seewhat's going on in the back of my
head. And I met and have metso many people that have validated
that from every differentangle of who that man was and his
(34:36):
character that I now know,even though I never met him, who
he was and the. The caliber ofman that he was. I'm getting upset
right now, but it just was anamazing individual. I wish I got
to meet him.
Yeah.
I guarantee you what you hearthe stories and those things that
(35:00):
you hear, they're. They'revalidated, and I validated them myself
through every differentchannel I could, just meeting different
people. And I'm. I don't. Idon't feel like I'd done enough yet.
Let me say that, like, I. Iwake up in the morning and I'm like,
what else can I do for this world?
(35:22):
Yeah.
And it's his story, and himmakes me want to do more.
And I. I never met MichaelMurphy. And so it. It was. So when
I heard his story and waslike, how did I not meet this guy?
We're at Penn State at thesame time. Where it. Pensacola at
(35:42):
the same time. Ocs. I'm atAPI. We're in North Island. Exactly.
At the same time. I'm goingthrough Cyr. He's going through buds.
Like, oh, he just finishedHell Week. Like, I was like. And
then we're both deployed, andthen I only learned about him after
his death. And like you said,I. And I feel like his life still
makes a huge impact.
(36:04):
And well. Well, it's 20 yearslater, and we're still talking about
him. Isn't that amazing?
Yeah.
20 years later, we're stilltalking about him. People are still
inspired by him. And thereason why you didn't meet him is
because he was a quiet person.So while he had a tremendous character,
(36:27):
he wasn't a character. Hewasn't somebody that would make themselves
stand out. He was somebodythat just did the right thing. Okay.
So after the fact, peoplerealize what they're missing when
that's no longer around.
Yeah.
So, like, last night, Maureen,Michael's mother's here, and his
brother John and his wifeLauren here, also with me down in
(36:49):
D.C. and we had all of thesecadets. West Point, Annapolis. I'm
learning all these differentother ROTC programs. Miami, Ohio.
Yeah.
Which, like, all this stuff,right? Yep. A lot of Miami, Ohio,
yesterday.
Yeah.
And these. I brought them overto introduce themselves to Michael's
(37:09):
mother, and they went right upto her and said, we just wanted to
meet you. Wanted to get apicture with you, because we're.
We're learning about your son.He is, like, part of their curriculum
in the. In the ROTC program.
That's cool.
And I was so happy to hearthat, because you could see her just
light up.
Yes.
(37:30):
So I explained that. And we dothe Murph Challenge every year at
the museum, and it's all overthe place. It's an international
kind of a thing, too. But, youknow, this was the 20th anniversary
of Operation Red Wings thispast June, and when I had 320 people
standing in front of megetting ready to enjoy the Murph
(37:50):
workout.
So funny. And honestly, Chris,that became my mission, too, because
we. Scott's a big crossfitter.We would do the Murph every year,
and anytime I'd go to the gymwith him to do the Murph, I'd be
like, do you know who MichaelMurphy is? And hardly anyone would
know him. They know the Murph.Everyone who's a crossfitter knows
the Murph. Hardly anyone knowsMichael Murphy. And so I was like,
(38:15):
this is my mission. Right?He's a Penn Stater. I'm a Penn Stater.
I always wear a Penn Stateshirt when I do the mrf. And I'm
like, people need to know theman, the man behind the workout.
And that was the whole pointof the video. It's the whole point
of I wanted all of people toknow why this. This honor wad is
for a man who. So honorableand what he did. I want people to
(38:39):
know more about him. So I justthank. Meeting you was a gift within
a gift. And so. So thank you.It was a great. That interact. We
had a great conversation evenbefore I made the video. It was so
great to meet you. I love.
Yeah. I was shocked when yousent me the video because I'm like,
We just talked for, I don'tknow, hours, so. And then I didn't
really see that you took thatmuch video. All of a sudden you send
(39:02):
me the video. I'm like, wow,that's awesome.
Well, he's the magic maker.I'm not great at it. He, he edits
it very well.
She's.
She's the talent, the face oncamera and the researcher. Everything
else is this guy.
Yeah.
And so the museum is. Is thisthe city he grew up in? Was that
where he grew up?
It's. It's close to that. Sohe grew up in Patchogue. So he went
(39:26):
to Patchog Medford School.
Okay.
So we're in West Sayville,which is about eight minutes away.
Okay.
And the reason being is thatwhen the family was looking for location
to build the museum, they wereconcerned that if they built a museum
on a private piece of propertywith a mortgage, that if something
happened to them in 10, 15years, that maybe somebody wouldn't
(39:49):
pay the mortgage and themuseum would get shuttered and closed.
So when we. I guess I wasn'tinvolved at this point. But when
they went and they reached outand tried to get county parkland.
So this was the closest pieceof county parkland that was free
that the county wouldultimately give us 100 year lease
on. So this museum will be inperpetuity for 97 more years. So
(40:17):
long, long after I'm gone andhe and the family's gone, the. The
museum will be there.
Yeah.
And that was very importantfor the family. So that's why they
weren't so focused on makingsure it was right in the hometown.
Sure.
Yeah.
His story will live on.
Only I don't, I don't see howthey, how it couldn't. Yeah, it's.
(40:37):
It's quite, quite amazing.Penn State right now, I think this.
Tonight, they're honoring him.
They're honoring him today.
That's cool. Yeah. And I thinkthe Islanders are honoring him also
tonight or yesterday.
Nice.
I. I don't follow sports that well.
I don't follow hockey that well.
I'd rather follow veteransthan sports.
Yeah.
Now and then he's buried inCalverton National Cemetery, which
(40:59):
is not about. I think it waslike a 15 minute drive for me to
get there and not too far. 20minute drive. It's kind of across.
Yeah, it's about, it's about20 minutes or so. Depends on New
York traffic. Three hours. Butit's only about 10 or 15 miles away.
So it could be 20, 30 minutes.Depends on your route. And yeah.
(41:19):
But, yes, it's fairly close.And he is the only Medal of Honor
recipient or the closest Medalof Honor recipient in that area of
the war on terror section.
And then. And then that. It'salso for his to be close to home.
That's why he was. He's buriedin that national cemetery. To be
close.
Absolutely. They wanted tobury him in Arlington. The parents
(41:40):
said no, they brought himhome. And then Mr. Murphy actually
moved from Patchogue to Wadingriver, which is. I. I think Mr. Murphy's
about three minutes away fromMichael's grave. So he pretty much
stops by daily or as manytimes as he can per week. So when
people leave things at themuseum or bring things to the museum
(42:03):
to. As a token or have servedwith Michael and just haven't made
it out to the grave, Danusually will bring it out and place
it on the. On the grave for them.
That's awesome.
That's great.
Yeah. No, it's. It's. It's impactful.
Yes.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah. I was so proud. Go there.
Yeah. And. And just kind of the.
(42:24):
The.
The picture that I have in mymind. And I think you did a good
job of describing Michaelearlier is he was this light. And
you don't notice what thelight touches when it's lighting
up a room or lighting up aspace until that light is removed.
But I think you. And whatyou're doing with the museum and
what everybody's done with themuseum is doing a great job of bringing
(42:46):
that light back to life andcontinuing to shine that. That light
of Lieutenant Michael Murphyon everybody around, everybody who
visits and continuing to tellthat story. So thank you so much
for joining us on Talk withHistory and for talking about the
museum and telling somepersonal stories. I absolutely love
it. You get tingles. I gettingles. I'm sure there's people
listening in the car. They'regetting tingles.
(43:07):
Give me a hug.
Appreciate it.
You're upset. I want to hug you.
We'll try to visit againsometime so that I get to come.
Absolutely. And thank you forhaving us. My hardest part of my
job is getting the word outthat we're here. We're a museum.
A lot of people forgethistory. They can go on their phones
and scroll. And granted,that's great. You have quick access
(43:30):
to information, but until yougo and visit a place and what you
guys are doing is absolutelyamazing. I never thought I would
be a historian or into thisthe way I am now. Now I visit museums
all the time. It's. It'sreally changed my life. But I really
appreciate everything you twoare doing, trying to capture history
(43:51):
and promote history and tomake sure people go and visit these
areas. There's so much historyeverywhere, everywhere you go. It
just, it's all around us. It'sjust if you just took the time to
stop, breathe and look, getoff your phone and look, you'll learn
so much and you'll probablywalk away with a whole different
outlook on things. So thankyou for what you're doing and I,
(44:14):
I really, really am honored tohave meet met you both now.
So thank you so much again,Christopher, and for our listeners,
for our watchers, please takea look in the video description or
the podcast show notes. I'llput links directly to the museum.
I always put a Google Mapslink. You can just click on that.
It'll open up Google Maps andyou can start driving. So thank you
again, Chris, for for joiningus and for our listeners. We'll talk
to you guys next time.
(44:35):
Thank you guys. Take care.
That brings us to the close ofone of the most powerful stories
in.
Modern military history,Operation Red Wing. It's impossible
to recount the events of thatday. The sacrifice of Lieutenant
Michael Murphy, Danny Dietz,and Matthew Axelson, and the bravery
(44:59):
of the 16 men of that quickreaction force coming to rescue them
without feeling the immenseweight of their courage. We were
honored to speak with ChrisWiley who shared how Lieutenant Michael
Murphy Navy SEAL Museumensures that his legacy of honor,
duty and sacrifice is neverforgotten. The museum is a living
(45:19):
tribute and we encourageeveryone to learn more about its
mission. You can find links tothe Lieutenant Murphy Navy SEAL Museum
and all the resourcesmentioned in today's episode in the
show notes or videodescription. A huge thank you to
all the veterans out there whohave served this great country.
Jen and I are truly honored tocall you brothers and sisters.
Happy Veterans Day. We'll talkto you next time. This has been a
(45:43):
Walk with History production.Talk with History is created and
hosted by me, Scott Benny.Episode researched by Jennifer Benny.
Check out the show notes forlinks and references mentioned in
this episode. Talk withHistory is super supported by our
fans@thehistoryroadtrip.comour eternal thanks go out to those
providing funding to help keepus going. Thank you to Doug McLiberty,
(46:04):
Larry Myers, Patrick Benny,Gail Cooper, Christy Coates and Calvin
Gifford. Make sure you hitthat follow button in that podcast
player and we'll talk to younext time.
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