Murray Jr. Elmer L. born 1921, in Des Moines, Iowa. 
the son of Elmer L. Murray, Sr. and his wife Mrs. Irma Murray, a sister, Mrs. Margaret Ann O’Neill, and a brother, Theodore Murray, all reside in Inglewood. Another brother, Wendell Murray, is with the navy in the South Pacific. A former Roosevelt High school student, young Murray moved to Inglewood, California, in 1936, was graduated from Inglewood, High school, 
and was attending Santa Barbara State college, when he entered military service in 1942.
Elmer Murray enlisted in the US Army 
on 20-08-1942 in Los Angeles, California. Prior to that, he worked at an aircraft manufacturing plant. Elmer would be assigned to Easy Company, 506th PIR 
nickname “Currahee”, under command of Lieutenant General Robert Frederick Sink “Bob”, “Five-Oh-Sink”
and served as the company’s operations sergeant. Elmer Murray was good friends with Robert Burr Smith 
and Clifford Carwood “The Man” Lipton 
Robert Smith after the war and back home, Smith retired from the CIA where he worked, after a hang-gliding accident. He was later diagnosed with lung cancer. Robert died 07-01-1983 (age 58) in San Diego, San Diego County, California, USA
According to Smith, they both served at the divisional jump school at Chilton, Foliat 
while the unit was stationed in England. Photographs of Murray (alongside fellow soldier James T. Flanagan) 
were dropped into France prior to D-Day to familiarize the French with how American paratroopers looked like.
The Normandy landings
were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D-Day (after the mililtary term), it is the largest seaborne invasion in history. The operation began the liberation of France, and the rest of Western Europe, and laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front.
On June 4th 1944, after the invasion was postponed due to poor weather conditions, Murray and Lipton opted to spend their evening discussing hypothetical combat situations while the rest of the company went to the movies. Murray, who was in charge of the operations and readiness of the company, did not survive to see his work get implemented in battle.
Death and burial ground of Murray Jr. Elmer L.
At the age of 22, Murray was killed on D-Day old alongside most of Easy’s HQ section when his plane, Stick 66, was struck by enemy fire and crashed in Normandy. Robert Burr Smith would temporarily serve as the operations sergeant while Murray was presumed to be missing in action. After Murray’s death was confirmed, Staff Sergeant Leo Boyle was selected by Captain Winters to serve as the company’s new operations sergeant.
Elmer resided in Los Angeles County, California prior to the war. He enlisted in the Army on August 20, 1942 in Los Angeles, California. He was noted, at the time of his enlistment, as being employed in the building of aircraft and also as Married.Elmer was a passenger on C-47A #42-93095 which was part of the 91st Troop Carrier Squadron, 439th Troop Carrier, Group, U.S. Army Air Force during World War II.Elmer was “Killed In Action” when this C-47A was believed to have been shot down by German anti-aircraft fire during the Normandy invasion and crashed at Beuzeville-au-Plain, Manche, France during the war.
Sergeant Elmer L. Murray Jr., NCO of “E” Company, 506th PIR 101st Airborne Division, took off from Uppottery, UK on a combat drop as part of Operation Albany. While over Sainte-Mere-Eglise the plane was hit by AA fire, causing one of the engines to burst into flames. The pilot tried to land the plane in a field by the RN13 but it clipped a hedgerow and exploded, killing everyone aboard. The wreck burned for three days. No bodies were ever found and vegetation hasn’t grown on the crash site to this day. Murray’s unit was represented in the TV series Band of Brothers. He left behind his wife Nancy, to whom he wrote the following poem It’s Always You: “Whenever it’s early twilight, I watch ‘till a star breaks thru Funny, it’s not a star I see – It’s always you. Whenever I roam through roses And lately I often do Funny, it’s not a rose I touch It’s always you. If a breeze caresses me It’s really you strolling by If I hear a melody It’s merely the way you sigh. Wherever you are you’re near me You dare me to be untrue Funny, each time I fall in love It’s always you.
Easy Company, of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, had about 140 men at the start of their training. During the war, around 1397 men served in Easy Company. Of those, 39 were killed in action or died of their wounds sustained during combat, and many others were wounded.
The second Company Commander of “Easy Company,” 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Meehan III, Thomas. 
was on of the casualities.
He was awarded the Purple Heart.He was originally interred overseas and was later repatriated here on 27-03-1951.Service ID: 19126297.The reason he is named on a group headstone is because when soldier’s were killed in close proximity to each other they were unable, at that time, to identify them separately and interred their remains together in one grave.~There were five crew members and 17 paratroopers on this flight and they all perished in the crash. The passengers were members of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division 
made famous by the series:“Band Of Brothers”. 
This C-47 crashed near the town of Beuzeville-au-Plain, a few kilometers northeast of Sainte-Mère-Eglise. A monument has been erected at the crash site, which honors the memory of those pilots and paratroopers who died before they could even fight.
Murray Jr. Elmer L is buried in a mass grave with his comrades at the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Lemay Township, St. Louis County, Missouri, USA.Mass grave. Section 84 SITE 25-31.
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