Leading from the front

VICTORVILLE • When Yolanda Gutierrez learned her son was gong to be inducted into the Sgt. Audie Murphy Club, she was proud but asked, “Well, who’s Audie Murphy?”

“Mom, you really need to get on the Internet and check out who this guy is. He’s pretty awesome,” First Sgt. Mario Curtis, Jr. of Victorville wrote back in an e-mail.

So she did.

“Wow,” she said after learning about the most decorated soldier who fought during World War II. “And to know other people think as highly of (Curtis) as I do and in the same breath as Audie Murphy. Wow!”

Curtis is now part of a very select group of non-commissioned officers who make up the top 1 percent of all the NCOs in Fort Riley’s installation in Kansas, according to Sgt. First Class William Mackey, president of Fort Riley’s Sgt. Audie Murphy Club.

“It’s a very prestigious organization,” Mackey said. “It sets you above and beyond your peers.”

Murphy received a total of 33 medals and citations including the Medal of Honor, three Purple Hearts, two Silver Stars and five from France and Belgium, according to the Audie Murphy Research Foundation.

For the full story, read Wednesday's Daily Press. To subscribe to the Daily Press in print or online, call (760) 241-7755 or click here.

Beatriz E. Valenzuela may be reached at (760) 951-6276 or at BValenzuela@VVDailyPress.com.