Murphy, Gerald Riley

Gerald Murphy died in a car accident in Rangoon on June 20, 1945.

GERALD R. MURPHY, of Chicago, Illinois, on June 20th, was killed in India. Gerald, in company with Gilbert Collyer, was riding in a jeep driven by a British Officer, who swerved suddenly to avoid hitting a parked truck, lost control of the car and hit a tree. Gerald was thrown from the jeep and struck his head killing him instantly. During the Burma Campaign, Gerald had risked his life many times transporting wounded in forward areas, and his death came as a great shock to all those who worked with him.

__ AFS Letters No. 39

Captain Gilbert reported that "Gerald Murphy and Jack Ries completed a great piece of work in evacuating the lepers from the Fort in Mandalay. Strange as it may seem, the Japs permitted the ambulances to pass but opened up on the very next vehicle that passed. The incident was mentioned over a BBC broadcast."

Throughout the operations immediately concerned with the capture and mopping-up of Mandalay proper, "the AFS drivers, particularly the jeep drivers, did extremely well," Lt. Gilliam reported. "Medical, infantry, and staff officers have all made comments on the sensible and dependable work our fellows did under the most adverse conditions. Albert, Mathewson, McCollester, Morrill, Murphy, J. Parkhurst, Peterson, and Ries have all been particularly commended to me by various officers. As a whole, the Platoon did very well."

As if to underline the general depression, during this period occurred the deaths of John Wilder Parkhurst and Gerald Riley Murphy---both first-rate men whose tragic loss was deeply felt. Parkhurst entered a hospital in Calcutta with a bad case of malaria on 20 June, the day on which Murphy was killed in an automobile accident in Rangoon.

Murphy was in a jeep being driven by a British officer. Swerving to avoid a parked truck, he lost control of the jeep and hit a tree. Murphy was thrown out of the car, struck the tree with his head, and died in a few minutes. G. E. Collyer, also a passenger in the jeep, was thrown clear, suffering only injury to his cheek bone and elbow. It did not make it any the less sad that of the many auto accidents in the records this should have been the only one to have fatal consequences.

__ George Rock. Chapter 17. "Victory 4. India-Burma (November 1944-1945)" History of the American Field Service, 1920-1955. New York 1956.