The U.S. Marine Corps and the Army Paratroopers both rejected Audie Murphy when he tried to enlist. At five feet five inches tall and one hundred and ten pounds, they told the Texas farm boy he was too small to fight. On January 26, 1945, near Holtzwihr, France, that nineteen-year-old boy climbed on top of a burning tank destroyer loaded with fuel and high-explosive shells and fought two hundred and fifty German soldiers and six tanks completely alone. In freezing snow, six German Panzer tanks and two hundred and fifty infantrymen attacked Murphy's company, which had been reduced to just nineteen men out of one hundred and twenty-eight. An American M10 tank destroyer was hit and burst into flames, its crew abandoning it before the fuel tanks and artillery shells inside could detonate. Murphy ordered all of his remaining men to pull back into the safety of the woods. Then he ran straight to the burning M10 tank destroyer and climbed onto its roof. Why on earth did he climb on top of a burning tank that was seconds away from blowing up? Because Murphy realized two tactical facts in an instant. First, the .50-caliber machine gun mounted on that burning turret was the only heavy weapon left on the field. Second, the thick black smoke pouring from the burning engine shrouded him completely, blinding the German tank gunners so they could not aim at him, while German foot soldiers were too terrified of the exploding tank to rush him. For one full hour, standing in the fire and smoke with a shrapnel wound in his leg, the nineteen-year-old Texan spun the heavy machine gun in every direction and called artillery fire directly onto his own position over a field telephone. When the artillery operator on the phone asked nervously, "How close are the Germans to you?", Murphy answered, "Hold the phone and I'll let you talk to one." He killed or wounded fifty German soldiers and forced all six tanks to retreat before stepping off the burning metal just before his ammunition ran out. Never measure a warrior by the size of his shoulders. Measure him by what he stands on when everyone else steps back.