John J. Murphy was born in Lawrence, MA. His parents died while he was a small boy, and he made his home with his uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. James Murphy of Stevens street, Marland Village. He was employed in Marland Mills and enlisted in Co. F, 9th Mass. Inf., in October, 1914, before he was sixteen years old. He went with his company to the Mexican border in 1916 and volunteered for overseas service with his old command when war was declared. He was a member of the 101st Infantry, 26th Division, in which unit he was a sergeant at the time of his death. He fought at Seicheprey, the Second Marne, Fere, and Fismes, and, when the final drive against the Germans began, he was at St. Mihiel, where he was cited for conspicuous bravery. In the Argonne Forest he was in the vicinity of an exploding shell and was listed as Missing in Action on October 27, 1918. His status was changed to "missing in action and presumably dead" on March 4, 1919.

He was recommended for Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) for gallantry in action: "Under extremely heavy enemy shell fire he led his group brilliantly in the attack on Bois St. Remy, 12 Sept., 1918, capturing two machine gun nests with crews." Source of information: from the book ANDOVER, MASSACHUSETTS, IN THE WORLD WAR ed. by Claude M. Fuess, pub. by the Town of Andover (The Andover Press, 1921), pp. 48, THE GOLD STAR RECORD OF MASSACHUSETTS, Vol. 2, ed. by Eben Putnam (Boston: The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1929), p. 89