Exclusive | Father of Navy SEAL Michael Murphy has spent the last 20 years keeping hero sons legacy alive: A higher sense of purpose

It’s been nearly 20 years since Daniel Murphy was told his son Michael, a Navy SEAL Lieutenant from Long Island, had been killed in action in Afghanistan — along with two team members and 16 other military personnel.While the Medal of Honor recipient’s heroics were memorialized in the 2013 film “Lone Survivor,” his proud dad has spent almost every day sharing his legacy at the Lieutenant Michael P.Murphy Navy SEAL Museum in West Sayville since its opening two years ago.“If Michael’s story brings the attention of the public to our fallen heroes, then he has accomplished something — even in death,” Murphy, now 77, told The Post.

“It was our goal to tell people and show people what these incredible young men do.”The semi-retired Murphy, who moved to Wading River to be near Michael’s grave at nearby Calverton National Cemetery, makes the 45-minute trip to the museum most days — not only to honor Michael’s legacy, but to discuss the sacrifices made by members of the armed services.Along with giving visitors a profound sense of what life in the Navy SEALs and all military service is truly like, it’s a moment to reconnect with his late son.“I tell him what’s going on, who is in the museum, who I met, what we’ve discussed, and things like that,” he said.On a typical day, Murphy speaks to visitors and vividly describes what he and his ex-wife, Michael’s mother, Maureen — who also visits the museum multiple times a week — have endured since their son’s death.“We’ve had visitors from 47 states and 36 counties and just about all of them know Michael’s story coming in,” Murphy said.The world knows of Murphy’s heroics from the blockbuster film in which Taylor Kitsch depicted the 29-year-old sacrificing himself as his four-man team was surrounded on three sides by dozens of Taliban militia on a 10,000-foot elevation — during a reconnaissance mission gone wrong in June 2005.“Michael was a hero before he was a hero,�...