When Ralph Puckett was chosen to guide a brand new Ranger firm in 1950, he stated a prayer: “Pricey God, do not let me get a bunch of fellows — good guys — killed.”
In late November 1950, the then-Army lieutenant was main the eighth Ranger Firm in a daring assault towards entrenched North Korean machine weapons close to the city of Unsan. His extraordinary heroics allowed the Rangers to overwhelm the positions. After a strong, hourslong counterattack, they confronted being overrun themselves. Puckett was wounded and boldly advised his males to depart him behind, an order they refused. As an alternative, they dragged him off the hill to security, saving his life and guaranteeing he wouldn’t solely survive the struggle, however battle once more one other day.
For his decisive and courageous management preventing North Korean troops, he obtained the Distinguished Service Cross. Some 71 years later, that award was upgraded to the Medal of Honor, and now-retired Col. Ralph Puckett was nonetheless alive to obtain the medal from President Joe Biden in a Might 2021 White Home ceremony.
On Nov. 29, 2022, Hiroshi Miyamura died, leaving Puckett the final surviving Medal of Honor recipient of the Korean Battle. Puckett died in his sleep on April 8, 2024. He was 97 years previous.
Born in Tifton, Georgia, in 1926, Puckett attended a army highschool earlier than enrolling at Georgia Tech in 1943 at simply 16 years previous. He joined the Army Enlisted Reserves quickly after and he tried to get a pilot’s place within the Army Air Forces, however with World Battle II winding down, he was discharged as a substitute. Regardless of this, the younger man persevered and bought into the U.S. Army Academy at West Level, turning into a cadet in 1945 and graduating in 1949. As an alternative of being a pilot, his future (or so it appeared) was to turn into a Ranger.
On June 25, 1950, North Korea immediately invaded American-backed South Korea. U.S. forces, unprepared for the assault, mounted what protection they may however have been almost pushed into the ocean by the North Korean onslaught. They made their stand in a fringe across the metropolis of Pusan (right now Busan), and held the bottom till extra United Nations troops might intervene. Lt. Puckett, with no fight expertise, was positioned answerable for the newly fashioned eighth Ranger Firm in Japan and despatched to Pusan.
For seven weeks, the Rangers skilled towards dwell North Korean infiltrators. On Sept. 10, 1950, Gen. Douglas MacArthur directed a large amphibious invasion on the Korean peninsula behind the Pusan Perimeter, and inside three weeks, the eighth Ranger Firm have been a part of the breakout of the perimeter, pushing the North Koreans again throughout the thirty eighth Parallel. From there, Puckett spearheaded the invasion of the north.
“Korea is usually known as the ‘Forgotten Battle,'” as Biden stated at Puckett’s Medal of Honor ceremony. “However these males who have been there underneath Lieutenant Puckett’s command — they’re going to always remember his bravery. They always remember that he was proper by their aspect all through each minute of it.”
On Nov. 23, whereas People again residence and preventing in Korea have been having fun with Thanksgiving dinners, Puckett and the Rangers have been scouting prematurely of the approaching American push towards the Yalu River, North Korea’s border with China. Two days later and 5 months to the day because the struggle started, the Rangers started an advance to Hill 205, close to the North Korean metropolis of Unsan. They got here underneath heavy hearth from mortars and small arms, however Puckett led his firm over 800 yards of open terrain to seize the place. He uncovered himself to enemy machine weapons so his males might see the place they have been positioned and subsequently take them out. He then started to fortify his place on the hill. He would wish each minute of preparation.
Only a month earlier than the eighth Rangers took Hill 205, communist China intervened within the struggle, sending 300,000 troops to assist North Korea. The invasion pushed the U.S. advance again south towards the thirty eighth Parallel. The mixed communist forces captured Unsan on Nov. 4, and Puckett’s males have been dangerously outnumbered. By 10 p.m. native time on Nov. 25, the Rangers have been underneath a heavy assault. Puckett was wounded however nonetheless directing artillery hearth into the early hours of the subsequent day. At 3 a.m. he was wounded by mortar hearth that rendered him motionless. With out artillery assist, he ordered his males to withdraw with out him.
In ignoring Puckett’s order, the Rangers at Hill 205 saved their commander, but additionally one of the crucial vital Rangers in Army historical past. Puckett turned a Ranger teacher and commander of the Mountain Ranger Division, an adviser to Colombia’s Rangers and commanded the tenth Special Forces Group in Germany in the course of the Chilly Battle, main covert insertions by land, sea and air.
“Colonel Puckett is a real hero of the Korean Battle,” South Korean President Moon Jae-in stated throughout Puckett’s Medal of Honor ceremony, which marked the primary time a South Korean president had been current for such an award.
“With extraordinary valor and management, he accomplished missions till the very finish, defending Hill 205 and preventing many extra battles requiring equal valiance,” Moon added. “With out the sacrifice of veterans, together with Colonel Puckett and the Eighth Army Ranger Firm, [the] freedom and democracy we take pleasure in right now could not have blossomed in Korea.”
Puckett would reply his nation’s name as soon as extra in 1967, this time deploying to South Vietnam with the a hundred and first Airborne Division as a lieutenant colonel. On Aug. 13, 1967, his airborne infantry battalion engaged a battalion of Viet Cong close to Duc Pho. Puckett crossed a minefield to direct his troopers and rally them. All through the night time, he coordinated the preventing from a foxhole underneath heavy hearth, refused to be extracted and even tended to the wounded.
Veterans of that battle stated his mere presence stiffened the American resistance in the course of the battle, which they ultimately received. Puckett obtained one other Distinguished Service Cross for that engagement and would ultimately obtain two Silver Stars, three Legions of Advantage, 5 Purple Hearts and two Bronze Star Medals with V gadgets for valor, making him one of the crucial embellished troopers in Army historical past.
Puckett would go away the Army in 1971 and proceed serving his nation as nationwide applications coordinator of Outward Certain, a nonprofit with the mission of exposing college students, particularly these from inside cities, to wilderness areas. When the Ranger Corridor of Fame was established in 1992, Col. Ralph Puckett was one of many inaugural inductees.
To study extra concerning the extraordinary life and profession of Ralph Puckett, take a look at his 2017 e book, “Ranger: A Soldier’s Life.”
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