Where Will We Find Such Men?

The Country's loss of an American Hero

Yesterday, April 8, this country lost a great American, Colonel Ralph Puckett. I have only published one other eulogy on this site, and it was for Toby Keith. Toby Keith would have been in awe of Ralph Puckett. If asked to write a song about Col. Puckett, Toby Keith no doubt would reply, “I already have – ‘The American Soldier.’”

Colonel Puckett was one of the most decorated officers in the US Army. His awards include all of the Nation’s four highest decorations for valor – the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver Stars and the Bronze Star for Valor. And his enduring courage in the face of the mortal danger that is part and parcel of infantry combat is reflected in his six Purple Hearts for wounds suffered in combat.

The Beginning of an Extraordinary Military Career

Second Lieutenant Puckett graduated from West Point, in 1949, where he had been, among other things, captain of the boxing team. With the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, Lieutenant Puckett quickly found himself in Korea. There he heard that a new unit was being formed, the 8th Army Ranger Company. Knowing full well, the reputation of the Rangers from their legendary exploits in World War II, Lt. Puckett volunteered for duty as a lieutenant in the newly forming Ranger company. When told that all the platoon leader positions for a lieutenant had been filled, he volunteered to serve in any capacity — anything that would get him into the Rangers, whether as a rifleman, machine, gunner, squad, leader, or whatever. The commander interviewing him was so impressed that he made Lieutenant Puckett the commander of the new company, a position normally reserved for a captain.

The Chinese Counter-Offensive and the Battle for Hill 205

November 1950 found American forces reeling from a massive counter-offensive by the Communist Chinese, who had crossed the Yalu River into North Korea with massive amounts of combat troops.

On November 25, the Chinese launched another series of coordinated attacks all across the Korean peninsula. While many other outnumbered units were on the defensive, Lieutenant, Puckett and his Rangers were on the attack. On that day, he and 51 of his Rangers attacked across an 800-yard-wide open area in the face of heavy fire from well positioned and concealed Chinese machine guns and mortars, but they succeeded in capturing Hill 205. During this attack, whereas most people would have been seeking protection from this deadly enemy fire, Lt. Puckett repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire so that his men and the tanks that were temporarily supporting them could pinpoint enemy targets and deliver effective counter-fire.

Now as you read this, don’t just skim over the sterile words - close your eyes and think deeply about the facts, and try to imagine yourself in the position of the young lieutenant responsible for the lives of 51 other Americans. You are in a foreign country thousands of miles from your home and loved ones. You and the men for whom you are responsible are digging holes in the hard earth, trying to protect yourself from automatic gunfire, and mortar explosions that will literally rip your body apart.

It is 10 o’clock at night and has been dark for about five hours. You hear strange voices out to your front, and you know that hundreds of people whom you have never met have come for one purpose: to kill you. They are a Chinese Communist battalion against your small company that really is no more than a reinforced platoon. You are outnumbered literally 10 to 1. You cannot run; you cannot call 911. You can only prepare to defend yourself in a kill-or-be-killed fight.

In the darkness you hear a bugle call and shouts in the night. Strangers whom you cannot see are shrieking foreign words while running at you, firing submachine guns and throwing grenades, all with the objective of ending your life. Explosions rock your hill. And the noise . . . . The noise of the explosions and close-in gunfire is so overwhelming that it is disorienting. And this is just the first of six massive counter attacks against your small Ranger force on Hill 205.

Lieutenant Puckett was wounded early in the action. If this happened to you, you would immediately dial 911 call from an ambulance and get to the emergency room as soon as possible. But despite injuries that would have most of us in the critical care ward of the nearest hospital, 23-year-old Lt. Puckett refused to be evacuated and remained to lead his men in the fight against the overwhelming force that attacked them again, and again. His men later reported that during the attack, Lt. Puckett continued to expose himself to enemy fire so that he and his Rangers could direct their fire against enemy targets. Over a period of five hours, he was wounded multiple times, including both by hand grenades and mortars, but he kept fighting. Finally, his last wounds were so severe that he could no longer walk or even stand.

Think about it. You and your men keep repulsing attack after attack, leaving dead bodies littering the ground in front of you. But no matter how many you kill, the enemy also is determined; they keep coming to attack again and again. They have one mission in life: to kill you and your men. That is what you are facing. You know that it is virtually certain that you will die before you see the morning sun. You cannot hide; you cannot call your wife; you cannot say goodby to your children. You can only continue to do your duty. It is beyond the comprehension of most of us.

After the sixth human-wave attack, there was a slight pause in the action as the Chinese regrouped for another assault on the outnumbered Rangers. Running low on ammunition and having sustained numerous casualties, Lieutenant Puckett knew that with their next assault the enemy would be able to overrun his position and kill all the remaining Americans. He therefore ordered his men to exfiltrate off the hill and fight their way to safety. Again, he refused to be evacuated because he could not walk and that if his men tried to carry him, it would just slow them down, thereby increasing the risk that they would be killed. So, he ordered his men to leave him behind as they exfiltrated off Hill 205.

Fortunately, two of the Rangers, Billy Walls and David Pollock, elected to disobey their commander, thereby putting their own lives in further jeopardy. They returned to their Lieutenant’s position where they found him in the dark, picked him up, and physically carried him and then dragged him off the hill. They finally reached relative safety with the tanks that had supported them during the attack the previous day. But Lt. Puckett’s wounds were sufficiently serious to keep him hospitalized for the next year. And all but ten of his Rangers were killed, wounded or missing in action.

Lieutenant Puckett was initially awarded the nation second highest award for valor, the Distinguished Service Cross, for his leadership and valor in the fight for Hill 205. That award would later be upgraded to the Medal of Honor.

1st Lieutenant Puckett is awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his valor in Korea (National Medal of Honor Museum/Command Historian)

Later, in Vietnam, then-Lieutenant Colonel Puckett was fated to become one of the few soldiers to earn a second Distinguished Service Cross, when he was a battalion commander with the fabled 101st Airborne. Once again, he was severely wounded in this action for another of his six Purple Hearts.

My Personal Contact and Friendship with Colonel Puckett

My first personal contact with Colonel Puckett was when I was a Second Lieutenant at Ft. Carson, Colorado, following after my graduation from West Point in 1969. Colonel Puckett was my Brigade Commander. We had some interaction, and he was good enough to recommend me for some key assignments, but our relationship was necessarily formal and impersonal, as befits a Second Lieutenant and a Colonel.

Some years later, I was able to renew my acquaintanceship with Colonel Puckett when, in his role as the Honorary Colonel of the Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment, he was the speaker at my son’s graduation for the Ranger Regiment’s selection course for enlisted men, known then as RIP (Ranger Indoctrination Program). After his motivating graduation talk, I approached Col. Puckett and re-introduced myself. We had an amiable chat and Colonel Puckett volunteered to be the one to pin the coveted Ranger scroll on my son’s left shoulder.

As a result of this chance contact, Colonel Puckett became a mentor to my son when he was a junior enlisted man in the 1st Ranger Battalion, somewhat to the puzzlement of the hard-nosed NCO’s in the battalion. He and I also renewed our acquaintance, which blossomed into a true friendship despite our disparity in age and military rank. Colonel Puckett insisted that I call him Ralph, which was very difficult for me. I complied and called him “Ralph,” but interspersed it with repeated “sir’s” purely out of habit and respect.

Colonel Puckett and then-Corporal Dave Lucas

I was even more fortunate, because as our friendship developed, Ralph and his lovely wife, Jeannie, visited my wife and me in our Tennessee home, and invited us to stay with them for the opening of the Infantry Museum in Columbus, Georgia. Ralph’s leadership qualities showed through even when we went through the museum together. When he saw young, enlisted soldiers looking at displays in the museum, he would stop and talk with them about what they were seeing. Most of them had no idea that they were talking with a man who was personally featured in one of the museum’s displays right around the corner from where they were chatting.

With Ralph in Cades Cove; Ralph, Jeannie, Sandy, John, and Ginger at Newfound Gap Gap.

Colonel Puckett is Awarded the Medal of Honor.

In 2022 Ralph’s Distinguish Service Cross from the 1950 Hill 205 fight was deservedly, upgraded to a Medal of Honor. By this time, he was 94 years old, and wheelchair–bound. The Army’s full description of Lieutenant Puckett’s actions on November 25 and 26 is here. The description by the Medal of Honor Museum is here.

But when it came time for President Biden to place the Medal of Honor around his neck, Ralph Puckett was determined that he was not going to be sitting in a wheelchair or propped up using a walker. He stood unaided and assumed the position of attention. At first, he appeared to be a little unstable and one of the President’s military aides thoughtfully slid a walker in front of him so that he could support himself. But Ranger Colonel Ralph Puckett was not about to have the President of the United States bestow the Medal of Honor on him while he was leaning on a walker. He pushed the walker aside and resumed the position of attention, standing erect before his Commander-in-Chief, who then pinned the Medal of Honor around his neck. See it on the video here:

This is the full ceremony.

Ralph left this earth on April 8, 2024, But his memory, like his soul, shall live forever.

I close with Toby Keith’s song about Colonel Puckett and the men he led to hell and back.

The American Soldier

I'm just trying to be a father
Raise a daughter and a son
Be a lover to their mother
Everything to everyone
Up and at 'em bright and early
I'm all business in my suit
Yeah, I'm dressed up for success
From my head down to my boots.

I don't do it for the money
There's bills that I can't pay
I don't do it for the glory
I just do it anyway
Providing for our future's my responsibility
Yeah, I'm real good under pressure
Being all that I can be.

And I can't call in sick on Mondays
When the weekends been too strong
I just work straight through the holidays
And sometimes all night long
You can bet that I stand ready
When the wolf growls at the door
Hey, I'm solid, hey I'm steady
Hey I'm true down to the core.

And I will always do my duty
No matter what the price
I've counted up the cost
I know the sacrifice
Oh, and I don't want to die for you
But if dyin's asked of me
I'll bear that cross with honor
'Cause freedom don't come free.

I'm an American soldier, an American
Beside my brothers and my sisters
I will proudly take a stand
When liberty's in jeopardy
I will always do what's right
I'm out here on the front lines
Sleep in peace tonight
American soldier, I'm an American soldier.

Yeah, an American soldier, an American
Beside my brothers and my sisters
I will proudly take a stand
When liberty's in jeopardy
I will always do what's right
I'm out here on the front lines
So sleep in peace tonight
American soldier, I'm an American.

God bless you, Ralph.