21st Nov Ralph Puckett Jr

Good morning,

Its Monday, a new week, so lets start it off with remembering a special forces soldier that is nothing short of an absolute legend.  

Today we salute Vietnam and Korean hero....

Colonel (Ret) Ralph Puckett

It was only last year he was awarded the Medal of Honor by the President, 71 years after the event. Why? Well read below to find out ⬇️ 

Puckett was from Tifton Georgia and was born in 1926. He enlisted in the US Army during WWII in 1943 where he joined the Army Reserve Corps until 1945.

He completed US Military Academy and became a Second Lieutenant before getting deployed to Japan where he then ended up in Korea in 1950 with the Eighth Army Ranger Company.   

Leading the advance of the 25th Infantry Division on Nov. 25, 1950, Puckett and his Rangers attacked and secured Hill 205 in the vicinity of Unsan, Korea. Though outnumbered ten to one, Puckett and his Rangers defeated five successive Chinese counterattacks over four hours that night and into the early morning hours of Nov. 26th.

Having suffered multiple serious wounds, Puckett was unable to move. Despite orders to abandon him, fellow Rangers fought their way to his side and evacuated him to safety. For his actions, Puckett was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.​

After the Korean War Puckett was the Commander of the Mountain Ranger Division for 2 years at the U.S. Army Infantry School Ranger Department and then went on to Command the 2nd Battalion, 502d Infantry (Airborne) of the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam and later received a 2nd Distinguished Service Cross for "heroic leadership" 

In April 2021, Puckett's Distinguished Service Cross for his actions on November 25, 1950, was upgraded to the Medal of Honor. He received the award from President during a ceremony at the White House on May 21, 2021. He is one of the last two surviving Medal of Honor recipients of the Korean War, and is 95 years old. 

Thank you for your service Sir. 

Did you know?

There are more veterans in California than any other state, about 1.7m of us with Texas next with 1.5m. 

Let us know your thoughts on this email by hitting reply and have a great day.