- Army Col. Ralph Puckett Jr., 2021 Medal of Honor recipient, died Monday at his home. He was 97 years old.
- Puckett, a Korean War veteran, was awarded the U.S. military’s highest honor after leading a Ranger company to a 10-to-1 defeat of Chinese troops during a 1950 security operation.
- Puckett sustained multiple gunshot wounds during the skirmish, and despite initially insisting that his men leave him behind, he refused a medical discharge from the Army and continued to serve until 1971.
Ralph Puckett Jr., a retired Army colonel who was awarded the Medal of Honor 70 years after being wounded while leading an outnumbered Army Ranger company in combat during the Korean War, has died at the age of 97.
Puckett passed away peacefully at his home in Columbus, Georgia, on Monday, according to Strifler-Hanby Mortuary, which is handling funeral arrangements.
President Joe Biden praised Puckett’s “extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty” when presenting the nation’s highest military honor to the retired colonel at the White House in 2021. Biden said the award was “more than 70 years overdue.” ”
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“He always believed that the only thing that mattered to be a Ranger was if you had the courage and the brains,” Biden said.
Puckett was a newly commissioned Army officer when he volunteered for the 8th Army Ranger Company, which was established shortly after the start of the Korean War in 1950. Despite his inexperience, he was eventually chosen to command the unit. He had less than six weeks to train his soldiers before participating in combat.
“I said to myself, ‘God, please don’t let me kill so many good people,'” Puckett said in a 2014 interview with Columbus’ Ledger-Enquirer.
FILE – President Joe Biden presents the Medal of Honor to retired U.S. Army Col. Ralph Puckett in the East Room of the White House on Friday, May 21, 2021, in Washington. Retired Army Col. Puckett, who was awarded the Medal of Honor 70 years after he was wounded while leading an outnumbered Army Ranger company in combat during the Korean War, lives on Monday, April 8, 2024, at his home in Columbus, Georgia. It was announced that he passed away peacefully. Strifler-Humby Mortuary is handling funeral arrangements. He was 97 years old. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Over two days in November 1950, Paquette led approximately 50 rangers to secure a strategically important hill near Unzan. Puckett sprinted across the open area, drawing fire so the Rangers could find and destroy the enemy machine gunners. Although greatly outnumbered, Puckett’s army repelled multiple counterattacks from a Chinese battalion of an estimated 500 men and was overpowered.
Puckett was seriously injured in the leg, back, and left arm when two mortar shells landed in his trench. He ordered his men to leave him behind, but they refused.
Puckett was awarded the U.S. military’s second highest honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, in 1951. The medal was upgraded to the Medal of Honor decades later following a policy change that removed the requirement that he be awarded within five years for acts of bravery.
During the medal ceremony at the White House, Biden said Paquette’s first reaction to receiving the honor was, “Why all the fuss? Can’t you just mail it to me?”
Despite being wounded in Korea, Puckett refused a medical discharge from the Army and spent another 20 years in uniform until his retirement in 1971. In 1967, he ran through a rain of debris to rescue two wounded soldiers in Vietnam and was awarded his second Distinguished Service Cross. , where Puckett led an airborne infantry battalion.
Puckett’s military honors also include two Silver Stars, three Legions of Merit, two Bronze Stars, and five Purple Hearts.
Retired Gen. Jay Hendrick, who served as commander-in-chief of the U.S. Army Command from 1999 to 2001, said in the Army’s online packet biography, “He was unafraid of people, unafraid of any situation, never afraid of the enemy.” I wasn’t afraid of it.”
Born on December 8, 1926 in Tifton, Georgia, Puckett graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and was commissioned as an infantry officer in 1949.
After retiring from the Army, Puckett served as the national program coordinator for Outward Bound, Inc., and then started a leadership and teamwork development program called Discovery, Inc. He remained an active supporter of the 75th Ranger Regiment stationed at Fort Moore near Columbus. House.
Puckett told a Columbus newspaper that he learned one of his most important life lessons on his first day at West Point when a senior cadet told him that one of the few acceptable answers to any question was: He said he learned. ”
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“It was ingrained in me that there was no excuse any time I didn’t meet the standards that were supposed to be met,” Paquette said.
