Vietnam War Hero John Ripley Dies At 69

Retired Marine Col. Credited With Stopping North Vietnamese Tank Column In Easter Offensive

(AP)  Retired Marine Col. John Ripley, who was credited with stopping a column of North Vietnamese tanks by blowing up a pair of bridges during the 1972 Easter Offensive of the Vietnam War, died at home at age 69, friends and relatives said Sunday.

Ripley's son, Stephen Ripley, said his father was found at his Annapolis home Saturday after missing a speaking engagement on Friday. The son said the cause of death had not been determined but it appeared his father died in his sleep.

In a videotaped interview with the U.S. Naval Institute for its Americans at War program, Ripley said he and about 600 South Vietnamese were ordered to "hold and die" against 20,000 North Vietnamese soldiers with about 200 tanks.

"I'll never forget that order, 'hold and die'," Ripley said. The only way to stop the enormous force with their tiny force was to destroy the bridge, he said.

"The idea that I would be able to even finish the job before the enemy got me was ludicrous," Ripley said. "When you know you're not going to make it, a wonderful thing happens: You stop being cluttered by the feeling that you're going to save your butt."

Ripley crawled under the bridge under heavy gunfire, rigging 500 pounds of explosives that brought the twins spans down, said John Miller, a former Marine adviser in Vietnam and the author of "The Bridge at Dong Ha," which details the battle.

Miller said the North Vietnamese advance was slowed considerably by Ripley.

"A lot of people think South Vietnam would have gone under in '72 had he not stopped them," Miller said.

Ray Madonna, president of the U.S. Naval Academy's 1962 graduating class, served in Vietnam as a Marine at the same time and said his classmate saved countless U.S. and South Vietnamese troops.

"They would have been wrecked" if the tanks had crossed, Madonna said. He said Ripley also coordinated naval gunfire that stopped the tanks from crossing at a shallower point downstream.

"He was a Marine's Marine, respected, highly respected by enlisted men, by his peers and by his seniors," Madonna said.

Miller said Ripley, who was born in Radford, Virginia, descended from a long line of veterans going back to the Revolutionary War. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1962, after enlisting in the Marines out of high school and spending a year in naval school in Newport, Rhode Island.

He earned the "Quad Body" distinction for making it through four of the toughest military training programs in the world: the Army Rangers, Marine reconnaissance, Army Airborne and Britain's Royal Marines, Miller said. He was also the only Marine to be inducted in the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame.

Ripley earned the Navy Cross and Silver Star for his service in Vietnam. He later served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff and was regimental commander at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, among other postings.

After retiring from the Marines, he was president and chancellor of Southern Virginia College in Lexington, Virginia.

Stephen Ripley said his father had a deep and tenacious love for his country, the Marine Corps and his family.

"My Dad never quit anything and never went halfway on anything in his life," he said. "He just was a full-throttle kind of person and those people that he cared about, he really cared about."

Ripley is survived by his wife, Moline B. Ripley, 67; three sons, Stephen Ripley, 43, Thomas Ripley, 38, and John Ripley, 35; a daughter, Mary Ripley, 39; and eight grandchildren.

[remmeler]

Any General who gives a "hold and die" order should only be allowed to do it in person while assuming direct on the ground command of that unit. I am tired of far off Generals playing it like a chess game.

[sailmail]

R.I.P. Marine

[mdcain]

Semper Fi Marine!!

[lilsarg01]

I salute a true Marine!

[nobama4]

Any General who gives a "hold and die" order should only be allowed to do it in person while assuming direct on the ground command of that unit. I am tired of far off Generals playing it like a chess game.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by remmeler





Has your boss at Starbucks given you an order like that?

I''m tired of non-military, non-combat veterans commenting on matters they are incapable of understanding, based on the abbreviated conjecture or news satire from the likes of Jon Stewart or even worse, media posing as reliable and unbiased (ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN)

Next you should ask when are "WE" leaving Iraq, when you will never go.

Enjoy your freedoms provided by men who are infanitly better than you, and take satisfaction in the realization that you will never understand the why of service, only the benefits men like Col. John Ripley have provided for you.

[remmeler]

To tootall1014 - I was an officer in the Infantry in Vietnam in a combat command position who was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star. Many Generals "lead from the rear". Their motto is not "Follow Me" but "Go Ahead". I also use my own name in these comments, not some anonymous posting.

[remmeler]

To nOBama4 - Perhaps you can''t read very well. I was not talking about Col. John Ripley. I was talking about many higher ranking officers that are quick to give orders that they may not be willing to execute themselves. If they think a action like "hold and die" is necessary, then they need to take command of the situation and put themselves in the position that they expect their men to be in. The movie "We Were Soldier" based on a true battle,it shows a Lt. Col. who refused to abandon his men during the battle when the brass wanted him to leave his men during the fight. In Vietnam, at least in my Division, it was protect the Regular Army officers and let the Reserve Officers take the risk in the field. They probably thought they needed the Regular Army officers for the next war because we were in the "Vietnamization" part of the war prior to the full pullout a couple of years later.

[shaggydo-2009]

Has your boss at Starbucks given you an order like that?

I''''m tired of non-military, non-combat veterans commenting on matters they are incapable of understanding, based on the abbreviated conjecture or news satire from the likes of Jon Stewart or even worse, media posing as reliable and unbiased (ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN)

Next you should ask when are "WE" leaving Iraq, when you will never go.

Enjoy your freedoms provided by men who are infanitly better than you, and take satisfaction in the realization that you will never understand the why of service, only the benefits men like Col. John Ripley have provided for you.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by nOBama4 at 09:31 AM : Nov 03, 2008

That''s right I''m tired of people like you who know absolutely nothing about what they''re talking about. You wouldn''t know combat experience if it jumped up and bit you. You%u2019re an idiot *******!
Shut up!

[nobama4]

That''''s right I''''m tired of people like you who know absolutely nothing about what they''''re talking about. You wouldn''''t know combat experience if it jumped up and bit you. You%u2019re an idiot *******!
Shut up!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by shaggydo





Youre g a y

[shaggydo-2009]

That''''''''s right I''''''''m tired of people like you who know absolutely nothing about what they''''''''re talking about. You wouldn''''''''t know combat experience if it jumped up and bit you. You%u2019re an idiot *******!
Shut up!


----------------------------------
----------------------------------------
------

Posted by shaggydo





Youre g a y




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by nOBama4 at 01:03 PM : Nov 03, 2008

It could be worse, I could be you. Dammn you are one clever *******.

[shaggydo-2009]

Enjoy your freedoms provided by men who are infanitly better than you, and take satisfaction in the realization that you will never understand the why of service, only the benefits men like Col. John Ripley have provided for you.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by nOBama4 at 09:31 AM : Nov 03, 2008

Obviously talking to yourself because nobody else will.

[babooph]

I wonder what Bush ,Cheney ,Rumsfeld & Wolfowitz were doing at that time ?[I see what they have done since]

[vetsence]

No one is better than anyone. Just because you served as I did does not make you better. Somewhere someone said all men are created equal. Just because someone''s life does not follow the pattern yours did or a pattern that you prefer does not make them any less. So get off it and grow up. I know many fine U S citizens who never served in the military. Besides to be a military person requires a blatant disregard for the commandment that says, you shall not kill.

[scoutsout80]

vetsence.....clueless about the bible

[scoutsout80]

http://www.gotquestions.org/military-Christian.html