Col. Ralph Paquette Jr., who was awarded the Medal of Honor in May 2021 for commanding overwhelming numbers of Army Rangers in the fight against communist China's military during the Korean War 70 years ago, said Monday. He died at his home in Columbus, Georgia. One of the most decorated soldiers in Army history, he was 97 years old.
His death was announced by the National Infantry Museum in Columbus.
John D. Locke, a retired Army officer and military historian, began a campaign in 2003 to upgrade Colonel Puckett's Distinguished Service Cross, which he earned in November 1950, to the Medal of Honor. His efforts were successful when President Biden presented Col. Paquette with the medal at a White House ceremony attended by then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
In addition to the Medal of Honor, the military's highest award for bravery, during his 22 years of military service, Colonel Puckett received the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions during the Vietnam War, two Silver Stars, two Bronze Stars, and the Purple Star. Received 5 heart medals. .
In February 1992, he was inducted into the newly created Ranger Hall of Fame. Fort He Benning, Georgia honors the members of the unit who continue to carry out the Army's most dangerous missions.
In April 2023, South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol awarded Colonel Paquette and two other Korean War veterans (one posthumously) with the Order of Taegeuk, his country's highest award for bravery. 70th anniversary of the establishment of the bilateral alliance between the US and South Korea.
“Without the sacrifices of Korean War veterans, the Republic of Korea would not exist today,” he said.
Shortly after the Korean War began in June 1950 and North Korean troops invaded South Korea, then-Lieutenant Puckett ordered the creation and training of the 8th Army Ranger Company, consisting of 51 Rangers and several South Korean soldiers. It was done.
On November 25 of that year, his unit was ordered to occupy Hill 205, a strategic point about 90 miles south of the North Korean-China border.
The offensive began with a daylight attack, with Lieutenant Paquette moving ahead of his men and driving through frozen rice fields to wipe out the Chinese gunners.
“I volunteered to run across the square to draw machine gun fire,” he wrote in his memoir Ranger: The Life of a Soldier (2017), co-written with DKR Croswell. I'm reminiscing. He carried out three attacks without incident until the Rangers discovered and annihilated the machine gunner's position.
At nightfall, about 500 Chinese counterattacked in six waves. Lieutenant Paquette moved among his men from trench to trench, organizing resistance. But at 2:30 a.m., as he crouched in the trench with his radio, it “blared and went off,” he recalled in his memoirs. He already had a wound in his thigh. This time mortar or grenade fragments hit him in the legs, buttocks, and arms, immobilizing him.
“I struggled to get out, knowing that if I remained in the hole I would surely die,” he wrote in his memoirs. “Now I was on my hands and knees and saw the carnage taking place around me.”
Two Rangers, Billy Walls and David Pollock, shot and killed three Chinese soldiers a few meters away from Lieutenant Puckett's trench. Much later, he told the Rangers, “I can't move, leave me alone,” while relating this to the War Witness website. However, they evacuated him to the Rangers' rear command post, where he was carried and sometimes dragged. Despite the hopeless situation, Lieutenant Puckett directed a massive artillery bombardment of the Chinese from his post.
He recalled that the rangers who rescued him “saved my neck” even though they “didn't follow orders.” Both received Silver Stars for bravery.
China maintained control of the hill. Only 10 of the 51 Rangers attacked were unharmed. The rest were injured or missing.
Colonel Puckett was hospitalized for 11 months, but refused to be discharged and returned to combat in Vietnam.
In August 1967, while serving as a battalion commander in the 101st Airborne Division, he “exposed himself to withering fire'' as he rallied his undermanned troops to defeat Viet Cong forces in a firefight near Duc Pho, South Vietnam. '' received the Distinguished Service Cross.
Ralph Puckett was born on December 8, 1926 in Tifton, a small city in southern Georgia. He was one of three children of Ralph and Clara (Stedman) Puckett. His father was an executive who ran an insurance company, a grocery wholesaler, and a corn husker. Ralph Puckett graduated from West Point University in 1949 and was assigned to occupation duty in Okinawa. However, he instead volunteered for the 8th Army Rangers.
He retired from the military in 1971. His subsequent endeavors also include serving as the national program coordinator for Outward Bound, a nonprofit educational organization that exposes students, particularly those in urban areas, to natural environments.
He is survived by his wife, Jean (Martin) Paquette; his daughter Martha Puckett; son Thomas. He has six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, local Columbus television station WRBL reported.
“Korea is sometimes called the forgotten war,” President Biden said at the Medal of Honor ceremony. “But the men who were there under Lieutenant Puckett's command will never forget his bravery. They will never forget that he was by their side that entire moment.”
