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Ml nc U.3. i^avai Acaaemy J. napolis, Md., added two mei to Memorial Hall recently. Both honor Academy graduates wh formed honorably and upheld th traditions of the class of 1962. : . ' Ripley, currently senior Ma- i. I. rl • V fine representative at the U.S. Naval i I! • . ! r •.' Academy, enlisted in the Corps in June of 1957. "I always Vk-anied to be .a Ma- .|i,, rine. There was never any oilier con- • 1 jf.-sideration," said Ripley. Fresh out of (I-: Radford High School, Radford, Va., ]!;• Ripley was deiermined to aa on,his not ' 'I so secret desire to be a Marine, j';' Jn recruit training, he found out a- i ' tout a program ihat put acdve duty sailors and Marines into the Nav^ I'. Academy Prep School prior to accep- •' lance into the Academy. Ripley was se- j lected for the program straight out of boot camp. "1 pursued this program. TTiat wasn't too easy because, ofcourse, ; anytime you identified yourselfas being interested in an officer program, well, the DIs went nuts!" Ripley remembers Col John Ripley'stood next to the diorama of his heroic effort to destroy the what the DIs would tell him. "They Dong Ha bridge. The diorama is In the foyer of ft/Jemorlal Hall at the U.S. Naval ! would yell, 'You haven't even gotten Academy, Annapolis, fWd. i through bootcamp yet!* Itsuregot me a A stint with theBridsh tour I had been out there 12 months," lot of unwanted attention. came next. Ripley was assigned to them *'I didn't apply myself very strongly Ripley pointed out. during 1969-71. "That was a tremen Things wereslow and quiet at the end in high school, 1 was more interested in dously exciting job," he remembered. athletics. But after leaving, I could see of March 1972, Already signs of theap Ripley was one of the last U.S. Marines proaching chaos and combat were ap there was more potential for the future w go through the Royal Marines train for someone with a formal education. ing with their recruits. One of the things pearing. The NVA weretesting defenses So 1 concentrated on getting my of the outer fire bases. "I had relumed Ripley was impressed by in the Royal from R&R several weeks before this and degree," Ripley said. Marines was the unit stability. "It had a The Naval Academy offered young very solidifying effect. Theyleave a man gone up north that last time, thinking Ripley a chance to get his education and 'Well, this is the end of it. I'll just sit in a unjt, instead of moving him around. around and wait for my time to go remain a Marine. But boot camp left a "When I got to the second mark as well. "The impression is so in home.' That was it. There wasn't any rime, I had had the best training possi reason in the worid to expea that to delible. It's burned in my memory, that ble. It was a great advantage to have all change. Tilings were slow. We were sureness of having achieved something. that behind me," he recalled. The effea of that has given me strength mainly doingscouting patrols. I remem As an advisor, Ripley found himself ber going out and swimming in the over the years." Ripley remembers, in the same area where he had served river." "Having one of the drill instructors say five years before. "1 was the advisor to 'Good job, recruit' meant more to me The 27th of March was when things one of the best doggone units. The came unglued. "It became apparent that than any persoM decoration. Third Battalion, Vietnamese Marines it(the NVA probe) was ona much larg- "There-was never anything less than were incredibly good," he said. Ripley total respect for those Marines, if not was to find out just how good those fear," said Ripley ofhis drill instructors. Marines were sooner than he would When Ripley had finally completed have thought likely. his time at the Naval Academy and set As Col John Ripley began to describe off for (TBS), Quan- the events leading up to the start of the tico, Va., he had six months of leave. "I EasterOffensive, it became clearthat his threw it away and reported right in. I second tourin Vietnam is clearly etched was eady to be with Marines." in his memory. As his story unfolded, Infantry was always his interest and time seemed to fall away and the he feels fortunate in having done what thousands of miles between Don£ Ha he enjoys and Annapolis disappeared. After completing TBS, Ripley was During Ripley's first tour inVietnam, assigned to sea duly for a year, "i was hehad been a company commander. "I on an aircraft carr'er. It was very had fought in virtually the same are^ valuable experience," he said. that we were in. On a nimiber of occa- A variety of other assignments sions I was theonly man in thebattalion , followed: Second Division, Camp Le- who had been to the plat s we were go- jeune, N.C.; "L"/3/3 near the Demili ing. We went out to Kh. Sanh, for ex tarized Zone, Vietnam; as well as Khe ample, and walked along Cau Rock Sanh, and Con Thien. "1 got^to spend Ridge out to (Hills) 1015 and 950.1 was some time in all the garden spots!" the only Americah, {ic only man who ' Ripley said, laughing. had been there before. During my first • Capt John Ripley, Vietnam. 1972

LfAMe/iNeCK • frBfiUA/tr 1936 RIPLEY{cont.) making." Ripley feels it was truly a • erscale than what we aniicipaied. They combat environment. No one could sit down and think things out. (ihe NVA) sianed putting pressure on "I was the only advisor represented the outer fire bases. It didn't"seem the there. Normally you had two advisors enemy had anything serious in mind. but my assistant had already gone," I Those fire bases (Fire Base Sarge and Ripley remembered. The decision had ' Nui Ba Ho) had beenoverrun once be •- ' f been made to cut back to one advisor 1 fore when 1 was there. I figured it was fr f ! .*! ' the same thing. per battalion' and Ripley >Yas there j " Walt Boomer was on Sarge alone. That morning when th^' saw the: and Capt Ray Smith was up on Nui Ba lank threat acros$ the river, he was do-1 Ho. That's where thefirst approach was everything he coJd tp determine ^ made. Well, the enemy didn't back off hpw to stop the ^or attack. Across and a veryseriouselement was introduc tl)e river, from near a railroad bridge, ed. Artillery fire started." Ripley then something attract^ his attention. Ripley i looked across; ' ' believed something more than just a "My gosh! jniat's not our flag! It was' probe was coming. Fresh out ol recruit Iraining, John a North Vietnamese flag. We knew they The Vietnamese Marines were mov Ripley would soon be on his way to ing up north to face down the threat and tho U.S. Naval Academy. • already had one end of the bridge. So; tostopthe NVA movement south. They then we made an effort to get back toj ran over there to make an analysis. I was •the main highway bridge. That was! didn't yet understand there wasa reason surprised actually to find that it pointed, to be terribly concerned. "1 still didn't when they started an artillery barrage' not to whereI believed the artilleryto be that was just indescribable. I've never' believe it was super serious. 1 thought, but generally in the DMZ area, where •WeU, we'll just have tostayhere for the seen anything like it in my life. Hun we didn't think the threat was coming dreds and hundreds of rounds of artil next few (^ys ora week and then we'll be from. And then when I came back from lery trying to reduce resistance at Dong back to sitting on bunker tops again.' " that, that's when I got a call from Col The NVA had set a pattern ofengaging Ha. The enemy didn't want any trouble Turley's folks. (LtCol Gerald H. Turley, crossing the river. the South Vietnamese and then backing USMCR, was the newly arrived assist off again. "We couldn't get through Dong Ha ant senior advisor to the Vietnamese so we went through a route I knew south But this time the NVA didn't disen MarineCorps. Duringan indoctrination of the old Marine combat base there. 1 gage. Ripley's battalion moved up to visit to the northern provincesof South Dong Ha. The Seventh Battalion and had used ita number of times inmy pre Vietnam, a series of bizarre incidents vious tour. The Vietnamese had no idea another unit had moved up to Mai Loc. occurred which, in essence, made him it was there. Again, I was lucky that I "We were considered the Division re coordinator of the defenses of Northern serve, the unit least likely to get involv had known where I was. Otherwise 1 Region One.) Things had indeed gotten never would have gotten back to Route ed." The situation looked pretty bad at very serious, and he said there was a both FB Sarge and Mai Loc. "That I. From there the question was, 'How large number of tanks coming south do I get up to the bridge?' " night I spent atDong Ha under artillery along this road here (Route I)." Ripley fire, all night long. This was a f>oignant There was a tank battalion near the traced the road on the map with his bridge. The Vietnamese were reluctant reminder of the past asI spent the night finger. to let Ripley have a lank lo get to the in the old Third Marine Division "We didn't have the wherewithal to bridge, but there really wasn't any other morgue. It was the same place where I stop that many tanks. We had UttJe way. "It took a bit of persuading but I had identified the remains of my Ma h^d-held weapons. And we certainly finally convinced them. I got help from rines fiveyearsearUer."The shellsland didn't have anything on the scale that the tank battalion's advisor. The U.S. ed constantly all through the night. ' . was needed to deal with the threat. On- Amy advisor who joined Ripley on his' It wasdear to Ripley by that lime that ginaUy 20 tanks had been reported." bridge adventure was' Maj James E. \ . this activity wasn't just an average .Ripley chuckled softly at the memory. Smock, who w^ attached to the .Viet- 1 change of tempo in the action. The The number of tanks actually turned' namese tank battalion.' .| { enemy was clearly serious about what out to be around 200. Several days later [ Arriving at the bridge Ripley and ; everthey were up to. "What a changeit an aerial observer, quite high up, flew . ^Smock went through what Ripley des- : turned out to be," said Ripley. ( over Route 1and said "You got bumper cribes as "the very deliberate and detail-! ! The next day was Easter Sunday. No to bumper tanks from theBen HaiRiver • ed effort to blow it up." •j I;: | JI • body really knew what day it was; the all the way to Dong Ha. They can'teven only way. they could tell was if it was turn around they've got so many of Ripley and Smock fpund five ARVN . time to take a malaria pill. (Malaria pills engineers beneath the bridge when they ' them." I arrived. The engineers' had placed 500 :' were taken each Sunday.), Days ran to T^e headquarters staff, as well as the gether. At daylight the artillery slowed advisors, had believed the war was pounds of TNT and plastic explosives, jj and Ripley went out to do a crater anal antidj^ating the order for the bridge's;' winding down. Instead they were faced destruction. The place/pent of the crates ysis, with, an enormous threat. "Let me ofexplosives would not have destroyed "There's a way you can look ata shell assure you, we were not dealing with CTater and determine, pretty accurately, logical progression here. It wasn't, ihe bridge. The blast ^ould 'only have.' dropped a span and the tanks would still!' ! which direcuon itcame from. Size of the ' 'What do we do next, what do we do, be able lo cross. ' ! " : i like that. I had just seen here, how do we deal with this?' It was! this thing blow up in front of me so 1 Ripley and Smock started to' rear heightened,' rapid-fire decisioni range the crates of explosives, while the I L£A7H£RN£CK • FiBRUAdY IM6 AKVN engineers simply disappeared. suits of Ripley and Smock's efforts to ' Ripley had lo clear a high chain link LtCol Gerald H. Turley, aaing chief •* fence topped with razor wire, steel tape. advisor Third ARVN Division, "The ; '; .Then Jmock began to push the boxes of Dong Ha Bridge has been destroyed." •;[. over to Ripley who would hand- "LiCol Turley look matters in his ..j ,jwalk out to place the boxes where they . own hands. He had acceptcd an enor -• .•!•would do the mostdamage. mous responsibility and assumed ihe ': "] would hand-walk out, then swing . authority," said Ripley. "Col Turley .. jup to get my heels into the T beam." , fook care, of, the advisors; he's ihc . ;I Smock would hand up che crate of ex- ; pasor^ we all gof out." I . | j plosives to Ripley. "Then I'd swing The North Vietnamese offensive wa^ .' down on one '1' beam iid then leap stopped by the combined efforts of a {over and grab another *1' beam," The ' handful of advisors and "the Viet ^ entire lime Smock and Ripley were namese. Aslong as his men' were still out ;, :.working on the tremendous taskin front I' there, Turley wouldn't giye intopressure of them, the North Vietnamese were on Capt John Ripley rer-«ived the Navy to pull back. Ripley f^ls that cver{ ;• _ tlie OLher shore watching. Cross from Secreta.y of the Navy Marine should be ready to accept ihat I "That was one of the most inexpli John Warner. • kind of overwhelming responsibility, cable parts of the whole affair. I could was lying there on the ground with . "I don't think it ever entered his mind • see them there, ganged up, and even Smock going through this ridiculous lit ; not lo 'do what h^ hai' to do. Despite the tually the tanks began moving inon the tle exchange. 1 was exhausted." '• !. fact that som^ne might say, *Do you I : north bank.Thewhole thing was almost Ripley looked up, "There right in j realize what you're doing?' •What did surrealistic. I kept thinking, 'Why aren't front of me was ilie doggone box of elec ! they want himj to do? Turn the radiM they trying to get across the bridge? tric caps. 1 couldn't believe it. And I blf and leav^? That's just not the Why aren't theydirecting some of their thought, 'Man, if I leave here and ihe j Vlarine Corps way. Everl" attention to me? What are they doing time fuses don't work I'll never get lucky , The Vietnamese Marines eventually over there?' And yet the NYA never enough to get back under there.' " regrouped and recaptured Quang Tri. seemed to do that with any Ripley climbed the fence again. He In the process they suffered extremely seriousness." Ripley is convinced that, worked quickly toprime theboxes of ex heavy casualties. had the forces b«n switched around, an plosives. The entire time the time fuses _The folks back in the States at that American would have spid, "I'll knock were still burning. He trailed the wire leads time just didn't want lo hear about the thatguyoff just because it would beso from the caps to some communica Easier Offensive. "People didn't want easy. The North Vietnamese seemed to tions wire. to know aboutIt.Tlicwar wassour news think "that poor b'ttle old bird over At that lime. Smock really looked and old news. Itwas a nonevent. The big there is so obviously susceptible, leave at the old railroad bridge and realized gest attack of the war and it was turn him alone." He seemed to be prodding that any armor or engineer unit could ed around by an incredibly few people them with some sort of amusement. repair and use that bridge. He started determined to do something," said ^Ripley estimates it must have taken to the bridge lo destroy the damaged Ripley. "The Vietnamese Marines were him and Smock about 214 hours to trestle. Smock put the crates of ex extraordinary. completethe job they had set out to do. plosives in place under the undam "My formula, my view is to be The COVANS (a nickname the Viet aged portion of the railroad bridge. decisive," said Ripley, "no matter namese had for the advisors) must have TTien Ripley rananother wire to blow both what." It'seasy to decide bycommittee. felt relieved that the job was nearly com bridges at the same time. But someone must ultimately be responsi plete. The last task was to detonate the Tlie two made a mad dash back to ble and take charge. That someone at explosives. the relative safety of the Vietnamese that time" was Col Turley and hi^ ad Ripley, not finding any electric lines, with the Vietnamese Marines visors. "When something needs to be detonating caps, finally discovered cheering them on. They were safe. Once done, do it," Ripley advises.i He is as several time fuses. He had to think back there Ripley found a jeep that had good as his word on that. , II ; j to remember how to estimate the length been blown over andproceeded to use the "if you truly believe something Is; of the fuse to allow enough time to get right, seize the opportunity within the him and Smock out of range of the battery In an attempt to detonate the explosives. I ponfines ofyouT'authority. Ijj ] blast. "I scraped the terminals, touched \ I"" ^ "You also need to be aggressive. Not i "1 really couldn't measure the fuse . just, in the V^ditional aspwt of our' properly," and to topit off, hecouldn't the wire to it and...nothii^g. Scraped it ' find any crimpers. "1 had to take the again, still nothing. Just as 1 wa$ *1' ' trade, as in raking the fight'to the standing there thinking 'What am l " enemy,"whichIihinkisi}ieonlysehsible' !' , blasting capandopenthe oneend.Then going to do now?' I was thrown to' the , way to fight. jSitting o;i well-prcpared , i 1had to take it and stick it backwards in ground. The lime fuses had worked!" i defenses doesn't.do it. But I thinkan in- " jmy mouth with the opening outand put it way back in and bite the end of this Ripley still sounds surprised. "1 guess . dividual's natur^ is jiist as important thing. It was gagging me, it was so far tliat's why they always say to double Don't sit dowjrj ^d wait for ^ 'oppor-! back in my mouth." prime!" .j ;iunity or for perfpci conditions. Achievc,' i| By this lime the North Vietnamese Pan of the bridge was composed of , your goals. Laurch on them. Or you'll i' 12-inch limbers, and when the explosion wait forever."'- ' Ji ri-1 ,[ • •] were furious. Ripley had really stirred went offthe timbers were ignited. They . I I .1 li I «—I jUp a hornet's nest. The NVA were continued lo burn for the following five ' shooting up everything they could. "I days. A terse message reported the re-j L£ArMefiN£CK * f£BflUAfir tm