Ranger Legend Colonel Ralph Puckett to Receive Medal of Honor
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Colonel Ralph Puckett (U.S. Army)
U.S. Army Colonel Ralph Puckett, Jr., a legend in the Ranger Regiment will be awarded the Medal of Honor at the White House on Friday for his own “conspicuous gallantry” during the Korean War. South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who had planned an official state visit to President Biden, will also attend the ceremony.
Puckett, now 94, has served his country and the Regiment for more than 70 years.
He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy when he was 23 and was assigned to an Infantry company in Japan. Yet, Puckett volunteered for the Ranger Company. However, he was told that there were no more lieutenant positions in the 8th Army Ranger Company. He was nonplussed. Puckett said that he would “take a squad leader’s or rifleman’s job,” taking a rank bust several grades lower than a lieutenant’s. Colonel McGee, who was in charge of forming the Ranger company,