[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 177 (Thursday, November 20, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10722-S10723]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   REMEMBERING COLONEL JOHN W. RIPLEY

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I regret to have to inform the Senate of 
the passing of a truly great American: John W. Ripley, a retired Marine 
Corps colonel and hero of the Vietnam war.
  Colonel Ripley will be best known for his achievements and self-
sacrifice during the Vietnam war--particularly on April 2, 1972, when 
he singlehandedly blew up the Dong Ha bridge. That bridge over the Cua 
Viet River was a major thoroughfare for an invasion force from North 
Vietnam. Colonel Ripley, serving with a marine unit from South Vietnam, 
moved around the bridge like it was a trapeze and hung charges that 
would blow it up and prevent the enemy's advance.
  That story is the subject of innumerable books and articles. It is an 
absolutely incredible feat, showing us how an act of individual bravery 
can have a large strategic impact that affects an entire force. Indeed, 
the removal of that bridge created a bottleneck that allowed allied 
forces to apply overwhelming air power and blunt that invasion.
  After Vietnam, Colonel Ripley had a distinguished career that 
included going through some of the most challenging training programs 
among the world's militaries, including U.S. Army Ranger School. In his 
willingness to undergo the ardors of combat and training, he emerged a 
marine's marine, a steely and strong individual always ready to put his 
country and his fellow marines before himself.

[[Page S10723]]

  John Ripley is a symbol for the vibrancy of the Marine Corps, one of 
the most storied military forces in the globe's history, and a 
testament to how--amid the enormity and vast confusion of war--a single 
person can make a difference.
  I will miss seeing him at various events, including those of the 
Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation. We will continue to honor his 
service through support of the Marine Corps and of all of our soldiers, 
sailors, airmen, and marines.
  I ask unanimous consent that an obituary on Colonel Ripley, which 
appeared in the November 4 edition of the New York Times, be printed in 
the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                [From the New York Times, Nov. 4, 2008]

  Col. John W. Ripley, Marine Who Halted Vietnamese Attack, Dies at 69

                           (By Dennis Hevesi)

       John W. Ripley, a highly decorated former colonel who 
     entered Marine Corps lore when he single-handedly blunted a 
     major North Vietnamese offensive during the Vietnam War by 
     blowing up a strategically placed bridge, died Oct. 28 at his 
     home in Annapolis, Md. He was 69.
       The cause has not been determined, his son Stephen said.
       Colonel Ripley, who at the time was a captain and a 
     military adviser to a South Vietnamese Marine unit, blew up 
     the southern end of the Dong Ha Bridge over the Cua Viet 
     River on Easter Sunday, April 2, 1972. On the north side of 
     the bridge, which was several miles south of the 
     demilitarized zone, some 20,000 North Vietnamese troops and 
     200 tanks were poised to sweep into Quang Tri Province, which 
     was sparsely defended.
       Going back and forth for three hours while under fire, 
     Captain Ripley swung hand over hand along the steel I-beams 
     beneath the bridge, securing himself between girders and 
     placing crates holding a total of 500 pounds of TNT in a 
     diagonal line from one side of the structure to the other. 
     The I-beam wings were just wide enough to form pathways along 
     which he could slide the boxes.
       When the boxes were in place on the bridge, Captain Ripley 
     attached blasting caps to detonate the TNT, then connected 
     them with a timed-fuse cord that eventually extended hundreds 
     of feet.
       ``He had to bite down on the blasting caps to attach them 
     to the fuses,'' John Grider Miller, author of ``The Bridge at 
     Dong Ha,'' said on Monday. ``If he bit too low on the 
     blasting cap, it could come loose; if he bit too high, it 
     could blow his head apart.''
       Captain Ripley bit safely, and the timed-fuse cord gave him 
     about half an hour to clamber off the bridge. Moments later, 
     his work paid off with a shock wave that tossed him into the 
     air but otherwise left him unharmed.
       By placing the crates diagonally along the bridge, Mr. 
     Miller said, Captain Ripley had created ``a twisting motion 
     that ripped the bridge apart from its moorings so it couldn't 
     fall back in place, but collapsed into the river.''
       There were about 600 South Vietnamese marines near the 
     south end of the bridge. ``South Vietnam would have been in 
     big trouble,'' said Fred Schultz, senior editor of Naval 
     History Magazine, a publication of the United States Naval 
     Institute. ``The force numbers defending on that side could 
     not have held against that North Vietnamese force.''
       The destruction of the bridge created a bottleneck for the 
     North Vietnamese, allowing American bombers to blunt what 
     became known as the Easter offensive.
       Captain Ripley was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions 
     at the bridge. He served two tours in Vietnam and remained on 
     active duty until 1992, eventually rising to colonel. Among 
     other decorations, he received the Silver Star, two Bronze 
     Stars and a Purple Heart.
       John Walter Ripley was born on June 29, 1939, and grew up 
     in Radford, Va., the son of Bud and Verna Holt Ripley. He 
     enlisted in the Marines out of high school in 1956, and a 
     year later received approval from the secretary of the Navy 
     to attend a preparatory school leading to his appointment to 
     the Naval Academy, from which he graduated in 1962.
       Besides his son Stephen, Colonel Ripley is survived by his 
     wife of 44 years, the former Moline Blaylock; a sister, Susan 
     Goodykoontz; two other sons, Thomas and John; a daughter, 
     Mary Ripley; and eight grandchildren.
       ``Colonel Ripley is well known in marine circles,'' Mr. 
     Schultz said, ``but he's the most revered war hero no one's 
     ever heard of.''
       ``This was 1972,'' he added, ``and people didn't pay too 
     much attention to war heroes at that time.''

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