MEDALS AND MOMENTS

It takes both leaders and led to achieve a satisfactory outcome. No one person can do it all in combat. The MOH is awarded for specific individual acts. Occasionally, the individual act displays the quality of the man and his men rise to greater heights because of him. This is about Captain Ralph Puckett-a man I know well. Even multi-decades after his act, he exudes the qualities that make men want to achieve whatever he indicates. That is no small thing. 

HOLDING HILL 205

It was just sixty miles south of the Chinese border on a frozen windswept hill that exemplified how ordinary people can do extraordinary things.

The land was forbidding by itself. Bare frozen dirt and rocks and the occasional shrub marked the tortuous hills and valleys of the region. The road leading north was barely a trace and was dominated by a sharp rise that if held by either side, would control all progress. It was November 1950 in Korea.

The land here was very broken and disconnected as if a giant had scattered the terrain in a disconnected puzzle. Hills were important as they controlled the narrow valleys, the only way major units could progress. A Ranger Company, led by Captain Ralph Puckett with 50 men, were tasked with taking and holding Hill 205. 

It dominated the only road in the area and its control was vital. By now, the advancing forces were aware of the engagement of the Chinese en masse. But, they did not know exactly where they were. Puckett and his men would soon find out.

They were loaded on tanks and driven to their drop off point, a small valley in front of the hill. Puckett spread out his men and began the advance.

Very quickly, they came under fire from a hidden machine gun. Unable to identify the location and seeing his men stopped on exposed ground, Puckett arose and ran across the open ground, seeking fire. Still unexposed, the weapon continued to chatter and stop any advance. Puckett rose and ran a second time and then a third. Each time he drew fire and on his third rush, the gun was exposed and quickly silenced.

Now advancing up the hill, the Rangers discovered it unoccupied, but with prepared defensive positions. Puckett distributed his thin force, made them dig deeper and set out the few trip flares they had. Most importantly, he established all around artillery grids as his primary defense.

Night quickly descended, a bitterly cold and bone chilling night making both alertness and basic functioning a challenge. Very quickly, the Chinese rewarded them.

It began with the shrill sounds of a bugle and an answering drum beat. The Chinese advanced in tight ranks more than five abreast with successive lines to their rear. Puckett called in his artillery which quickly decimated the attackers forcing a retreat.

The second assault began with a mortar barrage impacting with great precision along the defensive line. Rangers began to fall. Puckett himself was lightly wounded. Bullets searched the thin line further reducing the position. Again, artillery saved the position in combination with Ranger small arms. Most any weapon fired would impact the masses attempting advance. Artillery air bursts shrouded the Rangers in a splintering steel shield.

By 0200, Puckett’s line was considerably reduced and all knew that a third attack was building. Puckett had gone from position to position under heavy fire, redistributing people and ammo and more importantly, keeping up their confidence. Rangers would not fail so long as Puckett had a voice.  

This pattern of assault, retreat under artillery and re-attack was repeated twice more. Artillery combined with Ranger small arms created windrows of bodies along the hill. Ammo was becoming scarce and it was clear that bayonets would ultimately decide issue. 

Very quickly, the sixth assault began. Puckett’s call for artillery was denied. Other elements required the limited availability. 

 Methodically and with mindless casualties, the Chinese began the systematic infiltration into the Ranger lines turning the battle into a series of individual actions rather than an organizational confrontation. 

Puckett, gravely wounded, ordered his men to make an organized withdrawal off the hill, which they began to do. 

The Rangers, discipline still intact despite significant casualties, began to sidle down the hill bringing their wounded and dead continuously firing into the dense advancing masses. Two privates ran back up the hill and retrieved an unconscious Puckett.

Quickly, several tanks emerged up the road in response to Puckett’s final call for help. The Rangers quickly coalesced around them and were returned to the main defensive line, bloodied, but rightfully victorious in their minds. Hill 205 represents the distilled essence of what it means to be an American soldier.