Publisher’s Log

by Armond Noble

Over the years I’ve mentioned many books in this column. I’ve never used that book reviewer’s cliché: “If you only read one book this year, make it this one,” but now, for the first time, I will.

“An American Knight — The Life of Colonel John W. Ripley, USMC” by Norman J. Fulkerson (ISBN 9781877905414) is far beyond just a description of the heroic acts of Col. Ripley, it goes into the personal philosophy and moral fiber of this man.

In July 2006, the Naval Academy Prep School honored him by naming its new dormitory “Ripley Hall.” Earning a Navy Cross for his actions in 1972, during his first (1967) tour in Vietnam (as a Company Commander) he received the Bronze Star (Valor), Silver Star and Purple Heart. There were many who said he should have received the Medal of Honor during each of his tours.

Ripley went through the U.S. Army’s Airborne and Ranger schools and trained with the U.S. Navy’s frogmen, and also trained with the British Royal Commandos and went through the Royal Marine Mountain and Arctic Warfare courses.

Today there is a diorama at the U.S. Naval Academy depicting Ripley’s actions on Easter Sunday 1972, at Dong Ha, and every plebe is required to read about Ripley’s gallantry.

In 1990, at the age of 51, Ripley was CO of the of the Navy Marine ROTC unit at the Virginia Military Institute. He tried to pull strings to get sent to Iraq (even offering to pay his own way), but he was turned down.

There are those who believe the reason Ripley (35 years in the USMC) didn’t reach higher rank was his outspokenness on certain hot political issues in front of Congress and elsewhere. He was not PC!

We’ll leave all that for you to enjoy reading when you get the book.

Ripley was best known for his three-hour ordeal of placing explosives on the bridge at Dong Ha. The destruction of the bridge bottled up 200 Russian tanks — one of the main factors that stopped the 1972 invasion of South Vietnam. It wasn’t until 1975, when the U.S. stopped all supplies to the South (including medical) that the North finally won.

On that bridge, Ripley was the target of small-arms fire and a tank-fired round hit just a few feet from him, but, as stated earlier, this book is much more than just his combat. It shows how he had to make a massive effort to get his grades up to be able to go to the Academy. The book touches upon his personal moral code. To say the book was inspirational would be an apt description.

Many years ago I attended a Naval Institute event in Monterey, CA. A man in civilian clothes walked in; I didn’t know who it was, but there was just something about him. I said to myself, “That is somebody!” I later learned that it was John Ripley.

History repeats and repeats and repeats. From the book “An American Knight” was this, given as a background to Vietnam, “In China a civil war broke out between the communists and the government of China under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, who had been our staunch ally against the Japanese. Under the guise of unity, the United States insisted that the communists be brought into the government. When Chiang refused, George C. Marshall, initially ambassador to China, then Secretary of State, cut off all aid to him despite the fact that the communists were being amply supplied by the Russians. As a result, the communists took over all of China.”

And that’s how we ended up with the Korean War. Speaking of which, if you were in Korea, 1950-53, drop me a card or letter. It will go into a drawing (held 45 days after the first entry is received) for the four-DVD (313 minutes) series, “KOREA-The Forgotten War.”

Next month I’ll mention my experiences at Cam Lo and Chu Lai.

Legacy of a modern knight

By Debbie Thurman, DAILY COURIER

Saturday, April 3, 2010

This week Christians observed the Passion of Christ, the suffering servant but also the King of kings. Were he still among us, one warrior-servant whose deeply abiding faith and military prowess helped shape him into a legend — a latter-day knight — would be solemnly worshipping. He also likely would be recalling another Easter Sunday 38 years ago at almost precisely this time of year in a quaint but war-ravaged South Vietnamese village called Dong Ha.

In 1972, Marine Capt. John Ripley was in South Vietnam for the third time as one of the last American military advisers. His first two combat tours were as a rifle company commander. He was already the stuff of legend.

Ripley’s duty now was to shadow his South Vietnamese Marine brothers, enduring hardship and risking death with them as they bravely stood against communist forces approaching from the north. The Easter Offensive became their shared fate.

As Easter dawned on April 2 that year, Ripley, Major Le Ba Binh and the roughly 200 men of the elite 3rd Vietnamese Marine Corps Battalion had a clear imperative: “Hold and die” defending the southern banks of the Cua Viet River. But first they had to blow up a superstructure bridge that had been built five years earlier by U.S. Navy Sea Bees for American forces. Two North Vietnamese Army (NVA) divisions — 20,000-30,000 men, reinforced by some 200 Soviet tanks — were moving south toward Dong Ha. They had to be prevented from crossing the near-indestructible bridge, the only place to move their heavy armament.

Ripley knew the odds of survival were ludicrous. Ripley would later say he was forced to “stop being cluttered by the feeling that (he was going to survive).”

The amazing story of an already exhausted Ripley’s miraculous hand-walk underneath the Dong Ha bridge, expertly planting charges amid a continual hail of NVA small arms and artillery fire, and his rhythmic prayer-chant of “Jesus, Mary, get me there!” has been retold many times. It resurged in the wake of this hero’s untimely death in late October 2008.

Nowhere are this and other Ripley stories — for instance, his equally miraculous liver transplant, allowing him to cheat death for another decade — told with more poignance than in Norman Fulkerson’s recent book, “An American Knight: The Life of Colonel John W. Ripley, USMC.” Fulkerson and Ripley shared a staunch Catholic faith, a deep respect for tradition and loyalty and a love of history.

“An American Knight” revisits Ripley’s upbringing in mostly Protestant Radford, Va., and traces his life’s arc through his U.S. Naval Academy days and amazing Marine Corps career, anchored by his devotion to his beloved wife, Moline (she passed away last year), and their four children, two of whom also served as Marine officers.

There are two kinds of freedom in this world. The first is bought with the blood of selfless warriors who have stood against tyranny and evil in every age. The other freedom finds its sublime expression in the sacrificial atonement of the One who was fully God and fully man. His blood also flowed freely, but his death was short-lived. And thereon hangs the redemption of mankind.

The Marine Corps places God before country, as it should. Ripley was God’s man, above all.

God before country

By Debbie Thurman

Sunday April 4, 2010

The holiest day for all of Christendom is here. We celebrate the Passion of Christ, the suffering servant, but also King of kings and Lord of lords.

Were he still among us, one warrior-servant whose deeply abiding faith and military prowess helped shape him into a legend — a latter-day knight — would be solemnly worshiping. He also likely would be recalling another Easter Sunday, 38 years ago at almost precisely this time of year, in a quaint but war-ravaged South Vietnamese village called Dong Ha.

In 1972, Marine then-Capt. John Ripley was in South Vietnam for the third time as one of the last American military advisers. His first two combat tours were as a rifle company commander. He was already the stuff of legend.

Ripley’s duty this time was to shadow his South Vietnamese Marine brothers, enduring hardship and risking death with them as they bravely stood against Communist forces approaching from the north. The Easter Offensive became their shared fate.

As Easter dawned on April 2 that year, Ripley, Maj. Le Ba Binh and the roughly 200 men of the elite 3rd Vietnamese Marine Corps Battalion had a clear imperative: “Hold and die” defending the southern banks of the Cua Viet River. But first, they had to blow a superstructure bridge that had been built five years earlier by U.S. Navy Seabees for American forces. Two North Vietnamese Army divisions — 20,000 to 30,000 men, reinforced by some 200 Soviet tanks — were moving south toward Dong Ha. They had to be prevented from crossing the near-indestructible bridge, the only place to move their heavy armament.

It was a daunting mission, and one that only a man like Ripley, who had trained with the world’s most elite forces, could possibly pull off. He knew the odds of survival were ludicrous. Ripley would later say he was forced to “stop being cluttered by the feeling that [he was going to survive].”

The amazing story of an already exhausted Ripley’s miraculous hand-walk underneath the Dong Ha bridge, expertly planting charges amid a continual hail of NVA small arms and artillery fire, and his rhythmic prayer-chant of “Jesus, Mary, get me there!” has been retold many times. It resurged in the wake of this hero’s untimely death in late October 2008.

Nowhere are this and other Ripley stories — for instance, his equally miraculous liver transplant, allowing him to cheat death for another decade — told with more poignancy than in Norman Fulkerson’s recent book “An American Knight: The Life of Colonel John W. Ripley, USMC.” Fulkerson and Ripley shared a staunch Catholic faith, a deep respect for tradition and loyalty and a love of history.

“An American Knight” revisits Ripley’s Catholic upbringing in mostly Protestant Radford and traces his life’s arc through his U.S. Naval Academy days and amazing Marine Corps career, anchored by his devotion to his beloved wife, Moline (she passed away last year), and their four children, two of whom also served as Marine officers. The entire book is a sublime read.

I wish John Ripley could have known during his life how God amazingly touched mine years after our brief sojourn together in the 2nd Marine Division, or how both he and the Christ we both worshiped inspired me to take unpopular stands in a politically correct world run amuck.

There are two kinds of freedom in this world. The first is bought with the blood of selfless warriors who have stood against tyranny and evil in every age. The other freedom finds its sublime expression in the sacrificial atonement of the one who was fully God and fully man. His blood also flowed freely, but his death was short-lived. And thereon hangs the redemption of mankind.

Those who bear our savior’s name know it is he who commissions the modern warrior to carry into battle his sword of truth that pierces “as far as the division of soul and spirit” (Hebrews 4:12 ). The Marine Corps places God before country, as it should. Ripley was God’s man, above all.

Kudos to Fulkerson for giving the world this wonderful book. My copy bears Ripley’s famous, dual-meaning injunction in the author’s kind inscription to me: “Press the attack!”

I will. Semper Fi, Colonel.

Thurman, a Marine veteran, is a writer living in Monroe

Not in the Pentagon Closet

by: Brett Decker

May 21, 2010

Listening to the liberal media, it’s easy to think that all America’s gener- als and admirals want to torpedo the ban on open homosexuals serving in the military. At times, there is a revolving door on the Pentagon’s closet, with some of the brass putting fingers in the air to test which way the winds are blowing.

While politicized officers might try to curry favor with the Obama administration and congressional Democrats by assuming the liberal position in favor of ending the so-called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, 1,164 flag and general officers have signed a petition informing President Obama that, “Our past experience as military leaders leads us to be greatly concerned about the impact of repeal [of the law] on morale, discipline, unit cohesion and overall military readiness.”

The extraordinary open letter by so many respected military leaders, which has been shepherded by the Center for Military Readiness, isn’t surprising to most Americans, who know those serving in uniform are among the most forthright in America, a few media darlings aside. However, in our morally confused age, officers who defend traditional values tend to be the ones kept in the Pentagon closet rather than those with less normal views. Despite this political pressure, most warriors espouse a very conservative ideology. One of them speaks to us from the grave.

The late Col. John W. Ripley is a Marine Corps legend for his many heroic stands in combat, in congressional hearings and in life. In “An American Knight,” first-time author Norman J. Fulkerson does a masterful job recounting not only what this great man did, but why he did it and how he became who he was. In short, with a few exceptions aside, great men aren’t born – they are formed. John Ripley benefited from the example of a strict family upbringing and the influence of an ascendant American culture that was unabashed in its encouragement of the eternal verities of God, family and country. In the Ripley household, religion wasn’t only for women and wimps, and the whole family knelt to pray the Rosary together every day.

It was this faith that would fortify the tough Marine during his toughest trials. His most celebrated feat was on Easter Sunday 1972 in Vietnam, where he singlehandedly blew up the Dong Ha bridge to halt a communist advance along the main transportation artery into South Vietnam. For more than three hours, he climbed the superstructure of the bridge, swinging from steel girders like monkey bars to place explosives and detonators under the main supports. He scaled the bridge over a dozen times, taking heavy fire the whole time, to accomplish the mission and thwart the enemy.

In the years after combat duty, Col. Ripley served in many roles, including stints working for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as an instructor at the Naval Academy in Annapolis and even as president of the Southern Seminary, an all-woman’s college. As the years passed, the Marine’s Marine feared that America was endangered by another leftist threat: political correctness. During the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century, he again answered the call, publicly arguing against admission of girls into the Virginia Military Institute and against women in combat. It was his belief that these positions were in defense of ladies and femininity, especially by trying to protect them from abuse. “If we see women as equals on the battlefield, you can be absolutely certain that the enemy does not see them as equals,” Col. Ripley said. “The minute a woman is captured, she is no longer a POW, she is a victim and an easy prey … someone upon whom they can satisfy themselves and their desires.”

Mr. Fulkerson explains that, “While Americans appreciate the warrior spirit of someone like him, we admire much more a person who is not afraid to tell the truth.” That’s why “An American Knight” is not only an interesting book for military buffs but offers inspiring reading for anyone looking for noble examples amidst modern amorality. On the night of Oct. 28, 2008, this Marine met his maker. But while Col. Ripley is dead, his legend lives on. If you listen closely to the din of contemporary political-military debates, the voice of Ripley echoes.

Brett M. Decker is editorial page editor of The Washington Times.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/may/21/not-in-the-pentagon-closet

Fulkerson profiles ‘An American Knight’

By Suzi Bartholomy, Messenger-Inquirer

Norman Fulkerson, who has been voicing his conservative opinions on the Messenger-Inquirer editorial page for 11 years, has written a book about another conservative, Col. John W. Ripley USMC. Over the years, Fulkerson has written more than 75 letters to the editor on many subjects, including family values, abortion, Bill Clinton and homosexuality.

Fulkerson met Ripley in 1993 at a luncheon sponsored by his employer, the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property. Realizing that they were in synch on many issues, the men became friends and remained so until Ripley’s death last October.

There was much to admire about Ripley, Fulkerson said, during a recent phone interview. Ripley’s military career has been documented in other writings, Fulkerson said, but what he was most interested in was telling the other side of the war hero who in 1972 during the Easter Offensive in Dong Ha, Vietnam, blew up a bridge that “virtually halted the largest North Vietnamese offensive of the entire war.”

“An American Knight, the Life of Col. John W. Ripley USMC,” is about Ripley’s “deep Catholic faith, his love for his children and his devotion to his wife Moline,” Fulkerson said.

Fulkerson, of Utica, began writing Ripley’s biography just days after his death and completed it in June. The book will be released Oct. 28, the first anniversary of Ripley’s death.

Fulkerson, an Owensboro Catholic High School graduate, had never written a book before.

“It was like a person who had never run, running a marathon,” Fulkerson said.

When asked how he completed the book in six months, which included lengthy interviews with Ripley’s friends and family, he said he did it with divine intervention.

“I had to squeeze my brain to do this but did not have to squeeze my heart,” Fulkerson said.

Fulkerson, who is a contributing editor for the TFP’s Crusade Magazine with a circulation of 130,000, has received positive reviews of his book from retired military officers who knew Ripley.

Retired Col. Wesley Lee Fox, USMC, a Medal of Honor recipient and author, writes that he knew Ripley “like a brother for 42 years” but learned a lot more about his friend’s life from Fulkerson’s book.

“This is a must read for all desiring to be a leader, especially those desiring to lead Marines,” Fox wrote in his review.

Col. Gerald Turley USMC, Ret., who ordered Ripley to destroy the Dong Ha Bridge, said in his review of ‘An American Knight’ that Ripley truly deserves to be held up as a role model … and Norman Fulkerson’s book will help insure this.”

“An American Knight” should attract men and women to its pages, according to a release from Fulkerson’s publisher. Men will see Ripley as the ultimate warrior who was motivated through “supernatural faith, discipline and pure morals” and women will find Ripley “the kind and gallant husband,” dedicated father of deep faith, refinement and “unfailing leadership” at home and in public.

To order Ripley’s life story by Fulkerson go to www.americanknight.org.

Suzi Bartholomy, 691-7293, sbartholomy@messenger-inquirer.com.

For Immediate Release:

Contact: Norman Fulkerson
(717) 887-6270
normanfulkerson@gmail.com

Fans of Military History Books welcome first biography of Marine Corps Legend

Colonel John W. Ripley USMC

On October 28, 2008 America mourned his death.

America can now celebrate and honor his life.

“An American Knight: The Life of Colonel John W. Ripley USMC” now available for purchase online

With political and public attention once again focused on the sacrifices made by our military in Afghanistan, it’s more important than ever to remember American heroes who set an example for us all. In this first cradle-to-grave biography of Colonel John W. Ripley, author Norman Fulkerson tells the extraordinary life story of a Marine Corps hero of legendary stature; the selfless leader of combat troops and embodiment of “Semper Fi.”

“If a young officer or Marine ever asks what is the meaning of ‘Semper Fidelis,’” Colonel Ripley once told a friend, “tell them my story.” This is his story!

This book has all the right ingredients to inspire and instill a sense of purpose in a generation seeking honor and meaning. Medal of Honor recipient, Colonel Wesley Fox calls it a, “must read” for anyone desiring to be a leader, especially those who want to lead Marines. General Carl E. Mundy, 30^th Commandant of the Marine Corps, says An American Knight is a “fine book which provides well-deserved tribute to a great man.”

Most people know only John Ripley, the warrior, now they will know John Ripley the husband, father, mentor and friend.

While America mourns the passing of this Marine Corps legend, An American Knight will allow us all to do as General George Patton counseled, “thank God that such a man lived.”

An American Knight, The Life of Col. John W. Ripley USMC by Norman Fulkerson, American TFP, October 28, 2009, hardcover, ISBN: 978-1-877905-41-4| paper | 218 pp. | 33 Illustrations | $14.95 (+$3.75 P.& H.)

Order at: AmericanKnight.org or call 888-317-5571.