Biden awards first Medal of Honor to Puckett, Korean War vet and ‘true American hero’
President Joe Biden awarded his first Medal of Honor on Friday to retired Army Col. Ralph Puckett Jr., a veteran of the Korean War and a Columbus resident.
Puckett, 94, intentionally ran across open enemy lines and drew machine gun fire to allow Rangers in his company to maneuver for attack, Biden said in recognizing Puckett, who survived a series of heavy enemy assaults.
During two days of intense fighting on a Korean hill in November 1950, Puckett incurred wounds from grenade fragments and mortar fire while fending off multiple attacks and getting ammunition to his men who were surrounded by Chinese forces.
“When the enemy machine gunners slowed the Rangers’ advance, Puckett risked his life by running across the area to draw fire that would reveal the location of the nest,” Biden said at the ceremony. “He did it once. He did it again. It took three runs intentionally exposing himself to the enemy to pick off the gunner.”
“Today we are hosting a true American hero and awarding an honor that is long overdue – more than 70 years overdue,” Biden said. “I’m incredibly proud to give Col. Ralph Puckett’s acts of valor the full recognition they have always deserved.”
Puckett’s wife, Jean, their two children and six grandchildren attended the ceremony in the East Room of the White House, alongside South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Vice President Kamala Harris, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and first lady Jill Biden.
Upon receiving the medal, Puckett and Biden both smiled and shared a private word before his family was invited on stage for photos. The president kneeled next to Puckett during the photos to be at the same height as the honoree while he sat.
Before the event began, about 60 guests mingled as a piano played songs like Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.”
Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, who told reporters that she has known the Puckett family for years, introduced them to the vice president and other officials. Republican Rep. Drew Ferguson of Georgia was also in attendance.
Biden said he was humbled by Puckett’s service in the war and said the late Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona had advocated for Puckett receiving the highest military honor.
“Your first response to us hosting this event was to ask, ‘why all the fuss? Can’t they just mail it to me?’” Biden said. “Rather than mail it to you, I would’ve walked it to you. Your lifetime of service to our nation I think deserves a little bit of fuss.”
Also addressing the event, Moon said it was an honor to be the first foreign leader to attend a Medal of Honor ceremony.
“Col. Puckett is a true hero of the Korean War,” Moon said. “With extraordinary valor and leadership, he completed missions till the very end, defending Hill 205 and fighting many more battles requiring equal valiance.
“Without the sacrifice of veterans, including Col. Puckett and the Eighth Army Ranger Company, the freedom and democracy we enjoy today couldn’t have blossomed in Korea.”
‘A Ranger’s Ranger’
As dignitaries gathered in Washington to witness Puckett’s award ceremony, more than 100 people watched a live stream from a theater at the National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center in Columbus, among them a contingent of soldiers in a leadership course at Fort Benning’s Armor School.
The spectators who knew Puckett well chuckled when he was a offered a walker, as he stood to receive the medal, and he reached down and set it aside, to stand on his own.
“Watching him push the stroller away lends to the Ranger creed, and what it really embodies, being a man, or a soldier’s man, or a soldier’s soldier,” said Martin Celestine Jr., a former Ranger who’s now the museum’s vice president for operations.
“It was amazing to see him pick himself up, just as depicted in the citation of how he picked himself up, over and over again,” Celestine said of Puckett’s resilience in battle. “So watching him push that walker away and stand tall gave me a sense of pride, as a former Ranger myself.”
Celestine served 30 years, retiring as the Fort Benning Command Sergeant Major in October. He is 50 years old, nearly half a century younger than Puckett. He remembers being in training, in 2000, when Puckett would speak to trainees at 4 a.m., as their day began.
Puckett was serving then as “Honorary Colonel of the 75th Ranger Regiment,” a role he held for 12 years, starting in 1996.
“He spoke to the group about what it means to be a Ranger. He spoke a little to the profession of arms, and serving something greater than ourselves,” Celestine said.
Puckett exemplifies those values, he said:
“It’s identifying and recognizing that you volunteer as a Ranger, and you would go to hell and back, basically. You will never leave a fallen comrade. You will never quit. You will never accept defeat. The Ranger creed really embodies not quitting, and it really embodies teamwork. Any Ranger would not be surprised of his actions.... Colonel Puckett is at the tip of the spear when you talk about a Ranger’s Ranger.”
In his retirement, Puckett was known for devoting his time to the young soldiers who came after him. He would go to every Ranger School graduation on post, and when other graduations were held at the museum, he would attend those, too, and stay afterward to speak with the graduates and sign copies of his books, even if it took all day.
“He would not stop to eat,” said Cyndy Cerbin, the National Infantry Foundation’s communications director. Museum workers would bring his lunch to the table where he sat, because Puckett would not leave as long as soldiers waited in line to speak with him, she said: “He’s a rock star.”
Jean McKee met Puckett through her late husband Dick McKee, a retired Army colonel who once headed the Columbus Department of Public Services.
She’s a museum volunteer who has seen how people react when Puckett visits.
“There’s a presence of just somebody really great walking in,” she said. “He’s a very genuine person, and a very wonderful man to talk to, very humble.”
When Biden draped the medal around Puckett’s neck, “I had tears in my eyes,” McKee said. “Being a military wife of 28 years, I know what this means, and I know what his wife was feeling at this time. It hit me hard.”
She also noticed Puckett set the walker aside: “It made me laugh, because that’s him,” she said. “He’s a very proud, proud man.”
Also watching the live stream was James Lee, who at 91 is just a few years younger than Puckett. He served 24 years in the infantry, from 1948 to 1972, retiring as a sergeant major.
He said that despite many military honors and medals, Puckett has a common touch when it comes to dealing with the public: “He’s just a regular guy when it comes to associating with people.”
Lee served in Korea after the war ended, and understands what those fighting there endured in what became known to many as “the forgotten war.”
“It’s hard to verbalize,” he said. “That’s what it became known as, the unknown or forgotten war, because it did not receive all that publicity, really, hardly known back here in the States. I think people are more aware now.”
This story was originally published May 21, 2021 at 2:18 PM.
