In this Book

summary

On November 25, 1950, during one of the toughest battles of the Korean War, the US Eighth Army Ranger Company seized and held the strategically important Hill 205 overlooking the Chongchon River. Separated by more than a mile from the nearest friendly unit, fifty-one soldiers fought several hundred Chinese attackers. Their commander, Lieutenant Ralph Puckett, was wounded three times before he was evacuated. For his actions, he received the country's second-highest award for courage on the battlefield—the Distinguished Service Cross—and resumed active duty later that year as a living legend.

In this inspiring autobiography, Colonel Ralph Puckett recounts his extraordinary experiences on and off the battlefield. After he returned from Korea, Puckett joined the newly established US Army Ranger Department, serving as an instructor and tactical officer, and commanding companies at Fort Benning and in the Ranger Mountain Camp in north Georgia. He went on to lead companies in Vietnam, train cadets at West Point, and organize the Escuela de Lancero leadership course in Colombia. Puckett's story is critical reading for soldiers, leaders, military historians, and others interested in the impact of conflict on individual soldiers as well as the military as a whole.

Table of Contents

restricted access Download Full Book
  1. Cover
  2. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Title Page, Copyright, Dedication, Epigraph
  2. pp. i-viii
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Contents
  2. pp. 10-11
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 1 Georgia Boy: Early Influences
  2. pp. 1-12
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 2 Want to Be a Flyboy: Training with the U.S. Army Air Corps Enlisted Reserve
  2. pp. 13-16
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 3 A Soldier’s Apprenticeship: West Point, Fort Riley, Kansas, and Fort Benning, Georgia
  2. pp. 17-30
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 4 Korea: Eighth Army Ranger Company
  2. pp. 31-52
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 5 Back on Track: Convalescence, Marriage, and the Ranger Department
  2. pp. 53-74
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 6 Latin Sojourn: U.S. Army Caribbean Command and Forming the Colombian Ranger School
  2. pp. 75-92
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 7 Climbing the Army School Ladder: Infantry Advanced Course, USMAPS, and the Command and General Staff College
  2. pp. 93-106
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 8 Tenth Special Forces Group: Three-Year Idyll in Bavaria
  2. pp. 107-120
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 9 Three More Way Stations Cleared: Armed Forces Staff College, the Pentagon, and U.S. Army War College
  2. pp. 121-132
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 10 Strike Force: Battalion Command in Vietnam
  2. pp. 133-156
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 11 Tet: The Unexpected Crossover
  2. pp. 157-182
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 12 West Point: Changing Times at the Academy
  2. pp. 183-196
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 13 The Fort Carson Blues: Troubled Birth of the New Army
  2. pp. 197-212
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 14 Life in Mufti: Outward Bound, Discovery, and MicroBilt
  2. pp. 213-230
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 15 Not All Old Soldiers Fade Away: Fort Benning Redux
  2. pp. 231-252
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Afterword
  2. pp. 253-258
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Acknowledgments
  2. pp. 259-262
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Index
  2. pp. 263-280
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Image Plates
  2. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
Back To Top

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Without cookies your experience may not be seamless.