September 2008
Marine Inducted Into Ranger Hall of Fame
By Art Powell
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Colonel John W. Ripley, USMC (Ret) was inducted into the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame June 11 at Fort Benning, Ga., making history as the first all-Marine ever invited to join the small, prestigious fraternity of Hall of Fame Rangers.
“To express how this feels is jolly difficult. The Rangers are almost a legendary entity. They’ve been around since the Revolution, and they’ve always had that very distinctive air about them: and rightly so. In just about every war this country has had, there’s been some kind of Ranger action or special operations. When they told me I was going to be inducted, I just couldn’t believe it,” said Ripley, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate.
While Ripley is the only Marine ever inducted based on a military career solely in the Marine Corps, Colonel Rodney J. Wijas, USMC (Ret) was previously inducted into the Army Ranger Hall of Fame in 2005. Wijas joined the U.S. Army in 1960, and while a staff sergeant, earned the Distinguished Service Cross and Purple Heart in Vietnam as a Ranger assigned to a South Vietnamese unit. Wijas left the Army in 1966, completed college and earned a commission as a Marine officer.
Each year, the Ranger Hall of Fame selection committee considers nominations from select Ranger units and associations representing each era of Ranger history. The 2008 inductees range from a four-star general, John Galvin, to a private first class, World War II Ranger Ellis Reed, who served in the European theater.
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| Col John W. Ripley is inducted into the United States Army Ranger Hall of Fame June 11 at Ft. Benning, Ga. |
“Once a Ranger, always a Ranger, that’s my comment,” said Major General Walter Wojdakowski, Ft. Benning commanding general.
“No matter what service, what they do, Ranger school and the Ranger tab means you’re one of the best leaders in whatever service you’re in. We don’t differentiate between Marines or Navy SEALs or anybody. If they’re wearing a Ranger tab, we’re really proud to honor them, and the Marine Corps ought to be proud of him too,” MG Wojdakowski concluded.
Ripley’s visit to Ft. Benning for the induction ceremony differed greatly from his 1965 visit to the post when he was there in the winter for Ranger school. During the first week of his training, one exercise involved being pushed off the end of a diving board into a pool, blindfolded, with weapon and gear, then swimming to the side of the pool. Before Ripley could be pushed into the outdoor pool, Rangers had to break the ice.
“We started the class with about 150 people, but when the others saw me go into the icy water, about 20 of them refused to do it and quit the program right there. It was our single biggest loss during training,” said Ripley, who was wounded in action four times during his military career.
More rigorous training followed.
“I came [to Ranger school] from a small, very select unit in the Marine Corps called Force Reconnaissance, and the requirements to get into Force Recon were very, very physically and mentally demanding. Since we specialized in things like small-unit actions, recon behind the lines and pre-assault recon, we had the opportunity to go to schools, and Ranger [school] was one of them. The Army allowed two or three Marines into each class,” added Ripley.
He attended other schools such as scuba, airborne and pathfinder, but he says he knew the value of Ranger training.
“Everyone knew the elite qualities attached to it, and that was very attractive,” he said.
“In our training, we were kept in a constantly deprived state, sleep deprivation all the time, and even [deprivation of] food. … They did that purposely, and it was a very good effect, because you learned you could operate under these conditions when your body was weak and your mind was addled,” explained Ripley.
He said that when he arrived for Ranger training, he was “tougher than woodpecker lips,” yet still lost 20 pounds. He finished the school as the top officer graduate.
During his second tour of duty in Vietnam in 1971, Ripley was the senior advisor to the 3d Vietnamese Marine Battalion. The benefits of his intense Ranger training paid off during the 1972 North Vietnamese Easter invasion of South Vietnam when he and his battalion were at the Dong Ha bridge over the Cua Viet River.
The bridge had to be destroyed in order for the 735 Vietnamese Marines to hold off several thousand approaching North Vietnamese troops.
