Famed Naval Academy grad who blew up bridge during Vietnam War urged for Medal of Honor

Marine Corps Col. John Ripley, a Naval Academy graduate known for his heroic actions during the Vietnam War, has been posthumously recommended for the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Ripley was originally awarded the Navy Cross after placing himself in harm’s way to destroy a bridge in South Vietnam on April 2, 1972. Congress passed a resolution this month recommending that President Donald Trump upgrade the honor, the Naval Academy said in a news release.

The move has been endorsed by the Marine Corps, Navy Secretary John Phelan and the Department of Defense.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Ripley, who died in 2008, would be the first Naval Academy graduate to receive the Medal of Honor since Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale in 1976.

Ripley’s Navy Cross citation states that his actions to set explosives on the Dong Ha bridge while under enemy fire and ultimately destroy the span as North Vietnamese forces approached were “instrumental in saving an untold number of lives.”

In the waning years of the Vietnam War, Ripley was stationed near the city of Dong Ha with a garrison of about 300 North Vietnamese troops. To stop the advancing enemy, the then-Marine captain devised a plan to destroy a bridge over the Cua Viet River in South Vietnam’s Quang Tri province.

In a “deliberate and extraordinary act of heroism,” he repeatedly swung hand-over-hand under a bridge while taking fire, planting explosives the whole time, according to an obituary written by the Marine Corps.

Ripley thought some of the fuses were wet and might not light — later in life, he recalled preparing to trigger a grenade and drop down into the river current if the fuses did not light, according to the Marines’ account.

His actions delayed the invasion of South Vietnam for several years, according to the U.S. military. He was awarded the Navy Cross, the Naval Service’s second-highest award for valor.

Annapolis Alderman Frank Thorp, a fellow Naval Academy graduate, called the recommended elevation of Ripley’s Navy Cross to a Medal of Honor well deserved and “awesome.” He said students at the academy, where a diorama of Ripley at the bridge is on display in Memorial Hall, look to Ripley as an example.

“So many midshipmen see him as a role model,” Thorp said. “I’m guessing if you stood on Main Street and asked mids, they would know his name and know his story.”

Hundreds of people commented on a Facebook post by the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association & Foundation about the proposed honor, sharing memories of serving with him or saying that the honor was a long time coming.

Ripley was born in Radford, Virginia, and graduated from the Naval Academy in 1962. He died in 2008 at home in Annapolis, according to The New York Times.

Tom Ripley, his son, said the Medal of Honor “is really the completion of a circle” for the military family, which has long thought Ripley’s actions deserved the recognition.

His father also would have wanted to recognize the people who supported him, Tom Ripley said in a statement, including his family, fellow advisor Maj. Jim Smock and the 300 men in the 3rd Vietnamese Marine Battalion who fought to buy him time. Fewer than 60 survived the battle.

“He knew nothing great is ever accomplished by the individual,” Tom Ripley said.