On this date in Ranger History: Nov. 25, 1950 -- Ranger 1st Lt. Ralph Puckett and his men captured Hill 205, a strategic point overlooking the Chong Chon River, Korea. Initially, they had to brace for attack from all sides, as the company of only 51 Rangers strong was over a mile from the nearest friendly unit and vulnerable to being completely surrounded. Fortunately for the Rangers, they had artillery support for part of the night. Earlier in the evening, Lt. Puckett had coordinated a series of increasingly more dangerous fire missions with the artillery, in order to allow the Rangers artillery support to rapidly adjust to new attacks. At 10 p.m., the Chinese began their attack by firing a mortar salvo against Lt. Puckett and his Rangers. Six waves of Chinese forces assaulted the Hill for the next four and a half hours. Several times, Lt. Puckett was forced to call in artillery fire danger close, placing the Rangers within the danger radius of the friendly artillery fire. During the course of the battle, Lt. Puckett was wounded several times, once by grenade fragments and then twice more when two mortars landed in his fox hole. After his wounds rendered him barley conscious, and ordering the withdrawal of his forces, two of Lt. Pucketts Rangers, Pfc. David L. Pollack and Pfc. Billy G. Walls dragged him down the hill as they received small arms fire. Lt. Puckett was medically evacuated from the Hill and was hospitalized for a year for the wounds he suffered that night. RANGERS LEAD THE WAY!
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 12:00:00 +0000
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