11/26/2025
On this day, 75 years ago, November 25, 1950, 23-year-old First Lieutenant Ralph Puckett Jr. led the 8th U.S. Army Ranger Company in a daylight assault to capture Hill 205, a strategic high point overlooking the Chongchon River in Korea.
They advanced under intense enemy mortar, machine-gun, and rifle fire.
Determined to get support for his men, Puckett climbed onto a tank in full view of the enemy and directed its fire at the opposing positions.
He then jumped off the tank, rallied his Rangers with shouts of encouragement, and led them in a charge up the hill.
When one of his platoons was pinned down by withering fire, Puckett deliberately sprinted across open ground three times to draw the enemy’s attention and expose their firing positions.
His daring gambit allowed his Rangers to identify and destroy the enemy emplacements and seize the hill.
By evening, Puckett’s 51 Rangers held Hill 205, isolated more than a mile ahead of any friendly units.
That night, around 10 p.m., the Chinese launched a ferocious counterattack with a sudden mortar barrage.
Wave after wave of Chinese soldiers—an entire battalion—charged up Hill 205, outnumbering Puckett’s company roughly ten-to-one.
For four hours the Rangers grimly beat back five human-wave assaults, inflicting heavy casualties on the attackers.
Early in the battle, Puckett was blown off his feet by gr***de fragments and wounded, but he refused evacuation and kept fighting.
He called in artillery strikes dangerously close to his own positions, blasting apart the oncoming enemy formations.
Time and again, Puckett left the cover of his foxhole to move along the perimeter, checking on his men and distributing ammunition to whoever was running low.
The Rangers, inspired by their commander’s fearless example and leadership, stood their ground against the onslaught.
After midnight, during the sixth assault, the enemy finally broke through and overran the hilltop in vicious hand-to-hand combat.
By then, supporting artillery had gone silent and ammunition was nearly exhausted.
Realizing the position could not be held, Puckett ordered his Rangers to fall back and leave him behind.
Moments later, two enemy mortar rounds exploded in Puckett’s foxhole, spraying him with shrapnel and inflicting grievous wounds that left him barely able to move.
Bleeding and immobilized, Puckett shouted for his men to go without him and save themselves.
His Rangers refused to abandon their leader.
Two soldiers dashed through gunfire to reach Puckett’s side, shooting down several enemy troops at close range and hauling the badly wounded lieutenant down the slope to safety.
At the base of the hill, Puckett, still conscious despite his wounds, called for devastating artillery fire on the enemy now swarming over Hill 205.
Shells crashed onto the hilltop, stopping the Chinese advance and preventing the Rangers’ annihilation.
In the face of overwhelming odds, First Lieutenant Puckett had fought with extraordinary heroism above and beyond the call of duty.
For his gallantry that night, Ralph Puckett Jr. was originally awarded the Army’s Distinguished Service Cross.
Decades later, that honor was upgraded to the Medal of Honor.
In a ceremony at the White House on May 21, 2021, President Joseph Biden Jr. presented the Medal of Honor to Colonel (Ret.) Ralph Puckett Jr. in recognition of his valor on Hill 205.
Ralph Puckett Jr. lived to age 97.
He died in his sleep at his home in Columbus, Georgia, on April 8, 2024.
At the time of his death, he was the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient of the Korean War.
