I personally knew Col. Ripley and have just finished writing a book titled "An American Knight, The Life of Col.John W. Ripley USMC. He was truly one of the great warriors of our time and one who should be honored.

I was John Ripley's radio operator on 2 March 1967 and took every step and monitored every word he spoke. His heroics are exagerated at best and actually a lie to further his military career. What decisions he made were terrible and he had no control over his company and actually lost physical contact with them and became somewhat lost. His exploits on Aug 21 was stupid and he should have faced a courtmartial. I was Plt Sgt of 2nd Plt and had several Marines wounded in rescuing him and his command group. He went into a hostile situation with only radiomen and one rifle which he took for self defense and became so excited he couldn't chamber a round. He kept trying to fire the rifle with no round in the chamber. I put two men in for medals that day and Ripley refused them because they conflicted with his slef written commendation which he forced his Radio Operator to sign. Ripleys men were marines and well trained Marines. Ripley was a HotDogger and his men would always do what was required by the situation at hand, not what some HotDogger exagerated in his mind and tall tails that grew each time he told them. Chuck Coggins was a brown noser and Kept his nose up Ripleys butt constantly. They were two of a kind with no respect from their fellow Marines that really knew them in a hostile situation.