An American Knight: The Life of Colonel John W. Ripley, USMC

Every American should know the name, John Ripley. That more don't is a sad testimony to the dumbing down of both our education system and our patriotic values. An American Knight is a biography of this great man, a USMC war hero most famous for his superhuman feat at the Dong Ha bridge in Vietnam in 1972 that single-handedly stopped the North Vietnamese Easter Offensive. Yes, you heard me. Single-handedly. I first read of his exploit in the classic military study, The Bridge at Dong Ha by Navy/Marine historian John Grider Miller. It's a great story, but Miller's book gives us little in the way of biographical information on Ripley -- probably because Ripley was still on active duty at the time and didn't want too much publicity. Norman Fulkerson wrote An American Knight partly to fill in the biographical gap after Ripley's death, but also to testify about the role of Ripley's Roman Catholic faith in shaping his life. An American Knight is published by Fulkerson's non-profit, the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP). This means An American Knight lacks the benefit of commercial publishing i.e. marketing to a wide public. But it also makes possible a very Catholic oriented biography (the word "Faith" is always capitalized in the book in the Catholic fashion -- because "it is the one, true Faith" to their devout). Most importantly, it allows Fulkerson unfettered license to quote from Ripley's congressional testimonies on the issues of women in combat and the integration of homosexuals in the armed forces -- commercial and politically sensitive bombshells to say the least. Although I believe Fulkerson is, as he says, a personal friend of Ripley's, it's obvious to me that the memory of Ripley is being used here to promote the work of the TFP. All that being said, herein lies the book's main issue -- a commercial publisher would provide greater editorial scrutiny over the content. Because in addition to being overly focused on Ripley as "TFP Knight" (as in "Knights of Columbus"), there are historical and biographical gaps that will frustrate a military reader or historian -- things left unexplained or as when details of his military career such as his time with the British Marines, Army Ranger School and Navy UDT school are glossed over. As a leadership survey, we also hear little about the leadership challenges Ripley faced in combat. Especially lessons-learned in the Dominican Republic, Malaysia or his early years in Vietnam. Frustrating! What we are left with are character testimonies and anecdotes, based almost entirely on the observations of people who knew the man. It's well-written testimonial -- don't get me wrong -- with much focus on the women in Ripley's life -- his grandmother, mother and wife -- who apparently shaped his faith. And we have his testimonies before Congress which are his words and are historical record. But I don't know the man behind the words as well as I would have liked after reading his biography. As an old school soldier, I found Ripley's analysis of the motivations, agendas and political rationalizations of those who pushed for women in combat or acceptance of homosexuality in the military to be right on the money -- the woman in combat issue being the most patently ridiculous, illogical and impractical. Ripley's reasoning on this and his candid description of the realities of combat and vulnerabilities of females have all been swept under the carpet of political correctness and self-serving social justice. This probably explains why John Ripley's life and accomplishments haven't been recognized more widely. He spoke the truth. And the world hates that. This is a good, but short book and the best available biography on a great Marine. Recommended -- because everyone should know the man. But hopefully we'll see a more complete work on Colonel Ripley in the near future. Semper Fidelis! (But RLTW)

For me, this book was an inspiration. After reading it (the Kindle version) I bought two hard copies for my Dad and my father-in-law, two old veterans in their nineties who are now voracious readers. Ripley may have lived in my era but he exemplified theirs. The book starts a little slow . . . lots of stuff about his young life. It reminded me of a book I'd read as a boy, "We Were There at Custer's Last Stand." By the end though, it all ties in. Hand-walking the bridge, Cloyde's Mountain, the reverence of womanhood, his sense of honor and duty. It all was included to lay the necessary groundwork to support any believability regarding the accounts of his later life. I'm glad Fulkerson wrote this book, glad that I read it. I'm especially glad that Ripley lived his life here on earth to be a model for today's and tomorrow's young men. I've known a handful of men in my life, no, maybe just a couple or a few, who have demonstrated to me how men should be . . . hard-working, honest, loving, caring, courageous, bold, and ready. Whether Ripley was actually this man in real life or not (I think he was) the character in the book was, and I really enjoyed reading about him. By the way, I was a Marine myself and I also fought in Vietnam. I know such things as this book describes really did happen. Boy, do I know.

After some time and thought, I am re-reviewing this title. I've seen that my original write-up was all criticism. That was certainly not my intent!The term American Knight is so rarely spoken or earned in today's USA. Colonel John Ripley clearly deserved that title and this book accurately describes his journey. He was a rare, daunting Marine who truly showed us how to live, by his own example. The author has completed a Herculean task in describing a true Marine, a true American hero.My sincere apologies for my initial critical comments.I assume the several typos or misspellings I've seen in just the first 2 chapters are the product of the translation from print to digital. Surely they were not in the printed book. I do know that some of them could have avoided detection by a spell checker. Still, it is an uncomfortable distraction to read that Ripley's mother "... was a beautiful woman with a sweat (sic) disposition, ... "There are also errors in the locations: "Mudder's Ridge" was not so named because of the mud in the area. It was Mutter's Ridge from the call sign Mutter of the unit in Operation Prairie. I was a Huey gunship pilot who flew combat missions for LtCol Bill Masterpool's (call sign Mutter 6) unit on the ground. "Phu Bi" is also misspelled. And, it was NOT the Quang Tri Citadel. The ancient Citadel is located in Hue. Maybe that is part of Quang Tri Province.Too bad that so little attention was paid to the quality of the book which describes such a wonderfully disciplined Marine hero.

John Ridley came to work with the European Division in the Plans Directorate of The Staff of Joint Chiefs of Staff shortly after I became Division Chief in 1982. I knew only what his service record revealed. About two weeks later John accompanied me to a meeting with the Chiefs in the tank. As Division Chief I was ignored while the Commandant of the Marines left his seat and came over to welcome John. I knew I had a special man in the Division and for the next year and a half we early rising Virginians met and talked every morning. We corresponded frequently and my wife and I had the privilege of visiting overnight in his home on three occasions. JOHN AND I Had one connection unknown to us when we worked together. I was on the Army Staff when the Easter Offensive kicked off. As the report of John!s heroics came over the wire in the Ops Center a colleague said That crazy Marine just gave Viet Nam another day.The book does a marvelous job of depicting the John Ripley I knew and admired.Al Shockley, Colonel, US Army Retired

Col. John W. Ripley was a very good book to read He was also great officer I met him in 1970 while serving with Y, company, 45 cdo Royal Marines and I have never forgotten him.

Just read it, simply