Heroes of the Medal of Honor: RALPH PUCKETT

After capturing high ground at Hill 205 in Korea, US Rangers fought off repeated counterattacks. In the thick of the fighting, their commanding officer provided an extraordinary example of heroism

- MICHAEL E HASKEW

Daylight was approaching and the familiar sting of freezing late-autumn temperatures was pervasive as 24-year-old 1st Lieutenant Ralph Puckett, commanding a detachment of 51 US Army Rangers, was handed a dangerous but necessary mission.

The Rangers were ordered to take high ground at Hill 205, overlooking the Chongchon River near the village of Unsan, and facilitate the advance of Task Force Dolvin and the 25th Infantry Division. The Korean War was in its fifth month, and the army of the communist North had invaded the South in an attempt to unify the government of the embattled peninsula by force. The United Nations, led by the US, had committed ground troops to stem the enemy tide, all the while wary of armed intervention from the neighbouring People's Republic of China.

The defenders of Hill 205 proved to be tough Chinese troops, and the fight to come was one of the earliest encounters between American and Chinese forces during the Korean War. In preparation for the attack, Puckett had pinpointed artillery fire coordinates to provide support, and the operation presented more than ordinary risk as the nearest American force was more than a mile distant. The advance would naturally expose the Rangers to being cut off, surrounded and annihilated.

A daylight assault

As soon as the soldiers of 8th Ranger Company, 8213th Army Unit, Eighth Army, stepped off they came under intense enemy mortar and machinegun fire. One of several accompanying tanks was nearby and Puckett jumped on top the armoured vehicle, shouting: "Let's go!"