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[Guest]

Ollie North's War Stories about Col John Ripley and the Bridge

I've heard that Ollie North's special War Stories documentary about Col John Ripley's heroic actions at the bridge at Dong Ha will be aired on Fox News Channel either this next Sunday, 22 October, or on Sunday the 29th. Ithe name of the show is: "The Furious Fight at Dong Ha". If you check the War Stories website, you'll be able to see exactl when the story will be aired.
s/f
M2

MajGen USMC (Ret.)
Pres/CEO
Marines' Memorial Association
A 501(c) 19 Non-Profit Veterans Organization

[1991932]

Thanks for the heads-up, powsmias.

My wife & I drove down to Naval Station Newport (RI) last summer to attend the dedication of the new barracks at the Naval Academy Prep School, named in honor of Colonel Ripley.

He was there, of course, looking fit enough to plant the explosives on the bridge at Dong Ha all over again. It was quite an emotional ceremony. There were several members of his Class of 1962, USNA present as well.

Here is an excerpt from an e-mail that Colonel Ripley sent regarding the filming of this FOX show:

As a matter of interest I returned to Dong Ha in May of this year with Fox News Channel in order to film a full feature story of the destruction of the bridge. It was quite a trip, truly unforgettable. We filmed there for several days from every angle. For the first time I saw the bridge from the downstream side looking due west. From this angle the enormity of the thing really came out, and of course this was the new Vietnamese constructed bridge; no steel, just pre-stressed concrete – and smaller.



Naturally seeing the bridge (it’s replacement) again was an emotional, near passionate experience. I could actually re-live the entire affair, but this time in far better circumstances 34 years later. I could also see things I wish I had known at the time that might have made what seemed an impossible job perhaps somewhat easier.



There were still people in Dong Ha who remembered the incident, or perhaps more likely heard it from others. I don’t believe there was a living soul there after we left there following weeks of continuous, sustained battle. An older gentleman stayed near me for a good time until I had been left alone, then quick as a flash approached me. Through some of my remaining understandable Vietnamese and sign language he determined that I had been the person who destroyed the original bridge. The grabbed my hand and in Vietnamese said “thank you”. When Dong Ha was lost the few survivors there suffered under communist rule, and still do
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Former "War Criminal"

[USMCWayne]

As I told my close friend the professed war criminal, tonight's War Stories is on Iwo Jima, as a tie in to Flags of Our Fathers.

I imagine the highly anticipated Dong Ha episode will be aired the 29th.

[USMCWayne]

Any update on the Ripley Dong Ha episode of War Stories?

Last weekend (Oct 22) it was on Iwo Jima, and the promo for this week (Oct 29) is the Tet Offensive.

[Stevie]

did any of you watch it? I did...and taped it for my gson.

how was it ? from a Vietnam vets viewpoint?
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Stevie
Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage
morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should
be arrested, exiled or hanged.

[USMCWayne]

Stevie, out of curiosity, what episode did you tape?

I just saw the promo on Fox for the Dong Ha episode, which will be broadcast this Sunday Nov 12. It'll be shown at 6:00 PM MST. Check your local listings.

While there were many, many heroes, Vietnamese and American, during that desperate time, probably no one matched the efforts of then-Captain John Ripley.

[USMCWayne]

With some cover fire provided by the men of the Third VNMC Battalion and aided by Maj. John Smock, Capt. John Ripley accomplished what was not possible: He went out and blew up the bridge.

There is no sports analogy for what Ripley did. It was not like running a three minute mile, bench pressing 700 pounds, or pulling out a come-from-behind Super Bowl upset victory. There were no adoring crowds. What Ripley did was simply impossible. Had he failed while attempting to do it, his peers would have only thought him noble and brave for trying.

The significance of the timely destruction of the bridge at Dong Ha cannot be overstated – both in terms of Ripley's personal heroism and the impact it had on the entire communist offensive. Those who ponder alternative history could easily argue that had the NVA been able to secure the bridge and the town at that time, the unfortunate end of the Republic of Vietnam on April 30, 1975, might have been markedly speeded up.

Built by U.S. Navy Seabees in 1967, the bridge was a 200-meter concrete and steel leviathan. Its destruction required deliberate planning, intellect and guts. Mostly guts. Ripley would provide all three as he needed to distribute 500 pounds of dynamite on the structure's underside.

Making a dozen-odd trips between the southern bank of the river and the belly of the bridge, each time he shuttled roughly 40 pounds of explosives as he swung, hand-over-hand, out to the various spans and stringers, all the while exposed to enemy fire from the northern side. Placement of the dynamite and requisite wiring took more than two hours.

(The above five paragraphs are word for word from the exceptionally well-written WorldNetDaily story on the action at the Dong Ha Bridge. I won’t even try to change or improve such wonderful prose.)

(The Charles Waterhouse drawing above, is from the exceptional account of the action, The Bridge at Dong Ha, by John Grider Miller)

[dusty]

Watching it now. Excellent production and unbelievable action by Ripley.
And all involved for that matter.


Dusty
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Left and Wrong are the opposite of Right!

[BuffaloJack]

If you missed it at 8pm it'll be repeated at 11pm tonight (Nov 12) on Fox News.
It's quite good.
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Swift Boats - Qui Nhon (12/69-4/70), Cat Lo (4/70-5/70), Vung Tau (5/70-12/71)

[USMCWayne]

The above-referenced Dong Ha War Stories, detailing a portion of the 1972 Easter Invasion, was a powerful piece, and did a good job of illustrating the bond between American and Vietnamese Marines, as well as the impact a single man (or Marine) can have on a battle.

Colonel John Ripley is a true American hero, and was singled out for the most accolades during the Bridge at Dong Ha episode. But Army Major John Smock, VNMC Major Le Ba Bihn, then-Captain Ray Smith, then-Lt Col Gerry Turley, Captain John Livingston, and many others stood out during that desperate time.

In 1972 I was a 20-year old Marine Corps Lance Corporal, assigned to the 1st Battalion, 9th Marines. At 1000 on March 30, 1/9 departed from a scheduled liberty call at Hong Kong, headed for Operation Golden Dragon in Korea, a training exercise that was to include an amphibious landing with 1/9, 2/4, and a Regiment of South Korean Marines.

At noon that same day the NVA launched their Easter Offensive. I never did get to Korea, but ended up an insignificant part of the largest wartime deployment of Marine amphibious forces since the Korean War.

Well after the fact, in fact decades later, I learned of Ripley’s heroics, as well as those of so many, many others.

Comparing world events and some of what was happening in Vietnam in 1972 is an eye-opening experience.

The rescue of BAT-21 and a Medal of Honor for the SOG SEAL who eventually rescued him, the final two Apollo flights to the moon, the bombing of Hanoi and mining of all North Vietnamese harbors, NVA MIGs attacking American warships off North Vietnam, Peace Talks, Randy Cunningham becomes the first fighter ace of the war, we give Okinawa back to the Japanese, Jane Fonda goes to North Vietnam to protest, George Bush requests and receives permission to continue his Texas National Guard duties in Alabama while he works as a political director on a Senate campaign, John Kerry leaves the VNVAW and loses an election for Congress in Massachusetts Fifth District, five burglars are arrested at Watergate, George McGovern receives the Democratic nomination for President and pledges an “immediate and complete withdrawal” from Vietnam, and at the XX Olympics Palestinian terrorists break into the Olympic village and end up kidnapping and killing 11 members of the Israeli team.

Marine casualties during and after the Easter Offensive totaled 18 killed, 68 wounded, and 21 missing. The South Vietnamese lost 8,000 killed and about three times that many wounded. The NVA suffered more than 100,000 casualties (about 40,000 killed) out of its 200,000 member attacking force.

It took three years for the NVA to recover from the losses to mount another offensive and NVA General Vo Nguyen Giap lost his job due to the failed offensive.

1972 was a truly remarkable time in the collective histories of Vietnam and the United States, and the episode at Dong Ha stands out as one of the most noteworthy accomplishments of any conflict the United States has been involved in.

[LimaCharlie]

Watching the program last night brought back lots of memories for me. Dong Ha played a part in my life on two occasions. I spent time there in late 1966 ferrying Marines by LCM-8 (Mike) boat on the Qua Viet river, manning a fifty caliber.

In 1972, I was a Chief Petty Officer (select) and I had orders to be the executive officer on a reserve mine sweeper ship in Long Beach, California. The day of the transfer, my orders were changed to the USS New Orleans (LPH-11) that had been pulled out of the shipyards very early during a major overhaul. It was being sent to Viet Nam with Marines because of the Easter attacks. I caught the ship in Subic Bay. We spent a lot of time off of I-Corp between Hue and the DMZ. I got to fly over the area in a CH-46 helicopter.

In 1973, the New Orleans was assigned as the flagship of Task Force 78 in Hai Phong for Operation Endsweep (mine sweeping) and Operation Homecoming (POW release). Because I had been an advisor (Co Van) during 1970/1971 in Qui Nhon and had been through Vietnamese language school, I was assigned as an armed body guard for the North Vietnamese Generals during the negotiations.
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I was going to become an anarchist, but they had too many rules.

[rbshirley]