By clicking on the below listed link, you will be able to listen to an inspirational message from the 36thCommandant of the US Marine Corps,  General Joseph F. Dunford, Jr., USMC, on the 239th Birthday of the US Marine Corps, was given to honor the memory of those US Marines who are with us, and those who have gone before us----The Few, The Proud, The Marines 

http://battlerattle.marinecorpstimes.com/2014/10/18/corps-new-cmc-issues-239th-birthday-message-to-marines/  

Each year on November 10th, we recognize Naval Academy Classmates who are US Marines, all US Marines, and especially one Naval Academy classmate who is no longer with us, Colonel John Ripley, USNA ’62, USMC (Ret) (Navy Cross, Silver Star, 2 Bronze Stars, Purple Heart, and many other awards).  The Naval Academy Class of 1962 memorialized Col Ripley’s heroic stand on the Bridge at Dong Ha, South Vietnam, by commissioning a diorama that was installed in Memorial Hall at the US Naval Academy.  

Captain Ripley was serving as a Military Advisor (Covan) with a battalion of less than 700 South Vietnamese Marines at the DMZ.  North Vietnam initiated a surprise offensive on Easter Sunday 1972, Capt Ripley and the South Vietnamese Marines  were faced with a column of 200 soviet built tanks and 20-30,000 North Vietnamese regulars approaching the Bridge at Dong Ha, with the intent of crossing it to invade South Vietnam.  Captain Ripley’s singular action on the bridge while under relentless attack, prevented that enemy force from invading South Vietnam, by destroying the bridge, then by calling in air strikes.   Col Ripley action that halted an invasion of South Vietnam at the bridge at Dong Ha was referred to as a “Horatio at The Bridge” act (In 6th century BC, Horatio halted an invasion of Rome by making a historic stand on the Bridge spanning the Tiber River.)     

The US Marine Corps Museum in Quantico depicts Captain Ripley’s action on the Bridge at Dong Ha.  A  building at the Naval Academy Preparatory School in Newport, Rhode Island was named for Col Ripley.  Col Ripley is the only US Marine Officer who qualified as a US Army Ranger, who was inducted into the US Army Ranger Hall of Fame.   Many books have been written about Colonel Ripley’s Heroic stand on the Bridge at Dong Ha (“The Bridge at Dong Ha” by Miller, “The Easter Offensive” by Turley, “An American Knight” by Fulkerson, etc.).  Col Ripley is being inducted into USSOCOM’s Commando Hall of Honor.   A statues has been commissioned honoring Captain Ripley, and several attempts have been made to produce a movie about Captain Ripley’s heroic stand on the Bridge at Dong Ha.   

On the US Marine Corps Birthday and every day we honor all US Marines.  The above listed paragraph explaining Col Ripley’s stand on the Bridge at Dong Ha and is another example of US Marine Corps Leadership in Combat, of selfless Courage, and of Duty to Country by a Marine that Americans, for 239 years, have come to expect of US Marines.  Happy Birthday Marines!!  Semper Fidelis.