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Marine who crawled under bridge to plant explosives approved for Medal of Honor

Talyn

Talyn

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A Marine who single-handedly destroyed a major bridge in Vietnam, swinging hand-over-hand across its steel girders to plant explosive charges even as an enemy tank fired at him, now appears set to receive the Medal of Honor.

Marine Capt. John Ripley hung 500 pounds of explosives on the underside of a key bridge to stop an enemy offensive. He swung hand-over-hand for three hours while under fire from snipers and tanks.

Marine Capt. John Ripley’s three-hour, one-man assault on the Dong Ha Bridge in April 1972 has long been a hallowed story in the Marine Corps.

He was inducted into the U. S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame. He later credited his knowledge of explosives at Dong Ha to training at the Army’s Ranger School.

Fellow Marines, friends, and advocates have pushed for decades to see the Navy Cross he was awarded for the battle upgraded to a Medal of Honor. Those efforts appear to be nearing success, after the Senate approved special legislation that cleared the way for the award to be presented to him posthumously after his death in 2008.

Final approval now falls to President Donald Trump.

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A painting by Charles Waterhouse of Marine Capt. John W. Ripley, who braved enemy fire for more than three hours planting
explosives on the Dong Ha Bridge on April 2, 1972. Photo courtesy of the Waterhouse family.
 

A Simple Prayer and a Blasted Bridge: Marine John Ripley Receives Posthumous Medal of Honor​

For decades, young midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy have walked by “Ripley at the Bridge,” a dramatic diorama within the Memorial Hall foyer in Bancroft Hall featuring Marine Capt. John Ripley dangling from a girder over the Cua Viet River.

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On Thursday, 54 years after his actions in Vietnam that made him an iconic military hero and 18 years after his death in 2008, Ripley was posthumously presented with the Medal of Honor at the White House. Previously awarded the Navy Cross, Ripley’s upgrade to the military’s highest honor was approved by Congress in March, but was awaiting signoff by the president. The White House announced earlier Thursday that he’d receive the award.

Retired Recon Marine Maj. James Capers’ Silver Star awarded for actions in Vietnam in 1967, was also upgraded to a Medal of Honor at the same ceremony at the White House.


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Thomas Ripley receives the Medal of Honor President Donald Trump on behalf of his father, U.S. Marine Corps Col. John Ripley, at the White House, Washington, D.C., June 18, 2026. US Marine Corps photo

Ripley, who retired as a colonel in 1992, single-handedly enabled the destruction of a critical bridge through feats of athleticism and bravery, halting a mechanized assault by the North Vietnamese who waited on the opposite shore. A Naval Academy graduate who’d previously served a tour of Vietnam with a force reconnaissance company, Ripley had already made a name for himself as a warfighter.

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Portrait of Col. John Ripley by H. Avery Chenoweth, Sr.
 
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