Posted on 08/16/2002 8:21:23 AM PDT by MudPuppy
Legend: Decades after his heroics in Vietnam, relatives and servicemen mobilize to help a dying vet. By Ellen Gamerman Sun National Staff
August 16, 2002
WASHINGTON - John Ripley's worthless liver had left his skin a sickly yellow. Toxic fluids were collecting in his system, causing his lean frame to bloat: Once 175 pounds, he now weighed 425. His kidneys were failing. An incision glared from his abdomen, closed with staples in case surgeons had to rip it open fast. Eighteen IV lines fed into his unconscious body.
One of the Marine Corps' greatest living heroes was dying.
In the intensive care unit at Georgetown University Medical Center, a son of the retired colonel, Tom Ripley, sat vigil. It was 7 a.m. when the phone rang: A donor liver had been found, but his father might not live long enough to get it.
That's when the Ripleys understood that the delivery of the liver, from a 16-year-old gunshot victim in Philadelphia to the dying veteran in Washington, would take too long if left in the hospital's hands. Their only thought: Call in the Marines.
Over the next hours on that day last month, saving John Ripley's life became a military mission. It would involve the leader of the Marine Corps and helicopters from the president's fleet. Support teams would come from police in two cities, a platoon of current and former Marines, the president of Georgetown University and even a crew of construction workers.
"Sir, this is my dad's last chance," Tom Ripley said in a call to the Marine commandant's office. "I'm measuring my father's life in hours, not days."
The extraordinary efforts to save the 63-year-old Ripley, recovering from transplant surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, shows how far the Corps will go to protect one of its own.
Marines will say they'd do this for any fallen comrade. But Ripley is no ordinary Marine. In a messy war with few widely recognized heroes, he is a legend. And at his moment of need, the Corps treated him like one.
"Colonel Ripley's story is part of our folklore - everybody is moved by it," said Lt. Col. Ward Scott, who helped organize the organ delivery from his post at the Marine Corps Historical Center in Washington, which Ripley has directed for the past three years. "It mattered that it was Colonel Ripley who was in trouble."
(Excerpt) Read more at sunspot.net ...
Semper Fi!
See Col. G. H. Turley's book, The Easter Offensive.
Events like this remind me of why I'm in the Corps....
Thanks MudPuppy...Semper Fi
http://www.virtualwall.org/dk/KillenJD01a.htm
http://www.virtualwall.org/db/BoddenTR01a.htm
Very.
The story of "Ripley at the Bridge" is a legend...most Marines think he should've gotten THE Medal.
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