In November 1950, Ralph Puckett, a 23-year-old lieutenant who had barely finished training and lacked any combat experience, found himself leading a company of 50 US Rangers and nine enlisted South Koreans during the Korean War. “Dear God, don’t let me get a bunch of guys — good guys — killed,” he prayed.
On the 25th of that month his 8th Ranger Company was ordered to capture Hill 205, a strategically vital point overlooking the Chongchon River, from a communist Chinese and North Korean force ten times bigger than his own.
To achieve that objective, Puckett had to lead his men across 800 yards of frozen paddy fields with no cover. Three times he deliberately exposed himself to machinegun fire so colleagues could pinpoint and