PFC Ronald L. Ridgeway was “killed” in Vietnam on Feb. 25, 1968...but his story is far more darker.
On that foggy morning, the 18-year-old Marine was part of a patrol sent out from the Khe Sanh outpost to find enemy positions. The patrol strayed off course and was drawn into a deadly ambush.
He was hit in the shoulder and within minutes, the majority of the men were killed; they would later be known as the Ghost Patrol. He lay motionless in the open, pretending to be dead until he passed out.
Shattered survivors of the patrol made it back to the combat base, and the dead were left on the battlefield. A rescue mission was deemed unwise by higher-ups, who feared losing even more men and depleting the base’s defenses. It would be 6 weeks before the Marines went back to recover the bodies.
After the ambush, Ridgeway was awakened the following morning by someone pulling on his arm. He thought at first it was fellow Marines, until he realized it was a NVA soldier trying to pull off his wristwatch.
At first, Ridgeway was listed as MIA and that August, his mother received a “deeply regret” telegram from the Marines saying he was dead.
On Sept. 10, he was buried in a national cemetery in St. Louis. A tombstone bearing his name and the names of eight others missing from the battle was erected over the grave. His mother went home with a folded American flag.
But as his comrades and family mourned, Ridgeway sat in harsh North Vietnamese prisons for 5 years, often in solitary confinement, mentally at war with his captors and fighting for a life that was technically over.
He endured interrogations, torture, harsh living conditions, starvation and disease. Ridgeway said he didn’t dwell on the notion that people back home might think he was dead. They would be fine. His job was to survive. Ron Ridgeway was released on March 16, 1973.
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“I came back in basically one piece,” he said. “I came back able to live my life. . . . We went over with a job to do. We did it to the best of our ability. We were lucky enough to come back.” #reality #stayzero #zerofoxtrot