‘Killed’ in Vietnam and buried with comrades, one Marine returned from the dead (Ronald Ridgeway)

Ronald Ridgeway was “killed” in Vietnam on Feb. 25, 1968.

The 18-year-old Marine Corps private first class fell with a bullet to the shoulder during a savage firefight with the enemy outside Khe Sanh.

Dozens of Marines, from what came to be called “the ghost patrol,” perished there.

At first, Ridgeway was listed as missing in action. Back home in Texas, his old school, Sam Houston High, made an announcement over the intercom.

But his mother, Mildred, had a letter from his commanding officer saying there was little hope. And that August, she received a “deeply regret” telegram from the Marines saying he was dead.

Read more

Other Publications You Might Be Interested In

Silver Star Recipient, Vietnam POW Speaks to Online History Class (Franke, Doremus)

When a CM junior found out his great-grandmother wrote to American POWs in Vietnam, he shared the discovery with Mr. Bradley. West Roxbury, Mass.– As Catholic Memorial School junior Kevin Pumphret held the letter in his hands and read the words of Navy captain Bill Franke, his mind returned to a discussion from his American War in Vietnam course – the experience of prisoners of war.

Read More »

A Heroic Connection (Charlie James)

It took her 44 years, but Morreen O’Reilly-Mersberger finally tracked down the prisoner of war whose name was on a bracelet that she purchased in college and kept to this day. The 62-year-old Plymouth resident bought the item for $2 in the fall of 1970 from a student group on

Read More »

P.O.W. Casualties Reported (Carroll Beeler)

Tass, the Soviet press agency, reported from Hanoi today that American air strikes over the North Vietnamese capital had inflicted casualties on Ameri can pilots held prisoner there. A Tass correspondent, Alex ander Mineyev, said that raids “during three straight nights” had dropped bombs in the area of a prison

Read More »