 One of the best things he grew about was the influence of my dad on it and the influence of dad on by standing up to bullies and other people. And he was very insistent on me being a man, being what a man should be, and trying to live a moral life, a good life, a life that would be worthwhile for my children if I have any children. When I got to Japan, I was told how to report to an office in the headquarters of the fort there, and when I reported there to a very dignified Lieutenant Colonel, later Colonel, later Brigadier General, he said, not only have I decided to take you into the Ranger Company, but I'm going to make you the company commander. I had a stab right there in the stomach, I didn't have one inch, one ounce of experience. So Ralph graduated from West Point, was assigned to Eighth Army in Japan, and was selected to be the company commander of the Eighth Army Ranger Company, the only Ranger Company at the time. He was told he could not have any infantry soldiers, all the infantry units were short and he'd have to take his soldiers from special troops. He had two West Point buddies who were his other officers in the command. So Ralph took command of truck drivers, clerks, food service personnel, and turned them into Rangers. He did it in a relatively short time, a couple of months, and then they deployed over into theater. I remember that day very well. We were in North Korea at the time, about 20 miles south of the Alley. As far north as the U.S. Eighth Army or the Eighth Army had gotten during the war. The Eighth Army was getting ready to start its end the war campaign against the Chinese who we knew had come into the war at that time, come in with great strength. It was bitter cold end of November weather and Ralph was at the spot that the commander needed to be, at the front with his men. There were several waves of Chinese that attacked and he defended them and in order to find where the machine guns were and some snipers, Ralph exposed himself to enemy fire, ran across the front of his command several times so that his men could shoot and kill those who were trying to kill them. He was wounded in a mortar barrage and there were several Chinese barrages that took place. Ralph continued to fight even after he was wounded, never caring for himself, always caring for his men. It's always interesting to me that his prayer before he went to combat was, God, please let me take care of these men and don't get them killed and he obviously was wounded again during the fight, was attempted to be dragged off the battlefield by one of his men. They got him behind cover and he was still conscious and said, just leave me here and you guys withdraw the rest of the way and they disobeyed his order and carried him out of the combat situation. And my typing teacher had a photograph of him that had been in the paper cut out and I noticed it because I had noticed his photograph earlier that morning in the morning paper and I thought, oh, that's a cute young man. My father said, Jeannie, that's not a cute young man, that's a wounded soldier. And as we left class got out, the teacher said, would some of you girls please go out and visit this young man? I know him. I know his family. I taught him in the seventh grade in his hometown. And she visited with me that afternoon and then began to come more often two afternoons a week and then on the weekends and finally it got to be a steady thing. And 20, 23 weeks after we met, we were married there in Columbus, Georgia. And I will always say to this day, he never asked me to marry him. But he gave me a litany of why I should not marry him. He said, I will take you away from your family. You will be living by yourself, you'll be raising children by yourself, I may be killed in action, you'll have to take over everything. And I, of course, was so in love, I said, that doesn't matter. I can do it. I can do it. But indeed he did that, exactly what he said. I didn't mind at all. The impact that Ralph had after he retired was as much as he had on active duty. His goal was to make every infantry soldier, every infantry leader the best they could be. My overwhelming philosophy always when I was working with troops was be there, suffer the same hardships, get soaked in the rain just like they do. Be cold just like they are cold. Be there. He's the living embodiment of the army values, our soldiers' creed, and the Ranger creed. It can't be that. He's that quiet leader, that quiet professional, who is an absolute torrent in combat, both in the Korean War and Vietnam. Doesn't ever expect praise, doesn't ever want to be known, will always give all of the credit to his men and his sergeants, but he is a true warrior, and that's why we're recognizing him with a Medal of Honor. My life as an Army Ranger in Korea has been one of the most exciting and interesting things I could have ever done. I'm glad that I was a participant. I'm glad that I had the assignments that I had. It was a good experience for me, a growth experience for me. I wish I could do it again.