Radford Mayor Thomas Starnes presents a commemorative plaque to Stephen Ripley, son of John Ripley.

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The sun shone brightly but the air was chilled as a Veteran’s Day parade inaugurated Tuesday’s planned activities. Beginning at the intersection of Main Street and Tyler Avenue, a parade lasting about 10 minutes passed through Main Street in front of a sparse crowd of onlookers before the parade detoured into Bisset Park.

After the parade ended at Bisset, ceremonies began at the park’s Gazebo to honor Ripley, a 1957 graduate of Radford High School. Officials and dignitaries including State Delegate Dave Nuter, Radford Mayor Thomas Starnes, and Col. Wes Fox spoke of Ripley’s courage, sacrifice, and devotion. Fox said, “We lost a great American … when [Ripley] had to check out and guard the streets of heaven. That’s what Marines do.”

Starnes presented Ripley’s son Stephen with a key to the city and a commemorative plaque. “To the family,” Starnes said,

Stephen Ripley, son of John Ripley, speaks to the Veteran's Day crowd.

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Stephen Ripley said that his father loved Radford and his interest in the military arose when he sold newspapers on the troop trains that would pass through town. In those men, he said, his father saw “purpose, confidence, and a swagger.”

Those were all traits that Ripley exemplified in his life. “He never quit anything he started,” Stephen said.

That includes Ripley’s miraculous feet of April 2, Easter Sunday, of 1972. Ripley endured more than three hours of enemy fire as he dangled under a bridge in Dong Ha to place explosives. Ripley was somehow successful in placing the explosives and single-handedly destroyed the bridge, thus blocking more than 30,000 North Vietnamese troops and 200 tanks from descending upon his comrades.

Ripley was awarded the Navy Cross among many awards for valor and other personal decorations. And on Veteran’s Day 2008, John Ripley Day in Radford, members of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 776, American Legion Post 30, and Marine Corpos League New River Valley Det. # 1190 dedicated a permanent marker in Bisset Park recognizing Ripley.

Click here to see a video about Ripley.

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