Remembered for stopping a column of North Vietnamese tanks by detonating explosives he set on two bridges during the Vietnam War in 1972, Col. John W. Ripley passed away, Oct. 28.

Ripley was honored earlier this year, becoming the only Marine to be inducted into the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame and was also commemorated in 2004 with the dedication of the John W. Ripley Forward Operating Base in Afghanistan.

"A lot of people think South Vietnam would have gone under in 1972 had he not stopped them," said John G. Miller, a former Marine adviser in Vietnam and author of “The Bridge at Dong Ha,” a book based on Ripley’s accomplishments during Vietnam.

We were ordered to “hold and die” fighting against 20,000 Viet Cong soldiers and 200 North Vietnamese tanks, said Ripley in an interview with the U.S. Naval Institute. I'll never forget that order, hold and die.

"The idea that I would be able to even finish the job before the enemy got me was ludicrous," Ripley said. "When you know you're not going to make it, a wonderful thing happens; you stop worrying about you and focus on what has to be done.”

The only way to stop the enormous force was to destroy the bridges, Ripley added.

Ripley crawled under each bridge under heavy gunfire and dangled for more than three hours, said Miller. Despite a command suggestion to hold the bridge for a counterattack, Ripley rigged the 500 pounds of explosives that brought down the twin spans above the Cua Viet River, Miller added.

"I had to crimp the fuse with my teeth while the detonator was halfway down my throat pinching it into place," said Ripley.

Ripley was shot in the side by a North Vietnamese soldier in 1972 and, during two additional tours of duty, was pierced with so much shrapnel that doctors found metal fragments in his body as recently as 2001.

When the Cua Viet River bridges fell, a major route into South Vietnam was closed to the massed enemy troops and part of the North Vietnam offensive’s momentum was halted.

“They would have been wrecked if the tanks had crossed,” said Ray Madonna, retired lieutenant colonel and 50-year friend serving alongside Ripley in Vietnam. “Capt. Ripley even coordinated naval gunfire stopping the tanks from crossing at a shallower point downstream,” he added.

After Vietnam, Ripley continued to serve, losing most of the pigment in his face from severe sunburns while stationed above the Arctic Circle. Ripley later retired in 1992, after being appointed as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In the 35 years spent with the Marine Corps, Ripley earned several decorations including the Navy Cross, the Silver Star, two Legions of Merit, two Bronze Star Medals, with combat “V” for valor, and the Purple Heart. He was also awarded the “Quad Body” distinction for completing the four most intense military courses in the world; the Army Rangers, Marine Reconnaissance, Army Airborne and Britain’s Royal Marines, said Miller.

"He was a Marine's Marine, respected, highly respected by enlisted men, by his peers and by his seniors," Madonna said.

After retiring from the Marine Corps, he was president and chancellor of Southern Virginia College in Lexington, Va.

"My Dad never quit anything and never went halfway on anything in his life," said his son, Stephen B. Ripley. "He just was a full-throttle kind of person and those people that he cared about, he really cared about."

Ripley was found in his home Saturday in Annapolis, Md., after missing a speaking engagement on Friday, said Stephen. The cause of death has not been determined, but it appears he died in his sleep. Funeral arrangements are still pending, he added.

"I admired John not only because of his obvious war heroism, but because of how he conducted himself after the war," said Thomas L. Wilkerson, retired major general and chief executive, U.S. Naval Institute. "John was the standard to which we all aspire. There wasn't any baggage around John about how things should go. He walked his own talk.”