A Long Way Home: The Odyssey of Ronald Ridgeway, USMC
This article describes the harrowing experience of a young Marine during the Battle of Khe Sanh, and after.
Date: August, 2025
In 1967, Ronald Ridgeway was a student at Sam Houston High School in Hallettsville, Texas. In June, Ridgeway quit school and enlisted in the Marines. He was 17 years old and “wanted to get away.”
After four months training, Ridgeway was sent to Vietnam. He was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 26th Marines, at Khe Sanh. During the fall of 1967, 1/26 was tasked with defending the Khe Sanh Combat Base complex and maintaining security on Route 9.
During the first three weeks of January 1968, 1/26 conducted three company combat patrols, one platoon combat patrol, 20 squad size patrols, and 23 night ambushes. Patrolling by the Marines showed a large buildup of North Vietnamese Army forces. A large-scale attack was expected. The Marines improved their positions and waited.
During the night of January 20-21, a ground attack was launched against the Marines on nearby Hill 861. Early in the morning of January 21, rockets and mortars landed on the main base. One or more shells struck the base’s main ammunition dump, with devastating results. Although the combat base experienced no large-scale attack that night, the battle had begun. With an estimated 20,000 NVA around the base, patrolling was curtailed.
NVA rocket, mortar, and artillery continued to land on the base during the next month. When their attempts to seize outlying Marine positions was unsuccessful, they turned their focus to the base itself. 2,000 meters of trenches were dug to within 35 meters of the base perimeter. Enemy shelling increased toward the end of February.
Base commanders decided to send a patrol to see first-hand the trenching and other NVA activity near the base. The patrol left at 8:00 AM on February 25. It consisted ot two squads from 3d Platoon, Company B, 1/26 plus a forward observer team, two M-60 machine gun teams, and a rocket team. PFC Ronald Ridgeway was part of the patrol. After moving about 1,000 meters to the south, they were ambushed by a company of NVA occupying a bunker complex. They NVA opened fire at point-blank range. The attack was devasting; Marine casualties mounted quickly.
The platoon commander ordered a withdrawal. 1st Platoon was sent to assist. It also came under intense enemy fire. Most of 3d Platoon were wounded or dead. PFC Ridgeway and three other Marines became separated from the rest of the platoon. Ridgeway was shot twice. Survivors filtered back to the base. What began as a routine reconnaissance patrol ended with staggering casualties: Nine killed, fifteen wounded but not evacuated, ten seriously wounded, and nineteen missing in action. No enemy casualties were confirmed. The base commander re-issued restrictions on patrolling.
The Marines considered making a large-scale recovery effort – Marine ethos holds every effort will be made to recover fallen comrades, that no man will be left behind. Battalion commanders agonized over the wisdom of committing more resources to the fighting. It was decided no effective effort could be made in view of the tactical situation.
On August 15, 1968, the status of the MIA’s was changed to killed in action. Ridgeway’s family was notified of their son’s death in battle.
PFC Ronald Ridgeway: Enlisted at age 17, sent to Vietnam at age 18, funeral held at age 19.
The area of the February 25 battle remained occupied by a NVA battalion in strongly fortified positions. The Marines made plans to return to the battle site and recover their dead. On March 30, at 3:30 AM, Company B, 1/26 assembled in perimeter trenches. They were ordered to fix bayonets. The Marines attached the NVA positions. Fighting was severe (later body count confirmed 115 NVA were killed). Nine Marines were killed; 71 were wounded. No bodies from the February patrol were recovered.
On April 6, Company D, 1/26, moved south out of the combat base to the NVA bunker complex where the fighting on February 25 and March 30 had taken place. The enemy had withdrawn. The remains of 21 dead Marines were found. Many of the bodies had been on the battlefield for six weeks, exposed to humidity, rats, and bacteria. The recovery team placed the remains in waterproof Willy Peter bags, sandbags, and ponchos. Returning to the base at noon, the remains were taken to Graves Registration for identification. All but nine were positively identified.
The unidentified remains were returned to the United States. On September 10, 1968, they were buried in a mass grave in the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, near St. Louis, Missouri. PFC Ridgeway’s mother, Mildred, was given a folded American flag in honor of her son’s sacrifice.
Although his name was on the Jefferson Barracks memorial, Ridgeway was elsewhere.
During the fighting on February 25, Ridgeway and two other Marines became separated from the platoon. After engaging the NVA in a firefight, they took refuge in a trench. Finding themselves alone, they decided to play dead until dark and try to make it back to the base. They were wounded and surrounded by NVA. One of the Marines was killed by a NVA grenade, the other died of his wounds during the night. Ridgeway lost consciousness in the dark.
When he woke the sun was up. A NVA soldier, thinking Ridgeway was dead, was tugging on his wristwatch. Helping Ridgeway to his feet, he was taken through Khe Sanh village to a NVA staging area in nearby Laos. He spent time in various jungle camps and eventually wound up in prisons in North Vietnam. While a prisoner Ridgeway suffered from dysentery, malaria, harsh interrogations, and beatings. He lost 50 pounds.
On January 27, 1973, the US and North Vietnam agreed to a ceasefire. As part of the agreement, Hanoi released a list of names of almost 600 Americans held as prisoners of war.
Everyone – from the Department of Defense to his family – was surprised to see this name on the list.
RIDGEWAY, RONALD LEWIS E3 1968/02/25
Ridgeway was taken from the infamous Hanoi Hilton prison to at Gia Lam Airport on March 16, 1973. He was flown from Hanoi to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines. After three days, he was flown to US, then moved to Camp Pendleton in California. As his status had been changed from KIA to POW, and POWs continued to be considered for promotion along with their non-POW contemporaries, Ridgeway was promoted to Sergeant and discharged.
Now a civilian, Ridgeway returned to Texas, got married and went to college. Upon graduation he went to work for the Department of Veterans Affairs in Houston, where he worked for 30 years assisting other veterans.
In 1997, the Khe Sanh Veterans held their annual reunion in St. Louis. A ginkgo tree, a symbol of peace and hope, was planted by the veterans. The 1968 memorial had been replaced, and Ronald Ridgeway’s name was no longer listed.
