John Ripley (USMC) - Post-active Duty

Post-active Duty

After his retirement from active duty in 1992, Ripley became president and chancellor of Southern Seminary College for Women (now Southern Virginia University) in Buena Vista, Virginia. He was selected in 1999 by the Marine Corps Commandant as the director of the History and Museums Division.

As a result of combat action, Colonel Ripley contracted a disease that in the summer of 2002 required a liver transplant. Nearing death, with little time left and already having received Last Rites twice, a replacement liver was located. The Commandant of the Marine Corps, who called Col. Ripley a living symbol of pride, sent a section of CH-46s helicopters from the Marine One presidential squadron to Philadelphia to retrieve the liver. After further coordination with the Washington D.C. Police to obtain a landing zone in the city, the liver was delivered in time for a successful transplant.

In June 1992 Col. Ripley testified against women in the military before a presidential commission . He based his arguments on a defense of “femininity, motherhood, and what we have come to appreciate in Western culture as the graceful conduct of women.” In the following year he spoke against homosexuals in the military during the House Armed Services Committee hearings that preceded the implementation of President Clinton’s "Don’t ask, don’t tell" policy.

In October 2006, John Ripley returned to the site of the Dong Ha Bridge to film a documentary of his action. The documentary was hosted by Oliver North, and was shown on November 12, 2006 on Fox News.