Our Hometown Hero

In 2022 we welcomed Colonel Puckett back to his hometown of Tifton. As he flew into the Henry Tift Myers Airport veterans, family, community members & more welcomed him back to the Friendly City.

Colonel Ralph Puckett, Jr., Tifton native, fought in Korea and Vietnam, earning the Distinguished Service Cross in each war, two Silver Stars, and five Purple Hearts among over 130 other military decorations. Puckett was an inaugural inductee into the Ranger Hall of Fame in 1992 and spent 12 years as the 75th Ranger Regiment’s honorary colonel. On May 21, 2021, his Distinguished Service Cross from the Korean War was upgraded to the Medal of Honor by President Biden.

As he rode to meet the rest of our community, he was followed by the National Guard and veterans that admired him as they were growing up in a motor brigade. As he looked through the streets of Downtown Tifton, as they were lined with our patriotic community waving their flags & signs to honor the Colonel. We were greeted by local and state legislation that honored his service with a flag that flew over the capital in Washington D.C., a key to the City of Tifton, and the naming of Victory Drive as Col. Ralph Puckett Jr. Drive. We celebrated each achievement with his family and friends surrounding us. At 95 years old, he stood and said “Tifton was my home and I am so thankful for that.”

Puckett and his wife had two daughters and a son, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Colonel Puckett died on April 8, 2024, at his home in Columbus, Georgia, at the age of 97. Despite the demands of his military service, his son, Thomas Puckett, says his father was “a Medal of Honor dad every day. He sets the standard for what it’s like to be a gentleman, what it’s like to be a man and be true to your word. It is just a very high standard he’s set and he lives up to it.” Puckett travelled the world in his service to the nation. He and his wife of 71 years, Mrs. Jeannie, have lived in her hometown of Columbus since 1990. But through all of his travels, we are thankful that he always called Tifton home.