THE WALL OF FACES

Dear PFC Ruff ~ You Are Not Forgotten!
Today, on the anniversary of your passing, I ran a mile with you in my thoughts and prayers. Rest in Peace, dear brother.
Each year since September 2015, at the annual 5th Division Army reunion, members of the Society of the Fifth Division, U.S Army remember the 514 soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 5th Division, who were Killed in Action in Vietnam. You are among the soldiers remembered. You Are Not Forgotten!

Phil “LT Mike” Maniscalco
Society of the 5th Division, U.S. Army
Delta Company 1/11 Infantry
Vietnam Sept 1968- Sept 1969

Dear PFC Ronald Ruff, Thank you for your service as a Pioneer. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Halloween is next weekend. Time moves quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage, guidance and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

On the remembrance of your 70th birthday, your sacrifice is not forgotten.

HOOAH

Operation Lam Son 719 was a South Vietnamese army push into Laos between February 8th and March 25th, 1971, to disrupt supply buildups of the North Vietnamese Army there. The United States provided logistical, aerial, and artillery support to the operation, but its ground forces were prohibited by law from entering Laotian territory. On February 14, 1971, SGT Richard D. Covert Jr., SP5 Paul G. Bright, PFC Ronald C. Ruff, and SP4 Stephen H. Warner, an Army journalist, were riding in an M113 armored personnel carrier (APC) in support of the operation near the east slope Hill 558, about three miles northwest of Khe Sanh Airfield in Quang Tri Province, RVN. Their APC was headed to a wooded area from where small arms gunfire was being received when the track was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade. The attack killed Covert, Ruff, and Warner, and critically injured Bright. He was evacuated to a U.S. military hospital where he expired on March 2, 1971. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and information provided by John Pecoraro]

Dear Ronald,
You Have Not Been Forgotten!

The Society of the Fifth Division, U.S. Army, during its 95th Annual Reunion in Pittsburgh, PA (Sept 10-14, 2015) , held a Reading of the Names Ceremony to honor the 514 Soldiers from the 5th Division that were Killed in Action during the War in Vietnam. Your Name Was Read Aloud Among Those Soldiers. You Have Not Been Forgotten! Rest in Peace, Dear Brother.

Thomas Grafton
Alpha company, 7th Engineer Battalion, 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division
Vietnam (1968-1969)