President Joe Biden joked about retired Army Col. Ralph Puckett Jr. suggesting the White House simply mail him the Medal of Honor during an otherwise somber ceremony commemorating the war-decorated Ranger’s service to the country.
“I understand that your first response to us hosting this event was to ask, ‘Why all the fuss?'” Biden told Puckett during an East Room ceremony at the White House on Friday. “Why all the fuss? Can’t they just mail it to me?”
“I was going to make a joke about the Post Office, but decided not to do that,” he added to the veteran, who came in his military dress uniform, referring to United States Post Offices delays that bridged last and this year. “I think you deserve a little bit of fuss.”
AWKWARD MOMENTS LOOM FOR MISTAKE-PRONE BIDEN AFTER PANDEMIC
Puckett Jr., 94, received the medal for conspicuous gallantry during the Korean War in Biden’s first ceremony as president. Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst was among the 60-odd, mostly maskless, guests gathered in the ornate room for the event, including Puckett’s family.
Puckett, an inaugural U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame inductee and the first Honorary Colonel of the 75th Ranger Regiment, was honored for repeatedly putting his own life in danger when he was commander of the 8th U.S. Army Ranger Company by drawing enemy fire as he and other troops tried to capture a strategic hilltop in November 1950.
A White House statement announcing the award described Puckett, then a first lieutenant, making “his way from foxhole to foxhole” to check the company’s perimeter and distribute ammunition, despite being hurt by a grenade.
Puckett later ordered his men to retreat without him after being injured in two mortar explosions, but they refused the order, rescuing the Georgia native under fire and taking him to safety.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who was present on Friday, is the first foreign leader to attend a Medal of Honor ceremony, and he will also take part in the groundbreaking for the Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall of Remembrance later Friday. He and Biden knelt beside Puckett’s wheelchair at the ceremony’s end for a picture with Puckett and his family. At one point, as a Navy aide read a citation detailing Puckett’s brave acts, Biden slipped an arm under the retired soldier’s left arm, and another military aide did the same under his right to help him stand.
Biden appeared to make several jokes, which the guest of honor returned, as they were alone on the stage. At one point, Puckett caused the U.S. president to smile widely and chuckle.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Moon has been in Washington since Wednesday, meeting with key congressional leaders and Biden administration officials. The president’s visit to the White House is Biden’s second bilateral meeting with a foreign dignitary after he hosted Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga last month.
