Remembering Ed, Speeches - Major Bob Seals (retired)

Good afternoon.

The theme of today is "A Celebration of Ed Ramsey's Life" and what a life it was indeed, but I shall confine my remarks to his influence upon the superb force of Quiet Professionals we know today as the US Army Special Forces, popularly known as "Green Berets".

Simply put, LTC Ramsey was Special Forces before there was Special Forces. Army Special Forces was establiushed in 1952 largely upon the wartime experiences of the European OSS/SOE and Pacific Philippine Resistance leaders such as Volkmann, Fertig and Ramsey, who had no Unconventional Warfare training or manual but wrote one "in blood upon the enemy's breast" to borrow one of General MacArthur's colorful phrases. Unbeknownst to some, our current Unconventional Warfare doctrine is based, in large part, upon their experiences from 1942-45, to include LTC Ramsey and his superior leadership of the East Central Luzon Guerilla Area forces against the Imperial Japaense Army.

In 2001, when LTC Ramsey came to Fort Bragg to speak to the Special Forces Qualification Class, which included two Japanese Officers by the way, we were proud to award him the Green Beret and Special Forces Tab for his wartime service. It was only about 56 years late, but it was an award he was proud of and, as i used to remind him, he earned his beret the old-fashioned way... behind enemy lines.

Sir, thank you once again for your great service to our nation, Army and the Special Forces Regiment. De Oppresso Liber.