Col (Ret) J. Ross Franklin PhD

Col (Ret) J. Ross Franklin PhD lived in a Roman Catholic Monastery for seven years, 1995-2002, leaving only to take care of his brain injured son. His principle duty in the monastery was raising funds through various business ventures for charitable purpose. During his US Army career he has received 13 individual valor awards from the US Army and 5 from the government of Vietnam. He is the most decorated officer in his West Point class of 1950, receiving every award for valor awarded by the US Army except one. He commanded every unit from a Ranger platoon of 25 men to an airborne brigade of 7,000 men in 48 months of combat in two wars. He was wounded twice. He is airborne and ranger qualified, as well as being a rated Army aviator. He was the deputy of the Peers Commission who investigated the My Lai massacre and was responsible for writing the report that went to the President of the United States and other senior officials.

In the book of Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hirsh, COVER UP, about the Peers Commission Hirsh writes that General Peers called Colonel Franklin, “the most qualified officer in the United States Army for the job”, in testimony before a secret sub committee session of Congress. Franklin was given less than 12 hours to leave the Congo (Brazzaville), a communist oriented country, when the Prime Minister complained to the US ambassador about his alleged activities attempting to bring down the government. He is a member of the Legion of Valor, an organization of those who hold one of the two highest US awards for valor. He was a student at the French War College (Ecole Superiure de Guerre) in Paris for two years. This school is essential in the French Army to become a general. He was featured in a newspaper article for a charitable project he worked on in the mid '80's.

He professed poverty, obedience and chastity in the monastery. He was a principal in a 60 Minutes documentary TV program where he was a protagonist against a senior officer he had relieved in combat who falsely accused him of war crimes. It was the longest segment produced to that time and won the Emmy award that year. CBS was sued for 60 million USD as a result of this program and Franklin was their principle witness. CBS won the suit, after an evidentiary dispute went to the US Supreme Court.

Member of Legion of Valor

Reference Link