Notes for James Earl Rudder: D-Day veterans leave blueprint for living honorable life by Ross McSwain S-T Columnist 6/7/1999
55 years ago today, Am soldiers & their allies were fighting for a toehold in Normandy. The previous day, thousands of their comrades pd a very high price for chunks of beach at places called Omaha, Utah & Pointe du Hoc.
Several of my boyhood heroes were among those who stormed ashore on fortress Europe on that cold, windy, miserable day - D-Day - June 6, 1944.
These men were to influence my life, although I did not realize it at the time.
J. Earl Rudder was a quiet-spoken man when I first met him in 1946 after his return from the war. A native of Eden, in Concho Co., he came to Brady & opened an appliance business with one of his war buddies, Frank Corder, a native of Rocksprings. They had served together in the 2nd Ranger Battalion. Rudder, then a Lt. Colonel., was commander of the elite group. Corder as a captain.
We teen-Agers finishing high school knew that Rudder was special, but we did not know just how special. It was much later that I learned of his leading 3 companies of Rangers up the steep cliffs of Pointe du Hoc - a suicidal mission - to neutralize a German battery of heavy artillery that could rain destruction on the troops landing on Utah & Omaha beaches.
Rudder Suffered 2 wounds that day, but refused to be relieved of command.
His 225 men had been cut to pieces in the vicious fighting. When the fight was over 2 1/2 days later, only 90 had survived. Corder suffered serious wounds to the face, losing sight in 1 eye.
It took some time for me to learn what leadership is about. Rudder provided leadership to his soldiers, & later to his community as Mayor. When the Veterans Land scandals were revealed, the soft0spoken citizen soldier was called on to be TX Land Commissioner to replace the disgraced Bascom Giles.
Rudder straightened out the veterans land mess, then went on to be vice president & later president of TX A & M University. he made it possible for female students to attend the once all-male University., & made such a move acceptable to Aggies all over. His style of leadership was firmness, fairness & thoughtfulness.
The same attributes were shown to me by 2 other men during my formative years. Like Rudder, they also had exemplary war Records. Captain Carlyle P. Woelfer & Mag. George Ganer were military science instructors at John Tarleton Agriculture College. As ROTC instructors, their job was to turn high school graduates interested in possible military careers into officers & gentlemen." They too had to be firm, but also fair.
Woelfer, who had been Gen. George Patton's honor guard commander after the war, did not put up with any foolishness, and he expected the best of every cadet. He could be rough during a chewing out, but he also could make a person feel extra special when the proper time came.
Ganer, a laid back tank commander during the European campaign, was supervisor of the college honor squad that performed military ceremonies at burials of soldiers being shipped home from foreign cemeteries. it was not an easy job, but his respectful nature helped the young cadets do themselves proud.
America's citizen soldiers led by such men as Rudder, Woelfer, Ganer & others, had a purpose in fighting the German war machine. I appreciate having the opportunity to know these men. I learned a lot from them.
Leadership starts with the heart. I'll see you Out Yonder.
San Angelo Standard-Times
More About James Earl Rudder: Elected 1: Mayor. Elected 2: TX Land Commissioner.1099 Military service: June 06, 1944, D-Day, 2nd Ranger Battalion, Lt. Colonel..1099 Occupation 1: Vice president & then president of TX A&M Univ.. Occupation 2: Appliance business.
More About James Earl Rudder and Margaret Exah Williamson: Marriage: 1937
Children of James Earl Rudder and Margaret Exah Williamson are:
James Earl Rudder (b. May 06, 1910, d. April 1970)
Notes for James Earl Rudder: