The Wall › Panel 25W › Georgia › John Marshall Rucker
JOHN MARSHALL RUCKER
Warrant Officer 1 · U.S. Army
June 16, 1946 – May 11, 1969
Service recordJohn Marshall Rucker, of Decatur, Georgia, served as a Warrant Officer 1 in the U.S. Army. He died on May 11, 1969, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, at age 22. His name is inscribed on Panel 25W, Line 54 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
On the Wall
Panel 25W · Line 54
Names are inscribed in the order of loss, starting at Panel 1E at the apex and ending at Panel 1W. At the Memorial, find the panel number at the base and count down from the top line.
Remember
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Service
- Branch
- U.S. Army
- Rank
- Warrant Officer 1 (WO1)
- Service
- Reserve / National Guard
- Occupation
- Helicopter Pilot, Utility And Light Cargo Single Rotor (062B)
- Unit (as recorded)
- 101 AIRBORNE DIV
- Born
- June 16, 1946
- Home of record
- Decatur, Georgia (De Kalb County)
Casualty
- Date of death
- May 11, 1969
- Age
- 22
- Province
- Thua Thien
- Country
- South Vietnam
- Casualty type
- Non-hostile
- Category
- Accident
- Circumstance
- Helicopter Crash — crew
Context · from the records
What was happening
65 names on the Wall carry the date May 11, 1969; six of them were lost in Thừa Thiên Province. In May 1969, 1,456 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.
The 101st Airborne Division, his unit in the record, lost 178 of its members that month.
He died in Thừa Thiên Province while the Battle of Hamburger Hill was under way. On Đồng Ấp Bia (Hill 937) in the A Shau Valley (10–20 May 1969), the 101st Airborne Division attacked entrenched North Vietnamese troops for ten days; the soldiers called it “Hamburger Hill.” The heavy losses fed the debate at home over the war’s tactics. The casualty record gives the province and date, not the exact place, so it does not say whether he fell in the battle itself.
Read the history
Also on Panel 25W, Line 54
- MICHAEL WAYNE GREENLance Corporal · May 11, 1969
- AARON LIEB ROSENSTREICHSpecialist Four · May 11, 1969
- WILLIAM CORNELIUS RYAN JRFirst Lieutenant · May 11, 1969
- MICHAEL ALLEN SCHROEDERPrivate First Class · May 11, 1969
Same unit, same day
- BRUCE ANDREW GOURLAYPrivate · Panel 25W, Line 47
- HEINRICH RUHLMANNSpecialist Four · Panel 25W, Line 48
- TERRY LEE LARSENSpecialist Four · Panel 25W, Line 50
- JOHN EDWARD MCCARRELLSergeant · Panel 25W, Line 52
- AARON LIEB ROSENSTREICHSpecialist Four · Panel 25W, Line 54
- CLIFFORD KAZUMI TAIRASpecialist Four · Panel 25W, Line 56
From Decatur
- HARRY SANFORD EDWARDS JRLieutenant Commander · October 20, 1966
- DAVID EDWARD MCRAELieutenant Commander · December 2, 1966
- CHARLES RICHARD GUTTILLAFirst Lieutenant · February 20, 1967
- VIRGIL STANLEY JRSpecialist Four · February 27, 1967
- JOSEPH CHAMPIONSpecialist Four · March 21, 1967
- AUBREY LAURENCE HEWITTSergeant · June 3, 1967
- ROY HAMILTON LEACHPrivate · August 30, 1967
- EARL WELDON WATKINS JRPrivate First Class · February 6, 1968
- MICHAEL BARRY TURNERPrivate First Class · February 18, 1968
- WILLIAM CLAYTON SHUMATEPrivate · February 19, 1968
Source. U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Casualty Analysis System, Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File (as of April 29, 2008), Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Record Group 330, National Archives (NAID 2240992). Panel and line as recorded in that file. This page presents the official record and its historical context; no biography has been written for him yet. See something wrong? Report a correction.