Linden man was one of last Americans killed in Vietnam
LINDEN, Texas — Peace came too late for John O’Neal Rucker, as the newspaper headline reads on the war veterans wall at the Cass County Criminal Justice Center on Texas Highway 8 in Linden.
Air Force Sgt. Rucker of Linden was among the last Americans killed in the Vietnam War — on Jan. 27, 1973, just 11 hours before the cease-fire agreement was to take effect.
Rucker had planned to make the Air Force his career, according to his parents Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Rucker of Linden and a Jan. 28, 1973, story in the Dallas Morning News.
The parents were awakened around 6 a.m. that Saturday by two Air Force colonels whose duty it was to inform them of their son’s death.
“We’d just had a letter from him last week,” Mrs. Rucker said. “He told me ‘Don’t worry about me so much Mom. I can take care of myself.’”
Rucker’s death came during a rocket attack upon the Da Nang Air Base.
“About 30 seconds after the first shriek of the siren, the first rockets slammed into the barracks compound,” said Rucker’s friend, Air Force Sgt. Nolan Batiste of New Orleans.
Together, the two soldiers laid up against the barracks wall and waited. The detonating rockets moved closer and then hit home. Debris flew, walls were blown away. Batiste lived to tell about it, but Rucker died, according to the news story.
Rucker was known to almost everyone in Linden. He helped his father in the Rucker heating and air-conditioning business. He had come home for Christmas that year, hopeful that the cease-fire would come in time for him to stay stateside. He had 45 days of dutytime left.
Rucker’s funeral was held Feb. 4, 1973, in Linden, and plans were made to place a marker on the Cass County Courthouse grounds where it is today, part of the war memorial..
Military historians have logged the young airman’s name in volumes declaring him the last enlisted man to die in Vietnam before the cease-fire.
According to the Longview Journal of April 1, 1973, the Department of the Air Force and the Republic of South
Vietnam built a memorial park at the Da Nang Air Base to honor those who fell. More than 400 U. S. and Vietnamese military personnel are honored there.
Near to the tall tower lies Rucker’s spot. It is an engraved marble plaque in his honor to assure his sacrifice as well as others’ will not be forgotten.
At dedication ceremonies, these words were said:
“This marker is dedicated to all Americans who served here and is consecrated to valorous men to gave their lives … especially do we recognized one American who will represent the thousands of Americans who will never return, Sgt. John O’Neal Rucker.
“His death on the eve of peace was a tragic ending.
“For those of us who have survived, and for whom the price of freedom will not be measured in terms of supreme sacrifices, we offer a prayer of thanks to God, adding a profound hope that this peace will continue.”