On the recordJanuary 30, 2023
on February 4, 2023, the tight-knit community in Cass County, TX, will gather to solemnly honor the 50th annual remembrance of the end of the Vietnam war and pay tribute to one of its heroes, U.S. Air Force Sergeant John O'Neal Rucker. Sergeant Rucker grew up in Linden, a town nestled deep in the heart of the piney woods of east Texas. After graduating high school, he answered the call to serve in the Armed Forces and volunteered for the U.S. Air Force. During his basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, Sergeant Rucker volunteered for assignment in Southeast Asia. According to the AC-119 Gunship Association, Sergeant Rucker was initially directed to Nakhon Phanom, Thailand, in April 1972. In July of that year, he took a temporary duty assignment to Da Nang, Vietnam, with the 18th Special Operations Squadron. After spending leave at home in Linden over Christmas 1972, Sergeant Rucker returned to Vietnam with the anticipation that his time on the battlefield would soon come to an end, as the war appeared to be winding down. On January 27, 1973, the 21-year-old Sergeant Rucker was off-duty and asleep in his barracks when rockets struck Da Nang Air Base, instantly taking his life just hours before the Paris Peace Accords took effect, finally ending the Vietnam war. Sergeant Rucker is remembered as one of the last American servicemembers who paid the ultimate sacrifice in Vietnam.…
