re: Aggy Board OT Discussion Thread

Posted by an older Ag today on TexAgs , super cool story



I was one of about 50 Texas Aggies who made the maiden voyage of the Texas Clipper (A&M's Training Ship) out of Galveston to the North Atlantic and onto Northern Europe.

We shoved off from Galveston in early May and sailed to Halifax, Nova Scotia, then up to the Artic Circle
and over to Northern Europe with Ports of Call in Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Southampton, England, then onto Hamilton Bermuda and back to Galveston.

In Hamilton we picked up President & Mrs. Rudder and other dignitaries from the Board of Regents of Texas A&M who sailed with us back to Galveston.

We arrived in Galveston on a Wednesday afternoon. We Ags had to secure the ship over the next two days and then we were released to go home on Saturday morning. Back then classes started in Mid-September, not like today in August.

I had three weeks before classes would start again, and I was going back to the main campus in College Station to enter Mechanical Engineering.

Since I had very little money and since I hadn't seen my family since Christmas and hadn't kissed my sweetheart since then as well, I decided to go home to New Jersey.

So, Saturday morning before 9am I, in my Aggie Uniform, was hitchhiking out of Galveston just before the Galveston Causeway which goes to the mainland.

Here comes a big white Lincoln that slams on it's brakes.

As I opened the back door, I realized that this was President & Mrs Rudder.

He quickly shouted: "Get in Ag!"

After I was in, President Rudder inquired where I was headed. I told him: Home. Well where is home? he inquired.

I told him New Jersey. New Jersey!

How are you going to get there?

I told him that I was going to hitchhike there and that I had three weeks before I needed to be back in
College Station and I hadn't seen my folks since Christmas.

Then, Mrs Rudder turned to me and asked in a soft sweet voice if my Mother knew I was going to do this and would I have her approval to do so?.

The answers were simple: "No!"

President Rudder was smart enough to change the subject and we talked about the cruise.

We were traveling up highway 45 and he made a right hand turn to Ellington Air Base. Security was not what it is today. We drove to the main gate which had a guard on duty.

President Rudder rolled down his window and said that he wanted to talk with the Commander of the Base.
The enlistee on duty told him that he could talk with the Officer of the Day over there in the Guard Shack.
We pulled up to the Guard Shack and President Rudder instructed me to get out and go with him. We went into this Guard Shack and inside there was a 2nd Lieutenant behind a Desk.


President Rudder then said he would like to speak with the Commander of the Base.

That 2nd Lt said: "Who the (blank) are you to want to speak to the Commander of this Base?"

President Rudder pulled out his wallet and retrieved his Military I.D. Card which said:
Major General James Earl Rudder, U. S. Army.

That 2nd Lt just about "defecated" in his pants.

Within minutes the Commander of the Base was on the phone and Rudder asked
if he knew of any flights going to McGuire Air Force base in
New Jersey?

General Rudder said he had one of his Aggies who needed a hop.

It just happened to be that there was a flight headed that way.

President Rudder patted me on the shoulder and told me to come see him when I got back to College Station.

In about 45 minutes I was on a training flight with the Pilot, Co-Pilot and Navigator headed to McGuire A.F.B.

About 4 hours later we landed at McGuire and the plane came to a stop. They lowered the ramp (steps)
and I walked out. I looked around wondering what I was going to do next.

Up drives this Military Car and this Sergeant steps out and says: "I don't know who the (blank) you are but I have been instructed to take you wherever you needed to go."

I told him where my folks lived in Wayne, New Jersey.

So, he said "let's go! "

Remember it is August 1965 and Vietnam was now getting going hot and heavy. In about an hour we made the turn onto the mile long street where my folks lived at its end.

There were lots of folks outside working in their yards watching this military car driving slowly down the street.
I imagine many were wondering who was getting the bad news from Vietnam. My folks lived at the end of that mile long street and my father was outside mowing the yard.

We turned into our drive and there were a lot of tears and screams.

That is the kind of Man President Rudder was!

He loved his Aggies and looked after his men. I am Proud to have known General James Earl Rudder, President of Texas A&M.

That was my experience at Ellington Airfield back in August 1965.