By Beverly Woody
If you grew up in Stuart in the first half of the twentieth century, you knew Mr. John Fred Rucker. He was highly respected and a friend to everyone.
Mr. Rucker was born to Nelson Rucker and Mary Ann (Polly) Critz Rucker and was one of ten children. His parents were born in Patrick County in 1856, seven years before the Emancipation Proclamation was issued.
When America joined the fighting of World War I, Mr. Rucker was twenty years old. He was employed as a teamster at the Mays Brother’s Livery Stable in the town of Stuart. He enlisted in the United States Army in September 1918 and since he was a skilled horseman, he was assigned to the 865th Company Transportation Corps.
Mr. Rucker was immediately sent to France on a unique form of transportation, the ocean liner SS Kroonland. The ship was completed in 1902 in Philadelphia and was owned by International Mercantile Marine which was headed by J.P. Morgan. When launched, she was the largest U.S. steamship ever built. Kroonland sailed from New York City to Belgium on her maiden voyage in June 1902, beginning service on the route she would sail for the next twelve years. According to The New York Times, Kroonland became the first ship to issue a wireless distress call at sea when she radioed for help during a storm in 1903. During World War I, she served as a troopship for the U.S. Army and Navy. According to the U.S. Army website, the Kroonland made six trips carrying troops to France before the Armistice and eight voyages after, transporting nearly 38,000 troops in total.
World War I was a time of innovation in transportation for the U.S. Army and Mr. Rucker was there to see the switch from horses to motor transport. According to the United States Army website, during World War I, horses were not only used for cavalry officers, but they also pulled heavy artillery, supply wagons, and ambulances. Mr. Rucker served as a mechanic, once the horse drawn wagon was replaced by trucks such as the Liberty Standard B, the first government spec vehicle.
When Mr. Rucker’s enlistment time was over, he returned to Stuart and resumed working for Frank Mays at his livery stable. Mr. Rucker was known for his expertise in the care of animals, particularly horses. He had gained many technical skills in the Army, and also worked as an auto mechanic. When Mr. Mays passed away, Mr. Rucker began working for the veterinarian, Dr. H. Nelson Witt and worked for him the rest of his life.
In 1953, Mr. Rucker married Alberta Tatum King. They had one child, Lillian Rucker King. Mr. Rucker was 57 years old when Lillian was born and naturally, she was the apple of his eye! Lillian said they lived behind what is commonly known as Stuart’s Drug Store at the old Rucker homeplace. She also remembered that her Daddy would come home riding on a horse, and she wanted to ride too. Her mother was afraid that she might fall and get hurt. Sadly, when Lillian was only nine years old, her Daddy, John Fred Rucker died of a heart attack. He was sixty-six years old.
Thank you, Mr. Rucker, for your heroic service to our country. How terrifying it must have been to leave a pastoral place like Patrick County, be put on a huge ocean liner and taken across the ocean to France where you would experience the horrors of World War I. You are a true American hero.
Thank you to Lillian Rucker King, one of my dearest and closest friends, for her contributions to this story.
