Wednesday, May 1, 2024
Seventy-eight years ago, Staff Sergeant Robert Green Rudd, then 34 years old, sacrificed his life defending his country during World War II at the Battle of the Bulge. The location of his burial has remained a mystery for many years.
His remains, only recently identified, will be coming home to Coryell County after years of being classified as an “unknown soldier” buried in a grave at the Ardennes American Cemetery in Belgium.
Robert Green Rudd will be laid to rest beside his parents on Saturday, Dec. 9, at Bethel Cemetery near Gatesville. Services will begin at 2 p.m. Former military members are invited to attend the services to honor Staff Sergeant Rudd.
Rudd was born on Aug. 27, 1910, in Kentucky, to John B. Rudd and Emma J. Rudd. When Robert was a small child, the family moved from Kentucky to Gatesville where Robert attended school up to the eighth grade.
In 1941, at the age of 31, he married Coryell County resident, Pearl Fisher. Little did they realize that their marriage would be short-lived. The following year Rudd entered the U.S. Army in Dallas on April 12, 1942.
In the early fall of 1944, Rudd was assigned to serve with Company C, 28th Infantry Regiment 2D Infantry Division during World War II. During an attack on the enemy forces along Germany’s west border, Rudd’s Infantry Division became concentrated around Elsenborn, Belgium. Toward the end of January 1945, Rudd’s battalions secured ground near Wirtzfeld and moved on to the towns of Rocherath-Krinkelt where they encountered fierce battles. It was sometime during the fighting on Rocherath that Staff Sergeant Robert Rudd was killed. Due to major restrictions in the area, his body was not immediately recovered.
Seven sets of human remains were later discovered by Belgian residents in the Elsenbuchel Forrest. Of the remains, all were identified except for one which was at that time given the coding title of X-3144.
In 1946, the American Graves Registration Command became in charge of recovering and identifying remains in the European Theatre. During the following years, family requests were made to compare the remains of an unknown to that of Rudd.
In 1949, X-3144 was declared unidentifiable and interred at the Ardennes American Cemetery.
It wasn’t until 2017 that researchers made suggestions that the unidentifiable remains marked in grave X-3144 might be associated with Sgt. Rudd from the 99th Infantry Division.
On June 23, 2021, the remains of X-3144 were disinterred and transferred to the DPAA Laboratory at Outfitt Air Force Base, Nebraska for forensic analysis.
It was then determined that Sgt. Robert G. Rudd, who had been killed at the Battle of the Bulge, had been located and identified through the use of dental, anthropological, and DNA analysis.
Rudd’s name had been placed on the “Walls of the Missing” at the Netherlands American Cemetery. Now, a rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate that he has been accounted for.
Although first listed as Missing in Action, his family mourned his passing, including his brothers William “Lonnie” Rudd, Luther Rudd, Lucian Rudd, Ollie Rudd, and Hagar Rudd, along with his sisters Myrtle Rudd Painter, Addie Rudd Fisher, Eula Mae Rudd Scott, and Lillie Rudd Marshall.
Today, many years following his death, Rudd is survived by many nieces, nephews, and many other relatives who honor his legacy and his heroism and who will be present when his remains are buried at Bethel Cemetery this Saturday.
