Ricky Lee Rucker ★ Vietnam War Gold Star Veteran from Maryland
On October 1, 1972 Seaman Apprentice Rucker was declared a casualty of the Vietnam War. ★ He served with honor in the United States Navy. ★ He is remembered by the people of Maryland. ★ May his positive example inspire us. Working together towards peace, mutual respect, and equality for all.
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Click to Submit Update Request for this Fallen Service Member▼ Content Integrity Note
Our displayed data concerning the life and military history of Ricky Lee Rucker is a work in progress. We've assembled a list of elements we are in the process of researching and reviewing. This profile was last edited on 2020-08-14 13:28:30.
Missing : Core Data
· Special awards and honors· Date of tour or service
Missing : Supplemental Data
· Marriage history· Parents, family history
· Expanded references and citations
Service Details
| This Profile ID | 295903 |
| Service ID | 215648747 |
| Name | Ricky Lee Rucker |
| From | Baltimore, Baltimore County, Maryland |
| Birth Date | December 17, 1953 |
| Casualty Date | October 1, 1972 |
| War | Vietnam War |
| Service Branch | Navy |
| Rank | Enlisted |
| Specialty | Seaman Apprentice |
| Unit/Group | 7th Fleet, USS Newport News (CA 148) |
| Casualty Type | Died through hostile action, Misadventure, Friendly Fire |
| Location | North Vietnam, Quang Tri province, Gulf of Tonkin |
| Burial | Parkwood Cemetery and Mausoleum, Baltimore, Baltimore City, Maryland |
| Notable Awards |
★ Purple Heart |
| Remembered | Ricky Lee Rucker is buried or memorialized at Parkwood Cemetery and Mausoleum, Baltimore, Baltimore City, Maryland.  Ricky is honored on the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in Washington DC. Name inscribed at VVM Wall, Panel 01w, Line 79. |
Additional Details
Ricky Lee Rucker was born in Richmond, Richmond County, Virginia. His family moved to the Middle River area of Baltimore County, Maryland when he was 11 years old. He attended Middle River Jr High School and Patterson High School.He was serving aboard the USS Newport News when an 8-inch projectile in the bore of the center gun of Turret Two exploded prematurely, setting off several powder casings in the hoists. They had been providing naval gunfire support off the coast of North Vietnam. Over 2 dozen were men killed and dozens of others injured. Incident Code #USSNewportNews-10011972 We identified 20 casualties in our archive related to the #USSNewportNews-10011972 incident on October 1, 1972.
◼Ricky L Rucker :: Seaman Apprentice
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Commendations + Awards
Please note this might not be a complete or completely accurate accounting. For some awards we use probability factors based on known service details. Thanks for your understanding.
★ Purple Heart
★ Combat Action Ribbon
★ National Defense Service Medal
★ Vietnam Campaign Medal
★ Vietnam Service Medal
★ Navy Presidential Unit Citation
★ Vietnam Gallantry Cross
Notable Reference Sources
These are typically links to pages on external sites that have provided specific nodes of information. In most cases the information has some assurance of being crowd-sourced and vetted by a community of users.Maryland Gold Star Veterans Gallery
Honoring the men and women of Maryland who gave their all for their country. May their example of courage and sacrifice be our guide. To be strong and responsible in our lives as citizens of the world. Through honest daily actions, we honor them.
▼ Maryland was home to over 8,218 American Gold Star veterans from 4 wars of the 20th Century. Some significant statistics:
• 1,114 World War I
• 5,544 World War II
• 543 Korean War
• 1,017 Vietnam War
• 117 Prisoners of war
• 1,313 Missing in action
• 7 Pearl Harbor casualties
• 73 D-Day Normandy casualties
• 7 Medal of Honor recipients
• 5,544 World War II
• 543 Korean War
• 1,017 Vietnam War
• 117 Prisoners of war
• 1,313 Missing in action
• 7 Pearl Harbor casualties
• 73 D-Day Normandy casualties
• 7 Medal of Honor recipients
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Honor States Admin
▼ Primary Sources - These are repositories for artifacts, documents, diaries, manuscripts, and other information that serve as original and authoritative sources of information.
National Archives (NARA)
Library of Congress (LOC)
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA)
Findagrave.com
Ancestry.com
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Here is Some Important Information!
USS Midway Museum 75th Pearl Harbor Wall of Honor
Located at the harbor in downtown San Diego, California at Navy Pier. The USS Midway is a living, floating museum, housing an extensive collection of aircraft, many of which were built in Southern California. USS Midway saw active duty from 1945 to 1992. Approximately 200,000 sailors proudly served onboard. In 2016 the USS Midway hosted one of the premier events honoring the 75th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Among the featured memorials was a Wall of Honor with over 1000 images of the fallen. Researched by the Honor States Group.
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