John Wilson Ruckman - Death / Tributes

Death / Tributes

General Ruckman died in 1921 and was buried at West Point. Pallbearers included two major generals, a retired brigadier general and five colonels. The U.S. Military Academy Band and a Detachment of Field Music furnished music and a detachment of field artillery fired eleven minute guns as the cortege left the chapel. A salute of eleven guns also followed three volleys of musketry over the grave. After his death, Congress awarded Ruckman the Army Distinguished Service Medal with the following citation:

Brigadier General John W. Ruckman, United States Army deceased. For exceptionally meritorious and conspicuous services as Department Commander, Southern Department, between August 30, 1917, and May 9, 1918, and Department Commander, Northeastern Department, between May 23, 1918, and July 20, 1918. He handled many difficult problems arising in these departments with rare judgment, tact and great skill.

The military reservation at Nahant, Massachusetts, was renamed "Fort Ruckman." Today, streets are also named in Ruckman's honor at the Presidio of San Francisco and in Fort Monroe, Virginia. A granite column also bears his name at the University of Illinois' Memorial Stadium. Ruckman's only son, John Hamilton Ruckman, was a graduate of M.I.T. and the University of California, a veteran of World Wars I and II and a chief engineer on the Manhattan Project. John Wilson Ruckman is also the grandfather of Peter Sturges Ruckman an independent Baptist minister, teacher, writer, and founder of the Pensacola Bible Institute