Al Rupp
2 JUL 1930 - 11 JUN 1965
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Al Rupp Memorial Trophy
NOV 2007
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A - 2
1st Row: Vincent - Joseph - Stevenson - Fikaris - Prater - Stemle
2nd Row: Freed - Adams - West - Jim Miller - Mason - Jellison
3rd Row: Auger - Spaulding - Reid - Lucas - Rupp - Weissenborn
4th Row: Dax - Senger - Camp - Schauer
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Al Rupp - Billy XII - Ben Schemmer 54
NOV 1953
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Alexander Kratz Rupp was born in Bellefonte, PA on 2 July 1930. His first ten years were spent in State College where his father taught mathematics at Penn State University. Al had a paper route as a small boy and served it very faithfully, earning and saving his money so he could buy clothes and toys of his own choosing. One day he amazed his parents by coming home with a tuba that was almost as big as he was. It was his school band instrument. He had to practice in the cellar. From the tuba Al went on to play a cornet in the local drum and bugle corps, a group which won a national championship one year. His band uniform at that time was patterned after the West Point cadet's dress uniform. Even at that early age Al's friends were beginning to notice his aggressive initiative. There were times when his parents had to intervene to slow him down, for he was always trying new things, and often beyond his capabilities. Once, while he was still only 11 years old, he wanted to bicycle across the country with a couple of older boys. When World War II began, Al's father was commissioned a captain in the Signal Corps and was stationed in Washington, D C., where the family joined him after a few months. Al went to Central High School in Washington and did well, not only academically, but rose to become captain of the cadet corps in his senior year. Upon graduation the Navy awarded him a Holloway scholarship for study at Harvard. After two years he had some doubts that the system would ever lead him any higher than lieutenant commander, so he left college and took a job running a bulldozer and later, a gasoline-powered shovel. Meanwhile, he attended National Guard drills at summer camp, always keeping in mind the competitive exams for the service academies. He came out high on the 1951 list and entered West Point with the Class of 1955. His experiences with the Navy, at college, and on the construction job had given him a background which now helped him in many ways. He found academics at the Point reasonably easy and had ample time for other activities, particularly cheer leading, for which he earned a minor "A". He was one of the four cheerleaders who one year managed to capture the Navy goat and bring it back to West Point in triumph. Al graduated 63rd in his Class and chose a career in the Air Force. He was unusually keen in his job and in addition to his regular flight training in Texas and Mississippi, worked, on his own time, on both airplane and automobile engines at the local base shops. In Texas his other free time activities included teaching Sunday school classes, studying photography and hunting. He was one of the first in his Class to be assigned to a fighter squadron in Germany. For four years he was stationed near Bitburg. He learned to speak German fluently and was often chosen to address the German crowds that flocked to see the Air Force exhibitions. During this period he fell in love with, courted, and married a German girl, Ruth Michels, a fine woman who bore him two children, a son while they were in Germany and later a daughter, in the States. The young couple traveled widely in Europe during Al's leave time. They skied at St. Thomas in the Tyrol; they climbed the Finsteraarhorn in Switzerland (Ruth was the only woman in a period of some twenty years to make it to the top); and together they learned a good deal about art in Florence. The Air Force Academy proposed to send Al to school at the University of Mayence with a view to his teaching German at the Air Force Academy, but Al aspired to a space career. He did succeed in drawing a stateside assignment at Wright-Patterson AFB and there earned a master's degree in astronautics in 1962. From here he went to Edwards AFB in California, for duty in the Aerospace Research Pilot Program, graduating in 1963. In two transcontinental automobile trips, Al's family enjoyed with him the roadside camping. They pulled a small trailer behind their 1955 car, and it was truly amazing to see how much comfort and pleasure they found in the limited capacity of the little box on wheels. Al was unusually thoughtful of his relatives and friends. He wrote to his parents faithfully every week; he helped his youngest sister through the University of Chicago with a modest allotment, and he gave his mother a miniature of his West Point ring and his insignia as a senior pilot. Friends sometimes remarked that Al lived two lives: his own, and another for his twin brother who drowned in early childhood. From Edwards, the young Rupps returned to Wright-Patterson, where Al worked with the test mission program of the Aeronautical Systems Division. He was scheduled to attend the Staff School in Norfolk in August 1965. He had planned to take a leisurely camping trip with his family after completing Staff School--through Nova Scotia and northeastern Canada--and before leaving for an assignment in Vietnam. But that was not to be. On Friday, 11 June 1965, he crashed and burned to death on a routine flight out of Wright-Patterson. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Al was a hard-working, conscientious officer. His promotions to captain and to major were both "below the primary zone of consideration," so that his parents, his family and his friends had every reason to be proud of him, and to feel that "the stars in his eyes" was no idle dream. Al was awarded a commendation ribbon for a paper he prepared on traffic control in Germany and a recommended posthumous award was still to be made as this article was being written. Dr Charles A. Rupp, Lt. Col. USAR, Father Assembly - Winter 1966 I found Al to be a quiet guy. Somehow - despite being in two different runt companies - me in M-1 and Al in A-2 - we formed a bonding friendship. His parents were overseas our Yearling Christmas and he and his sister - Melicent - didn't have any place to go. They spent it with the Turners in Springfield - MO. My parents were quite impressed with his manners and his engaging companionship with my two younger brothers. Al kept in touch with my parents until his death. Alas - his sister is gone - too. I miss them both. Tom Turner June 21 - 2000 Al was in A-2 - I in C-2 - so we saw a lot of each other all four years. He was rather quiet - a real gentleman - but seemed to be at or near the forefront in many things -- especially when it came to the care and feeding of the Navy goat! He was one of the sharpest of the class in AF pilot training at good old Greenville - MS. His early departure from this world has deprived us all. Be at peace - old friend. WCMcC Walt McCrillis November 26 - 2001 Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2007 09:00:48 -0500 From: -w To: Business Net "usma55bus@west-point.org", SQ "usma1955-c1@west-point.org" Subject: usma55bus: Stemle Sends....... Al Rupp Memorial Trophy I know this is the class net and not the football net, but I thought there would be a number of you who might be interested in what is going on. Tom Turner had provided the “Tippi Trophy” to the winner of the college pool in honor of his deceased doggie, but all the plates on the plaque have been filled and it was time to get a new plaque. As the new “Pool Meister”, it fell my lot to name the new plaque. In searching my memory for a classmate who exhibited “The Army Spirit”, Al Rupp came to mind. I remember Al as a fun loving free spirit with a total zest for life. Had it not been for his tragic aircraft accident I have no doubt that Al would have made it to the moon as an astronaut. For those of you who might not have known Al, he was a cheerleader and one of the crew who stole the Navy goat and brought it back to West Point. In memory of my A-2 company mate and ex-roomie, the new plaque is called the “AL RUPP MEMORIAL TROPHY”. Dick Stemle November 2007 |
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