JULY 21, 2025 – The home of Army Aviation was redesignated Fort Rucker in a ceremony at the U.S. Army Aviation Museum July 17.
The change from its previous name, Fort Novosel, signified in the ceremony by the casing and uncasing of colors by installation leaders, was directed on June 11 by the Secretary of the Army in honor of Army Capt. Edward W. Rucker, Jr., an aviation pioneer and Army Air Service pilot from World War I.
“Welcome home to Fort Rucker,” said Maj. Gen. Clair A. Gill, Aviation Center of Excellence and Fort Rucker commanding general, as he thanked the audience for attending.
“This promises to mark a unique moment in the history of the Wiregrass as the namesake of the installation returns to something familiar, but the honor falls to a different individual,” Gill said.
Gill noted the post has been home to countless military members and their families since it first opened as Camp Rucker in 1942, became Fort Rucker in 1955, and in 2023 was renamed Fort Novosel to honor Chief Warrant Officer 4 Michael J. Novosel Sr., an aviation legend and Medal of Honor recipient.
“The name Novosel will continue to live on in the hearts and minds of us here in Army aviation,” Gill said. “Even he called Fort Rucker home, and that’s a powerful thought.”
“Generations have trained, worked and lived here for over 80 years. Families were started here and many of those same families would return to this base and retire in the local area because it became their home,” he said.
The name Fort Rucker now is founded in Army aviation history and stems from the origin of Army aviation.
“I encourage all of you to spend time in our Museum today and see a Nieuport (aircraft) much like Rucker‘s that flew in World War I,” Gill said, adding that these aircraft often engaged in one-on-one combat.
Rucker flew “above the best in one of the darkest moments in our nation’s history,” and went on to earn the Distinguished Service Cross in the skies over France “in a period when the life expectancy of a pilot was mere weeks,” Gill explained.
Gill said, “During that mission on June 13th,1918, Capt. Rucker recounted, ‘about 250 rounds were gone from my gun. There was a bullet hole in my prop, I suppose I shot it there. I didn’t dream I had used that much ammunition’.”
Images of brave World Was I aviators like Rucker would “inspire generations of young people to pursue aviation,” Gill said.
“They say that home is where the heart is, and our home once again has a familiar moniker, Fort Rucker. The heart of this home will forever belong to aviation warfighters like Edward Rucker, Mike Novosel and all those who call and will call this place home,” Gill said.
Rucker’s service began in in the Missouri National Guard in 1915, and from there he served at the Mexican-American border in 1916-1917. He turned down a position as a provisional second lieutenant in the Artillery Corps of the Regular Army, because he was given an opportunity to go to flight school. He attended ground school in Toronto, and then was stationed in Texas as a member of the Reserve Flying Corps.
He deployed with the 27th Aero Squadron, which entered combat in June of 1918. In June of 1918, near Luneville, France, he and three fellow pilots engaged 12-15 enemy aircraft that attacked three American reconnaissance planes. Rucker engaged in single-handed combat with four enemy combatants. For his service, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
His award citation, written by Maj. H.E. Hartney, reads:
“By devotion to duty, courage and skill, coupled with perfect discipline in the carrying out of pre-arranged plans, these officers, although outnumbered and handicapped in that they were so far inside enemy territory, succeeded shooting down three enemy machines out of control and driving off the whole of the remaining formation, thus enabling the reconnaissance machines to return safely across their lines with valuable information and photographs.”
Rucker also went on to earn the French Croix de Guerre with a palm leaf for his extraordinary valor and contributions. The award honors Soldiers for remarkable acts of bravery.
For more information on Capt. Rucker, visit https://www.army.mil/article/287078 .
By Kelly Morris