Military historian to share insights on Tarleton alumnus, WWII hero

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STEPHENVILLE (January 26, 2017) — Internationally known military historian Dr. Thomas M. Hatfield shares his personal insights about one of the most decorated soldiers in World War II—U.S. Army Maj. Gen. James Earl Rudder—on Monday, Feb. 13, as part of Tarleton State University’s yearlong 2017 centennial celebration as a founding member of The Texas A&M University System.

Rudder was a Tarleton alumnus who became president of Texas A&M-College Station and chancellor of the A&M System.

Hatfield served under Rudder as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Army Reserve and decades later wrote his widely acclaimed biography on the general—Rudder: From Leader to Legend (Texas A&M Press, 2011).

Hatfield will discuss Rudder at 7 p.m.in the auditorium of the Clyde H. Wells Fine Arts Center. Admission is free and open to the public. During the day, he will meet with students and faculty.

“To hear the story of Tarleton alumnus and American legend James Earl Rudder firsthand from an eminent historian is an extraordinary opportunity,” said Tarleton President F. Dominic Dottavio. “Dr. Hatfield has a unique story to share. It is a vital part of Tarleton’s history, and his visit is a highpoint of our centennial celebration.”

Hatfield said writing the Rudder biography was high adventure.

Dr. Thomas M. Hatfield

“I tried to get inside his mind, and I walked in his footsteps in every place on the planet that was important to him,” Hatfield said. “I trailed him from his birthplace in Eden, Texas, to Tarleton, to A&M, to Europe, to the beaches of Normandy, across France and into Germany. After all that, I can say with confidence that no place was more important to Rudder than Tarleton. This is where he discovered who he was and what he wanted to be.”

Rudder started college at Tarleton in 1927 and graduated from Texas A&M University in College Station. He returned to Tarleton in 1938 as a teacher and head football coach before being called into active military duty in 1941.

He rose to fame during World War II as commander of the historic assault up the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc—part of the Normandy Invasion—and is remembered as Texas A&M’s innovative president who transformed a regional all-male military school into the renowned university of today. He oversaw the admission of women and African Americans to A&M, and championed its research function. Rudder died in 1970 while chancellor of the A&M System.

“Earl Rudder loved Texas A&M and the A&M System, but Tarleton was his first love,” Hatfield said. “Teaching and coaching at Tarleton were his dream. I don’t think he ever expected to leave, but the war intervened. Even so, he returned to Tarleton at every opportunity. In fact, he was at Tarleton on the very last day before being stricken with the illness that killed him.”

Hatfield is director of the Military History Institute at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin and dean emeritus. His work includes growing the center’s American military history archives through the acquisition of memorabilia, photographs, papers and oral records as well as research and writing. He is a member of the Texas Historical Commission.

He has lectured on American military history, emphasizing the diplomatic and strategic background of the Second World War, for more than 30 years. In addition, he pioneered the development of university-based international education by organizing and leading groups of adults and students to historic sites of the global war.

During his undergraduate days, Hatfield followed the great campaigns of World War II across Western Europe and Northern Africa, through Sicily, Italy and southern France and into Germany. In the Pacific, he walked the beaches of island fighting from Guadalcanal to Tarawa to Pelelieu, and swam with scuba gear through the sunken Japanese fleet on the bottom of the Truk Lagoon.

Hatfield is co-founder of the Normandy Scholar Program at UT Austin, an undergraduate honors program focused on World War II, and has shared his research on the History and Discovery channels, PBS, Fox News and CNN. He served as UT Austin’s dean of continuing education from 1977 to 2007 and was founding president of Austin Community College.

Later this year, Tarleton will dedicate a pedestrian mall and unveil a statue of Gen. Rudder—sculpted by Granbury artist and Tarleton Distinguished Alumnus Mike Tabor—on its Stephenville campus, and Vanderbilt Street on campus officially will become Rudder Way.

For more centennial happenings—including an international rocket competition this summer, a birthday party in September and a concert in November at the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth—watch Tarleton’s calendar of events at www.tarleton.edu/centennial.

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