General Rudder

The Texas State Highway 6 "bypass" which runs through the Bryan-College Station area is called the Rudder Freeway. It's named for General James Earl Rudder, a World War II military hero and former president of Texas A&M. 

Born in Eden, TX, Rudder attended A&M and graduated with the Class of '34. As commanding officer of the Army's 2nd Ranger Battalion, Rudder led a D-Day assault on the beach at Point du Hoc. Despite being wounded twice himself and seeing his Rangers suffer a casualty rate of almost 50 percent, Rudder and his troops seized and held an important enemy position.

By war's end, Rudder had risen to the rank of full colonel. Ultimately, he became a major general in the U.S. Army Reserve.

Rudder became president of Texas A&M in 1959 and served in that capacity, as well as president of the A&M System, until his death at the age of 59 in 1970.

Under his watch, A&M was transformed from an all-male, all-white land-grant college into a world-reknowned institution of higher learning.

But change didn't always come easy, neither to Rudder nor, occasionally, those Aggie students who served under his watch.

Bill Youngkin in a practicing attorney in the Bryan-College Station area and the principal at the Youngkin & Associates law firm. As an A&M student, he served as head yell leader, was a class officer and was recognized as a Distinguished Student. After graduation, he served in the U.S. Army’s 18th Airborne Corps, seeing duty in Vietnam. Bill is a former president of the Association of Former Students and a member of the Corps of Cadets Hall of Fame.