By Mia Denise Ruggs

MY FATHER WAS IN VIETNAM MARCH 69 TO APRIL 69..
PFC. RANDALL RUGGS DISTINGUISHED HIMSELF WHILE SERVING AS A RIFLEMAN WITH CO B,1st BATTALION,12th INF,4th INF DIV.
ON 24 APRIL1969, PFC. RANDALL RUGGS' UNIT WAS ON A SEARCH AND DESTROY MISSION IN THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS WHEN THEY CAME UNDER HEAVY ENEMY FIRE.
SEEING THAT A NUMBER OF HIS COMRADES WERE CAUGHT IN EXPOSED POSITIONS BY THE HOSTILE FIRE, HE COURAGEOUSLY EXPOSED HIMSELF NUMEROUS TIMES TO LAY DOWN A VICIOUS LINE OF SUPPRESSIVE FIRE, ALLOWING HIS COMRADES TO REACH SAFETY.
AS HE EXPOSED HIMSELF HE WAS MORTALLY WOUNDED BY THE ENEMY FIRE.
I JUST WANT TO KNOW IF U MIGHT KNOW HIM OR IF U KNEW SOMEONE THAT MIGHT KNOW HIM. IF U DO COULD U E-MAIL ME I HOPE TO HERE FROM U..

I VISIT THE WALL ALL THE TIME TO JUST SEE MY DADS NAME AND OTHERS ARE ON THERE. I WISH I COULD KNOWN MY FATHER I WAS ONLY 2 WHEN HE WAS KILLED ON MY BIRTHDAY. I WISH I COULD HAVE KNOW HIM, BUT I WAS ONLY 2YRS OLD AT THE TIME HE DIED. WHEN I START MISSING HIM I GO TO THE WALL, AND JUST LOOK AT HIS NAME ON THAT BIG BLACK STONE. WITH ALL THE OTHER LOVE ONE. I JUST SIT THERE AND WATCH ALL THE PEOPLE WALK BY. AND SOMETIME YOU SEE VETERANS SITTING THERE AND CRYING. BUT IF YOU LOOK IN THERE EYES YOU SEE THE PAIN. AND THEY ALL HAVE THE SAME LOOK.. MY DAD WAS NOT OVER THERE VERY LONG. LIKE SOME OF THE VETERANS.. I LOVE MY DAD

Additional information regarding the field conditions experienced by Randall Ruggs, William Stout, Lawrence Budzinski, and other members of their team can be read in the nonfiction book "Time Heals No Wounds" by Jack Leninger, published in 1993 by Ivy Books/Ballantine Books.