William Peter “Bill” Ruedel was born in New London, CT, the son of Otto and Mary Priolo Ruedel. He graduated from New London High School in 1953. He attended the United States Coast Guard Academy from 1953 through 1955 and attended the USMA Prep School from June 1955 until July 1956. He then entered West Point and graduated in 1960. He spent most of his non-academic time in the gym as a four-year member of the Gymnastics Team. In addition, he participated in the Portuguese, Camera, and Ski clubs. After graduation, he attended the Armor School at Fort Knox, KY.
Bill’s first duty from 1961 to 1962 was with the 2-66th Armor in Illesheim, Germany. While stationed there he went to Denmark in April 1961 to attend classmate Tom Haycraft’s wedding and became very interested in Tom’s sister-in-law, Tine: so interested that Bill and Tine were married in August 1962 and remained happily married the rest of their lives.
Bill’s next assignment was with Headquarters, VII Corps, in Stuttgart, Germany from 1963 to 1964. He then returned to the United States and commanded a company of the 1-63rd Armor at Fort Riley, KS, from 1965 to 1966. Following that, he deployed to Vietnam and commanded the 2-34th Armor Company with the 25th Infantry Division operating out of Cu Chi. Tine went back to Denmark. After Vietnam, Bill had a tour as a ROTC professor of military science at Ohio State University from 1968 to 1971. He was then redeployed to Vietnam and assigned as executive officer of the Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, with Tine returning to Denmark.
After the second tour in Vietnam, Bill was sent to Germany and was joined by Tine and family. He was assigned as executive officer of the 1-2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment in 1973 and as S-4 of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division in 1974-75. He was then assigned as the liaison officer to the German Armor School from 1975 to 1977. His last duty assignment was as S-4 of the 7th Division Support Command at Fort Ord, CA from 1977 to 1980. Bill retired from service in 1980.
After retirement, Bill, Tine and family moved to Ulm, Germany, where Bill went to work for AEG-Telefunken as an electronic engineer. He worked on several projects over the next 17 years, including the Tornado Nose Radar (in conjunction with Texas instruments), the Rolling Airframe Missile Launcher [RAM] (in conjunction with Raytheon), and the Israel Air Force Jammer in Ashdod, Israel.
Bill also helped with transition on several other projects for AEG-Telefunken. While Bill was working in Ulm, he had a strong association with the English-speaking Masonic Lodge, enjoying their meetings and other events held in various parts of Germany. In the meantime, Tine worked as a nurse for a German military hospital in positions of increasing complexity and responsibility.
During the years Bill was with AEG-Telefunken, he and Tine spent nearly two years living in Israel. The high points of his years with AEG-Telefunken were being able to live with Tine in Israel, seeing many of the historic sites of Israel and its military and naval establishment.
Bill retired from AEG-Telefunken in 1989, and he and Tine remained in Ulm during their retirement years, highlighted by continuing their working years tradition of spending a month each summer in Denmark in a leased beach house. There Bill enjoyed the morning paper along with breakfast rolls. He also enjoyed the superb food and the beautiful ladies. Bill and Tine shopped in the fishing village of Gilleleje, which is famous for facilitating the escape of Danish Jews to Sweden during World War II. The Jews were hidden in the basement of a little church near the harbor for a midnight fishing boat departure for Sweden, evading German patrol boats. One of three or four duplicate statues of the Jews of World War II in Israel was sent to Gilleleje to commemorate the wartime efforts of the people of that small town. Bill was very proud to have met some of the old timers and their relatives.
Bill suffered from a degenerative illness starting around 2005. Tine provided nursing care even as his illness progressed to the latter stages of his life. Tine passed on March 10, 2015, and Bill died on March 15, 2015 in Ulm, Germany, just five days after Tine.
Their daughter Dina and son Peter are living productive lives in California and Washington state, respectively. They were able to be with their parents during their final days and placed their remains under a tree near Ulm.
Bill was a man determined to do things his way, and he lived his life the way he wanted to live it, except when his beloved wife thought otherwise.
— Classmates and family