Missouri native Edward W. Rucker Jr. (1894-2006) was a decorated member of the First Pursuit Group in the U.S. Air Service during World War I. He earned a Distinguished Service Cross for bravery during his actions against German flyers over Luneville, France, on June 13, 1918. Fort Rucker, in Coffee and Dale Counties, was named in his honor in 2025 in order to retain the fort's historic name without associations to the Confederacy related to its former namesake, Edmund Rucker.
