DUANE
Duane's take
Here's what the official marker has to say, and I'll tell it the way it deserves to be told. Now, most folks who pass through Del Rio and out past Laughlin Air Force Base don't know the name Rudolf Anderson. But they should.
Because on one particular Sunday in October 1962, when the whole world was holding its breath over Cuba, Anderson was the man in the cockpit — and he didn't come home. He was born in 1927 in South Carolina, and by 1951 he'd joined the military. He took to the sky, and not just any kind of flying — reconnaissance.
The kind where you go alone, high and quiet, eyes of the mission, no weapons to speak of. Just you, your aircraft, and whatever the enemy decides to do about it. He flew those missions during the Korean Conflict, sharpening a skill that, years later, would put him at the center of the most dangerous standoff the Cold War ever produced.
By 1957, Anderson was stationed right here — Laughlin Air Force Base, outside Del Rio, Texas. And when October 1962 came rolling in with that particular kind of dread, Laughlin was exactly where he was. The Cuban Missile Crisis.
Thirteen days the world teetered. And on October 27 — the most dangerous day of those thirteen — Rudolf Anderson climbed into a U-2 plane and flew over Cuba. His mission: photograph a medium range ballistic missile site under construction.
Surveillance work. The kind that keeps generals informed and presidents from guessing. Antiaircraft fire hit his plane.
He was killed. Rudolf Anderson was the only American airman shot down during the entire Cuban Missile Crisis. The only one.
Of all the flights, all the risks, all the men who flew into that tense Caribbean sky — it was Anderson who paid that price. The Air Force decorated him posthumously. And in 2001, Laughlin's operation building was renamed Anderson Hall, so that every airman who walks through that door knows the name of the man who didn't walk back.
He is buried in South Carolina, where he was born. Some stories end with a monument. Some end with a building bearing a name.
Rudolf Anderson's story ends somewhere over Cuba on October 27, 1962 — but down here in Val Verde County, it's still being told.
What the marker says
U.S. Air Force pilot Rudolf Anderson was the only American airman shot down during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Born in 1927 in South Carolina, Anderson joined the military in 1951 and soon began flying reconnaissance missions during the Korean Conflict. Stationed at Laughlin Air Force Base by 1957, he was here when the Cuban Missile Crisis developed in October 1962. On October 27, while piloting a U-2 plane over Cuba to provide surveillance of a medium range ballistic missile site under construction, antiaircraft fire hit his plane, killing him. The Air Force decorated Anderson posthumously and in 2001 renamed Laughlin's operation building Anderson Hall. He is buried in South Carolina. (2006)