Stephen A. Rudloff

Stephen Rudloff was born on February 19, 1945, in Brooklyn, New York. He entered the U.S. Navy School of PreFlight at NAS Pensacola, Florida, on September 20, 1964; completed Basic Naval Aviation Officers School at NAS Pensacola in August 1965; and completed Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) School at NAS Glynco, Georgia, in October 1965. Rudloff was commissioned an Ensign in the U.S. Navy on August 15, 1965, and was designated a Radar Intercept Officer on October 28, 1965. His first assignment was to VF-121 at NAS Miramar, California, for F-4 Phantom II Replacement Air Group training from December 1965 to June 1966, followed by service as an F-4 RIO with VF-154 at NAS Moffett Field, California, from June 1966 to June 1968. During this time, Lieutenant Rudloff deployed with his unit to Southeast Asia from September 1966 to January 1967, and from December 1967 to April 1968. His next assignment was as a Public Affairs Officer in the Naval Plant Representative Office with McDonnell Douglas Corporation in St. Louis, Missouri, from June 1968 to August 1970, and then back to VF-121 at NAS Miramar for F-4 Replacement Air Group Training from September 1970 to July 1971. He served as an F-4 RIO with VF-92 at NAS Miramar from July to September 1971, and then deployed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Constellation (CV-64) from October 1971 until he was forced to eject over North Vietnam and was taken as a Prisoner of War on May 10, 1972.