Hughes Rudd was a television journalist and CBS News

CBS News

CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...

 correspondent. Rudd was known for his folksy style, gravelly voice and unimposing sense of humor, often ending his newscasts with human interest stories that sometimes made him break into a chuckle on camera.

Rudd attended the University of Missouri

University of Missouri

The University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses...

 from 1938 to 1941 before enlisting in the U.S. Army during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Flying Piper Cubs as an artillery spotter pilot in Africa and Europe, Rudd earned a Purple Heart

Purple Heart

The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York...

, six Air Medal

Air Medal

The Air Medal is a military decoration of the United States. The award was created in 1942, and is awarded for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight.-Criteria:...

s and a Silver Star

Silver Star

The Silver Star is the third-highest combat military decoration that can be awarded to a member of any branch of the United States armed forces for valor in the face of the enemy....

.

Following World War II, Rudd began his journalism career writing for several newspapers including the Kansas City Star, the Minneapolis Tribune and the Rock Springs (Wyo.) Daily Rocket and Sunday Miner

Rock Springs Daily Rocket-Miner

The Rock Springs Rocket-Miner is the daily newspaper of Rock Springs and Sweetwater County in southwestern Wyoming. Published Tuesday-Saturday, the newspaper had previous names until 1965, when it adapted the current Daily Rocket-Miner.The paper expanded to a two-story building in 1974. It is...

.
Rudd got his first position at CBS News as a writer through the influence of his friend Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite

Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...

. Rudd reported from around the world, including tours as a correspondent in Bonn

Bonn

Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....

, Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, and Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

. He was an anchor of the CBS Morning News from 1973 to 1977 when the CBS morning news program was more of a news summary similar to the format of The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite. At times, Rudd was paired with various other CBS anchors based in Washington, most notably Bruce Morton

Bruce Morton

Bruce Morton was a television news correspondent for both CBS News and CNN in a career which spanned over 40 years....

 and, for a brief time in 1973, Sally Quinn

Sally Quinn

Sally Sterling Quinn is an American author and journalist, who writes about religion for a blog at The Washington Post.-Personal:...

.

In mid-1979, Rudd shifted to ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 before his retirement in 1986. One of his assignments was an announcer for ABC's Wide World of Sports.

Rudd's book, My Escape From the C.I.A. and Other Improbable Events, a collection of quasi-autobiographical fiction, was published in 1966 by E. P. Dutton & Company.

The awards he won included a George Foster Peabody Award for his creative writing on the CBS Morning News in 1977.

External links

• http://www.americanheritage.com/content/when-i-landed-war-was-over