Les Rutledge was born in 1924 in Big Sandy and graduated in 1942. He just celebrated his 100th birthday. Les has led a full, interesting, thought-provoking, and rewarding life. Two years after high school, he found himself in Germany during WWII. He received his education from the University of Montana, the University of Utah, the University of Washington, and an institute in Sweden. All the education helped him teach neurosurgery for 32 years at the University of Michigan Medical School. He has raced cars and motorcycles, served as a reserve deputy sheriff, and was involved with search and rescue. Les served on the board of the Bitterroot Land Trust and is deeply concerned about climate change and land and water use.
I asked him if he knew why he chose academics to excel in. Les answered, "That's a good question and certainly one I've considered. I considered it because there was a time when I made a different choice. I wasn't going to be the subject of mistreatment by other students. And what occurred in grade school made me very defensive."
Les went into the army a year after high school graduation. "He was assigned to Army infantry, shipped to Europe in July 1944, and assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 22 Regiment, 42 Rainbow Division. Between Sept. 1944 and May 1945, he was involved in combat throughout France, Germany, and Austria. His unit assisted in taking Munich, Nuremberg and liberating the Dachau concentration camp. I was personally involved in discovering many valuable stolen art treasures in a salt mine near Hallein, Austria, in May 1945."
Les was awarded the Silver Star for heroic action during their march to Dachau.
When "we opened the gates, my unit was one of them, helping to open the gates. Those who could walk or run spewed out--1000s, but many were left. The corpses were in box cars waiting to be burned in a gas chamber. So the animosity is very important; for some, the animosity was high, extremely high." He finds it impossible to believe some people do not believe the atrocities took place.
He was discharged in 1946 but remained in the reserves till 1950
The army would pay $100 a month toward your education. "It was a natural thing to do, to go through college. College had many challenges and different things to learn about, which prompted me to do more, to go more, to find out more about how nature lives and how people interact with nature."
His drive for higher education came from his decision made in grade school. "I decided to achieve, And that was the only way to win out with these ruffians." He needed "to exceed expectations and show them that I can do better than you."
He wanted to keep learning. "I think that's the obligation of people who are interested in finding out how the world is put together. And what can we expect in the future with climate change? It is such a big issue facing us."
It is extremely important to keep learning; he has never stopped learning. "That was a challenge and something I enjoyed: understanding new things. "And some of the new things I had experienced along the way, the idea that two particles could be in the same place at the same time or different places at the same time. It really intrigued me."
"I taught medical students all my life and had other obligations. I kept the lab and my research lab going and understood how I could plan and how I should plan ahead because support was very difficult. The money wasn't there for everybody."
He raced cars. "It wasn't a matter of liking speed. But being able to put everything together, the nature of the car, the limitations of the car. What you could expect from it, how reliable it was all about learning the mechanics of automobile well manufacturer and understanding what has to be done to make your car controllable on a closed racetrack." It was still about learning for Les. It was about learning and putting everything together, which Les enjoyed doing.
He moved on to motorcycles. "I had never owned or literally been on a special-purpose motorcycle, and I was nearly 50 years old. I learned how to handle a motorcycle to do different things. You could join groups of interested people and do different things on a motorcycle, like riding over rocks or through a closed course. I learned that it was a type of competition. I endeavored to do well with a bike, and at my age, it was a challenge.
When he moved back to Montana, he worked for the Forest Service on all growth management using aerial photography for several years. He understood how mapping was to be done, which helped him when he became a deputy reservist for the Sheriff's Department and a member of the Search and Rescue Team.
He trained the first response team in search and rescue. I became a tracker as part of my training.
Les Rutledge was accomplished in many different areas. I asked how and why. He said, "Interest and capability."
We shifted directions, talking more about his recent areas of concern. Like the rest of his accomplishments, he has spent much time learning about land use. Les added, "I would have to say it's not only land use but putting the whole picture together." He is passionate about climate change and needs to understand why people don't want to study and learn. Why do people not act on their knowledge of what is happening?
Of all his awards, the one Les is most honored by, which was a great accomplishment, was "being able to work with a Nobel Laureate in Sweden; and to have personal contact with a person who was able to do research in an area that I was not able to do research in before. The honor to be able to work for the Nobel laureate type person and to be accepted at the highest level of research."
"I never stopped learning new stuff if I was capable. I did a lot of writing, high-level writing." He showed me some of his academic writings, which I could not understand. "People with rare exceptions don't recognize that writing is an expression of you whether scientific writing expresses your abilities, if you will, and at the highest level of science. You have to be able to write well enough to be recognized and paid attention to, so some of my research was of that level."
His guiding principle of excelling in obtaining knowledge guided his entire life. Lastly, when I asked what the secret of life was, he responded simply, "Get a good start," something he heard first from his maternal grandfather.
