| The Willingboro Fire Department gave final honors to former Assistant Chief Christopher Rutter Sr. on the morning of October 20th. Chris was a 54 year member of the department, where he also served as a lieutenant, captain, fire commissioner, and fire police captain. Chief of Department Burnett and several members of the department attended the viewing which was held at the Snover-Givnish Funeral Home in Cinnaminson, NJ. Chief Burnett along with Engines 1613 and 1612 led a procession from the funeral home to Corpus Christi Church in Willingboro for a funeral mass. The department then led another procession to the Brig. Gen. William C. Doyle Memorial Cemetery in Wrightstown.
The following paragraphs are from an article that was published on October 17th in the Philadelphia Inquirer. The article was written by Inquirer Staff Writer Walter F. Naedele:
Christopher C. Rutter Sr. was in the second wave of troops that landed on Omaha Beach under heavy Nazi gunfire June 6, 1944.
As soldiers died around him that D-Day morning, daughter Dorothy Shelmet said, "he had promised himself that if he survived that day on the beach, he would come back one day and walk on the beach instead of crawling on it. "In 2004, Mr. Rutter returned with his family to Normandy and walked its beaches to celebrate the 60th anniversary of D-Day. "The worst part of bloody Omaha," his daughter said, was that, although "they were told they would walk ashore," when the troops stepped off their landing craft, they sank into water above their heads. Her father "doesn't remember how he got to the beach."
On Tuesday, Oct. 13, Mr. Rutter, 92, a Willingboro resident since 1960 and a former officer for the Willingboro Volunteer Fire Company, died at home. Born in Audubon, he graduated from Audubon High School and served as an Army amphibious engineer during World War II. In December 1944, Mr. Rutter fought through the Battle of the Bulge, and, his daughter said, "he was right outside of Bastogne," the town the Army refused to surrender during the battle. "He was in a foxhole," she said, and when Gen. George Patton led the Third Army rescue of the troops, her father "was close enough to the road to see Gen. Patton go by, with his pearl-handled revolver."
Mr. Rutter was hesitant to credit those who assigned him out of boot camp. "He said that when they were testing his aptitudes, they asked him if he was a swimmer," his daughter said. "He said no, and they made him an amphibious engineer." It was dangerous work, she said, because he had to help build pontoon bridges across waterways, sometimes under heavy gunfire. Mr. Rutter was discharged as a corporal, returned to civilian life, and retired in 1985 after 32 years as an industrial maintenance mechanic at the former Hercules Inc. chemical plant in Burlington Township.
After leaving the Oaklyn Fire Company No. 1 as an assistant chief, he moved his family in March 1960 to Willingboro. He joined the Willingboro Volunteer Fire Company in 1961. Over his career there, he became lieutenant, captain, assistant chief, fire commissioner, and fire police captain, his daughter said, retiring just before his 79th birthday. Besides his daughter, Mr. Rutter is survived by son Christopher C. Jr., a sister, and three grandchildren.
The Willingboro Fire Department would like to thank Delran Fire Company No. 1 and the Westampton Township Emergency Services for providing firefighting coverage to Willingboro during the viewing and funeral services, and the following agencies for assisting with traffic control for the processions that were held after the viewing and funeral mass.
Fire Police:
Willingboro Fire Department
Mansfield Fire Company
Jacksonville Fire Company
Medford Lakes Fire Department
Burlington City Fire Department
Police Departments:
Willingboro Township
Cinnaminson Township
Delran Township
Westampton Township |
