Captain Rudat was a crew member of a B-29A Superfortress Bomber with the 93rd Bomber Squadron, 19th Bomber Wing based at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa. On April 12, 1951, while on a bombing mission, his aircraft was attacked by an enemy MiGs and it was ditched. He was listed as Missing in Action and was presumed dead on January 31, 1954. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.